Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Starting the day with Mobile Accessibility

Today we were very fortunate to be invited to a breakfast hosted by Dr Ádám Kósa MEP from Hungary and President of the Disability Intergroup within the European Parliament. The meeting was arranged to discuss how to make mobile communications more accessible and to present the GARI project to members of the European parliament. Also attending were representatives from the European Commission and the European Disability Forum (EDF). Background material for the meeting is available here.

EDF Acting Director, Javier Güemes, explained at the meeting that accessible mobile, smart phones and apps are crucial to making sure persons with disabilities are included in the society: “Accessibility and interoperability of communications devices are vital to making possible the professional and cultural inclusion of people with disabilities. At the same time, when not accessible, the technology can create new obstacles and can lead to new forms of discrimination.”

EDF said that it welcomed initiatives such as the GARI project because it raised awareness of accessibility issues and it represented a step forward for a better connection to the digital world for 80 million persons with disabilities in Europe.

Having such events opens the door to better dialogue and a better understanding of the needs of those with sensory or physical limitations. We would like to thank Dr Kósa, for making the event possible and for reinforcing the value of projects like GARI.


Don't forgot that you can follow the latest GARI updates, including when new models are added to the database, on Twitter @GARIupdates