Europe - eAccessibility

Status of eAccessibility in Europe

The "Measuring progress of eAccessibility in Europe" (MeAC) study was launched as part of the follow-up to the European Commission’s Communication on eAccessibility of 2005. Overall, the results show that there is only limited progress towards eAccessibility detected in Europe, and further EU-level measures need to be considered to stimulate progress in eAccessibility.

Three key findings underpin this conclusion: The eAccessibility ‘deficit’. People with disabilities in Europe continue to be confronted with many barriers to usage of the everyday ICT products and services that are now essential elements of social and economic life. Such eAccessibility deficits can be found across the spectrum of ICT products and services, for example telephony, TV, web and self-service terminals. The eAccessibility 'gap'. From a comparative perspective, the eAccessibility situation for people with disabilities across Europe as a whole, in terms of both eAccessibility status and eAccessibility policy, compares very unfavourably with that comparison countries examined in the MeAC study (AU, CA and US). The eAccessibility ‘patchwork’. Finally, the situation across Europe for both eAccessibility status and eAccessibility policy is very much a patchwork at present. The overall picture shows many important gaps, uneven attention across the spectrum of eAccessibility themes, and wide disparities across the Member