Accessibility of Software, Apps and Web in Work Environments - Basics for Professional Inclusion
Digitalisation has accompanied us in our everyday lives for many years, especially in the professional environment. The widespread use of mobile devices, which no one wants to do without today, and also the recent developments during the Covid-19 pandemic, have strongly promoted digitalisation in the professional context.
Accessibility of digital technologies has been an issue since the late 1990s. Unfortunately, it is still not a matter of course in most
IT applications and websites. The participation of people with disabilities in the professional life is still obstructed by barriers in the
IT infrastructure, which is now used in the mainstream labour market in almost all sectors and work areas. The public authorities have been legally obliged to ensure accessibility for a long time. A mandatory regulation for companies only exists in German legislation because of recent developments, such as the “Barrierefreiheitsstärkungsgesetz”. However, the law initially only applies in some sectors and areas.
In order to support the implementation of digital accessibility in Germany, numerous support actions have been developed. Some of these projects will be presented in this article. Finally, we will give an outlook and show how
AI technologies are already being used today and will be used in the future, for example, to improve the accessibility of digital technologies. It will be shown which developments are necessary to improve the chances of participation of people with disabilities in the mainstream labour market.
