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The book "Handbook of Digital Participation and Accessibility" was recently published, co-edited by Ulrike Peter, an employee of the Bremen State Office for Accessibility. It provides information on how accessibility can be implemented in digital administration, making it essential reading for our new government.Continue to the publisher's page for the bookThe Bremen-based organization is currently offering an Advent calendar with regular tips on digital accessibility. selfHTML also has one.Advent calendar for accessibility.

Das Verkehrsministerium will verstärkt Computerspiele fördern, in denen auf Barrierefreiheit geachtet wird. Warum das Verkehrsministerium für Computerspiele zuständig ist, bleibt unserer Phantasie überlassen. GamesPro: Das Bundesverkehrsministerium will verstärkt Barrierefreiheit in Spielen fördern

Domingos is a fan of simple tools for raising awareness of accessibility. For example, how about switching your screen to grayscale mode for a few hours a week? Blind people, those with severe visual impairments, and of course, colorblind people cannot perceive colors, or can only perceive them to a limited extent. This short exercise is meant to demonstrate how much information is communicated exclusively visually, in this case through color. No additional tools are needed. Here's how:Find out more in the blog.

Furthermore, we would like to draw your attention to ourAccessibility briefing notesOn December 14th, the topic will be cognitive accessibility.

Continuing in English. Deque asked accessibility experts how Covid has affected accessibility. In my assessment, specifically regarding Germany, Covid hasn't had a major impact on accessibility. Certainly, digitalization received a boost, especially at the beginning, and many disabled people benefited from that. However, not much has happened since then. How is COVID-19 Impacting Digital Accessibility?

Domingos once revealed himself to be not a fan of additional audio descriptions. Audio descriptions are film descriptions for blind people. An approach he finds more appealing is integrated audio descriptions. As always with accessibility, it should be considered and implemented from the very beginning; why should it be any different for films? Integrated Described Video (IDV)

The term "compliance" is rarely used in Germany in the context of accessibility. There is a difference between conformance and compliance when it comes to accessibility. This is clarified in a paper by the Bureau of Internet Accessibility. The Difference Between Accessibility Compliance and Accessibility Conformance

In Microsoft Teams soll es möglich werden, Präsentationen nicht nur als Bild, sondern für Blinde lesbar zu übertragen. Die Funktion heißt PowerPoint Live, bei uns ist sie bislang allerdings nicht aufgetaucht. Eine solche Funktion würde die Zugänglichkeit von Text-Präsentationen in virtuellen Meetings für Blinde und einige Sehbehinderte deutlich steigern.
Introducing PowerPoint Live in Microsoft Teams

Two things we've frequently reported on in our newsletter are now converging: the increasing number of lawsuits in the US concerning website accessibility issues and the problematic accessibility overlays that promise to automatically implement accessibility. One of the most vocal overlay providers, AccessiBe, is affected, as reported by Wired. This Company Tapped AI for Its Website—and Landed in Court

The key to success in accessibility, as elsewhere, is good planning and a team commitment to the desired outcome. Deque presents one such approach. Collaborative planning, the forgotten step of accessible development

Und das Zitat des Monats:
„Accessibility is not necessarily about doing more work, it’s often about making better decisions.“ Gigi Etienne.
An accessibility strategy

Our training courses are taking a winter break. We expect to resume at the end of January.

Currently, there are few interesting events related to accessibility. Therefore, we will refrain from providing the usual information here and hope that things will pick up again next year.

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