Digital Inclusion Day on 21 November – ADIS and Adnovum

ADIS – Swiss Digital Inclusion Alliance

This year, Adnovum has become a member of the Swiss Digital Inclusion Alliance (ADIS), a Switzerland-wide initiative to promote digital inclusion. It is supported by organizations such as the Federal Bureau for the Equality of People with Disabilities (FBED), Digital Public Services Switzerland, digitalswitzerland, and other partners from administration, business, education, and civil society. ADIS aims to promote digital inclusion in Switzerland and foster a network of stakeholders from society, administration, education, culture, and business.

ADIS' areas of activity include networking, analysis, framework conditions, orientation, and information. For Adnovum, membership not only means access to an interdisciplinary network, but also the opportunity to actively participate in specialist groups, events, and pilot projects.

Why is a membership so important?

We are convinced that digital products and services must be usable for everyone – regardless of their abilities. Over 1.7 million people in Switzerland live with a disability, corresponding to about 20% of the population. Many of them encounter barriers in their everyday digital lives that prevent them from using websites, apps, or other digital services. In addition, our society is ageing: people may be excluded from using digital services due to age-related limitations. There are also people who – regardless of age or disability – lack sufficient digital skills and therefore have limited access to digital information and services.

The importance of accessibility has changed considerably over the years: What used to be considered «nice to have» is now a «must have». We see accessibility as an opportunity to design better products for everyone – regardless of ability, device, or context. As a software service provider, we as well have a responsibility to break down barriers.

What we at Adnovum do for accessibility

Our team of experienced accessibility consultants supports clients in making their digital offerings accessible – be it in the development of new websites and apps or in the review and optimization of existing solutions. We are committed to supporting projects from the outset and ensuring that digital accessibility is not seen as an afterthought, but as a fundamental principle. We accomplish this with the help of accessibility audits, training courses, workshops for development and design teams, and by supporting our clients in the implementation of such legal requirements as the European Accessibility Act (EAA). If accessibility is factored in from the very start, all users ultimately benefit from a better user experience.

In addition to our audit and consulting services, we are also engaged in industry-specific initiatives with, for example, webinars and white papers on the topic of digital accessibility. In the white paper «Accessibility in Digital Administration», we take a closer look at the public sector in order to support administrations and institutions in the implementation of legal requirements with best practices. We have also published a white paper on accessibility in banking, where we shed light on the particular challenges and solutions for an accessible user experience in the financial sector. A more general example is our webinar on the EAA, which examines the legal requirements and provides recommendations for implementation. These offerings aim to share our expertise and provide a targeted impetus for more digital inclusion in various sectors.

For Adnovum, membership in ADIS is a valuable opportunity to contribute even more actively to the exchange of expertise, learn from the experiences of others, and develop solutions together. We want our membership to be a space for collaboration and learning for us. Our goal is to improve ourselves – through dialog, innovative projects, and reflection on our own processes.

«Ask Me Anything»: your questions about digital accessibility on 21 November

To mark Digital Inclusion Day in the spirit of collaboration, we at Adnovum are launching a special campaign: an «Ask Me Anything» on the topic of accessibility – or A11y for short, as it is known in expert circles. The «11» stands for the eleven letters between the «A» and the «y» in the word «Accessibility».

Do you have questions about digital accessibility? Would you like to know which guidelines need to be taken into account for an accessible website? Or are you interested in finding out which legal requirements are relevant for your company? Have you ever wondered what a jump link is or how to implement an accordion component without barriers?

This is how it works:
Send your question by tomorrow, 21 November, to askmea11y@adnovum.ch. Every question we receive by the end of the day will be answered by our accessibility consultants free of charge. Very complex and lengthy questions may be answered at a later date. At the same time, you will automatically take part in our giveaway.

Giveaway:
From the submitted questions, we will draw one winner who will receive a one-hour workshop with our accessibility consultants, including an introduction into accessibility. You can delve deeper into a specific topic with us, discuss concrete issues from your project, or get an overview of the most important accessibility principles and testing foundations.

Whether you have just begun familiarizing yourself with the topic or have already gained some experience – we look forward to your question and an exchange of ideas.

Take the opportunity to send us your question. Together, we can make the digital offering in Switzerland more accessible and inclusive.

Disclaimer: If we do not receive a response within seven days of notifying the winner, there will be a new draw. We may use anonymized versions of the questions and answers we received (without personal data) in a follow-up post.