The Association for the Advancement of Assistive Technology in Europe wholeheartedly supports the “Recommendation 2016 concerning standards on eAccessibility and eInclusion”. Its implementation will help to identify relevant standards on eAccessibility and eInclusion, and so avoid major breaches of the European Accessibility Act. A more comprehensive consideration of these standards in products and services will contribute to including persons with disabilities not just in the use of technology, but also from the life and work opportunities that eInclusion can deliver.

AAATE calls upon other organisations, institutions, networks, committees etc. being stakeholders in the matter addressed by Recommendation 2016 to join in this initiative and endorse the Recommendation.

Specific motivations for AAATE to endorse this recommendation

• Barrier-free design of ICTs is important in order to meet the needs of all users and to allow them to actively participate in the digital society.
• The effective use of standards regarding eAccessibility & eInclusion will further barrier-free design.
• Institutions and organizations as well as single experts in fields related to disability and technology have great difficulties to engage with standards and with standardization processes. An important reason for this is that access to information on pertinent standards (or parts thereof or paragraphs therein) is difficult.
• Standardization bodies do not have refined information tools that provide the information in a selective way. In order not to overload people with non-relevant information, structural and procedural measures need to be developed and access to information on standards need to be disclosed.
• The above requires further action and highlights the need to speed up with competence certification schemes in order to cope with the exponentially increasing need for qualified eAccessibility & eInclusion experts.
• AAATE can and wants to play an active role in promoting effective use of eAccessibility & eInclusion standards, the recommendation will be presented at the 14 th AAATE international conference in Sheffield on 12 th September 2017 in the framework of the IN LIFE consortium activities.

More

• See the recommendation (and the list of organisations who have endorsed)
• Download the AAATE endorsement document