Stakeholders needs for a European eAccessibility certification and services

12 April 2005: Results from the Support EAM on-line digital survey (stakeholders' needs for a European eAccessibility certification) are available.

Download the results in a word document (1,05 Mo).

Download the results in a pdf document (436 ko).

About 450 answers from more than 20 countries were received. They represent a great variety of stakeholders with a strong representation of public organisations (58% of non-commercial respondents come from public sector) and Web designers (88% of commercial respondents come from Web companies).

The results confirm those of the on-line consultation from the Europa Commission open to all interested organisations and individuals to participate, between the 10thJanuary and the 12thFebruary 2005. The results definitely highlight the needs for better and clearer communication on Web accessibility and the set up of technical, methodological and verification process to put into concrete the international recommendations of W3C/WAI:

80% of respondents pay attention to Web accessibility of their sites but only 35% have checked or made checked it: most people know or heard of Web accessibility but they have no clear ideas of what to do.
75% of respondents want methodology and criteria: this need means that the second step of any innovation process has started: first people got aware of something to do, and then they want to set up a methodological approach.
80% of respondents think that to get a Quality Mark for their Web site is necessary before acceptance from their site builder: the Quality Mark is seen as a security and quality issue.
Stakeholders also consider that a Quality Mark for Web Accessibility would improve the image of the owner of the website (81%) and trust the accessibility of the Web site (84%). They think that an accessible Web site reaches a larger audience and therefore increase the Return On Investment (70%).
72% of the respondents have a budget for accessibility. Furthermore, 34% of them are willing to pay for an ongoing evaluation of their website. Among them, around 50% were even proposed an estimated annual budget for that whose average is 2200 €/year.

This survey brings good indications that Web accessibility is raising more and more concrete concerns in Europe. The stakeholders are prepared to seriously take into account the different aspects involved in Web accessibility, including the technical and financial ones. In order to make accessible their Web sites, they ask for testable criteria, methodology, Quality Mark and services.

Short explanation and background to the questionnaire.

The internet can be a place of frustration to many people with disabilities. Imagin that you are blind and a website asks you to go back and fill out the red fields. Or you are deaf and the only way to finish the order is by calling the computer on the phone. Or you have a cognitive disability and the site you are on changes to a different language. Or you are motor disabled and limited in the use of your hands causing you to take longer to interact, but the navigation on the website is moving too fast and the time limit sends you back to the start

Support EAM is a project funded by the European Commission that aims to create an e-Accessibility Quality Mark for Webservices by the end of 2005, as part of the Action Plan eEurope 2005: An information society for all.

By making relatively small changes you could significantly improve the accessibility of your website making a visit of your website easier for all, including people with disabilities and the elderly.

The support EAM project will research the possible setup of a European quality regulation in the form of a Quality Mark and/or a system of Self Declaration of Conformity. The project coordinates its activities with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Edean Special Interest Groups and CEN.

The project is an initiative of Association BrailleNet, Fundosa Teleservicios, Bartimeus Accessibility Foundation, Dublin City University, Universität Linz, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Research & Development, Accessinmind Limited.

More Information.

If you want to receive more information about this questionnaire or the Support EAM project, please contact Support EAM Project ("Contact us" Web page) or visit the Web Accessibility Benchmarking Cluster website.