European Accessibility Act and Inclusive Design

Digital accessibility describes the degree to which a website, app, or electronic document is perceivable, usable, and understandable to as many people as possible including people with disabilities.

Globally, the international Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1) provide some guidance in the design and development of digital products and services and serve as an industry benchmark for accessibility. Those standards are the baseline for the European Accessibility Act (EAA) which will be compulsory for all organizations and businesses offering digital products and services within the EU from 2025 onwards.

At Capgemini, we are pursuing disability inclusion within our organization and aspire to support other companies in their inclusion pursuits as well.

Why Accessibility matters

26% of adults in the world have a disability and thus benefit from accessible design:

People with permanent disabilities and with progressive impairments (e.g. elderly) profit from accessible design. Also, people with temporary (e.g. injuries) and situational disabilities (e.g. sunlight) benefit.

As a company you can reach more customers:

Accessible design improves usability and user experience, customer satisfaction, and search engine rankings. With this, it evidently broadens the addressable market and more customers are within reach.

Accessibility is an element of Diversity, Inclusion, and CSR:

Inclusive companies provide environments in which people with disabilities have equal chances. Such companies also have a larger and more diverse talent pool to choose from.

Accessibility will become a regulatory requirement from 2025:

The European Accessibility Act will soon become a must for all digital products and services used within the EU. The European standards are based on the common WCAG criteria.

What we do

Capgemini Invent developed a framework that helps set up an Accessibility Organization. Initiating an Accessibility Organization requires companies to think about the topic on 3 intertwined levels:

Strategic level: Accessibility is defined for the company and mechanisms to sustain it are created. It includes Culture, Compliance & Governance, and Corporate Identity.

Tactical level: The mid-level is concerned with the planning, steering, and prioritizing of Accessibility initiatives. It includes Planning & Budgeting to fund initiatives, Cooperation, Marketing & Communications, and the setup of an Operating Model.

Operational level: The core is the implementation of Accessibility. This includes Accessibility Capabilities, an Accessibility Center of Excellence, and Coordination mechanisms to monitor Accessibility.

Continuous improvement: Existing digital products and services require continuous improvement through regular assessments, mitigating findings through producing new/ improved features, and constant monitoring.