Pathway to digital accessibility kicks off

Guaranteeing all users, regardless of their abilities, the possibility of making the most of the content and services offered: this is the commitment that the 24 ORE Group has launched in preparation for the entry into force from June 2025 of the European Accesibility act inspired by the ethical principles and adherence to the criteria of sustainability and social inclusion, with a path of progressive optimisation of its content, products and digital services that aims to optimise the user experience by promoting an inclusive environment for the 7.658 million Italians with disabilities (according to data from pension or disability allowance recipients).

The path of development of accessibility  has for years been accompanied by an editorial path of sensitivity and awareness on the issues of disability in general, through all the Group's media, from the newspaper to the website, from books to Radio 24 programmes, from the conferences of 24 ORE Eventi to the exhibitions of 24 ORE Cultura. A commitment that will continue next 2 December, in anticipation of the World Day of People with Disabilities that falls on 3 December: Il Sole 24 Ore will be on newsstands with a special "Life and Disability" dedicated to the life project outlined by the July disability reform. From birth to old age, the services and supports needed to ensure the greatest possible independence for people with disabilities, passing through the Italian inclusive school model, integration in the world of work, and the possibility of personal and family life choices. The special also features an interview with two Paralympic champions, Martina Caironi and Giulia Terzi, who tell how we must start from children to change the culture of disability in Italy, and an interview with content creator Giulia Lamarca, who tells of the difficulties she encounters between work and parenthood.

Also on 2 December, the Mudec - Museo delle Culture di Milano, committed at the forefront of an inclusive museum concept, will host the sixth edition of Global Inclusion, an event promoted by Il Sole 24 Ore and the Fondazione Global Inclusion - art. 3 ETS, an event dedicated to promoting the concept of equality and inclusion that this year will focus on the theme of DESIGN FOR ALL, i.e. design that gives life to environments, systems, products and services that can be used independently by anyone, whatever their individual needs and abilities. In the setting of Mudec, a meeting place that usually hosts many artistic and cultural forms that aim to include all diversity, it will bring together business leaders, teachers, volunteers from the Third Sector, social start-ups and institutions, including the Minister for Disabilities Alessandra Locatelli.

And it is precisely on the occasion of World Content Accessibility Day that the first tranche of technical accessibility interventions will be released on IlSole24ore.com making the site more accessible and usable for all users, including those with visual, motor and cognitive disabilities. These interventions aim to meet WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) compliance criteria, ensuring a more inclusive browsing experience. Enhancements include increased contrast between text or icons and background, making it easier for those with visual impairments to read the content, the page zoom function on mobile, keyboard navigation making the site easier to use for people with motor or visual impairments.

The website of 24 ORE Eventi has also already implemented some of these functions and has an experimentation phase underway to manage the automatic conversion from speech to text  (from speech to text) in live videos, using subtitles. The first test will be conducted at the Global Inclusion event on 2 December, with the aim of fine-tuning the system for full release by January 2025.