A digital platform for persons with disabilities - Observatory of Public Sector Innovation

DYPAwebpageWithLinkforPersonsWithDisabilities

The Public Employment Service (DYPA) in Greece has launched the PROSVASIS platform, a new digital platform which is based on the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 AAΑ international standard. With the use of this platform persons with disabilities and especially persons with visual and hearing difficulties, physical and cognitive/mental disabilities have access to the content of the DYPA website thus promoting inclusiveness for these vulnerable social groups.

Innovation Summary

Innovation Overview

Accessibility to the Internet in particular and to information in general is part of the support provided by this innovation to persons with disabilities so that they can have better access to Internet information and functionalities. Ensuring equal opportunities for all unemployed persons is one of the key priorities of the Public Employment Service. In the context of digitalisation and aiming at the equal access of all to the digital information, DYPA implemented actions to ensure the digital accessibility of its digital services and content of the current website to persons with any type of disability.
More specifically since 11 October 2021 the prosvasis.dypa.gov.gr platform was launched, which is a new digital platform based on the latest WCAG 2.1 AAΑ international standard. This enabled vulnerable social groups to have actual access to the content of the DYPA websites in the context of harmonization with European legislation thus diminishing the danger of social exclusion.

This innovation was developed in collaboration with the contractor company LIONCODE WEB & MOBILE SOLUTIONS. A technical report was drafted first to evaluate the digital accessibility of the content of the updated website www.oaed.gr (the former DYPA website) launched in April by the Speech and Accessibility Laboratory, Department of Informatics and Telecommunications, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in order to identify possible designing and programming errors or errors in the content and to comply with the WCAG 2.0 AA accessibility standard.

The implementation was extended on two basic pillars:

Design pillar: the design of the platform (UI and UX) was carried out based on all modern rules closely following the standard.
Operational pillar: all functionalities available on the platform serve persons with disabilities and many of them have been implemented in such a way to foresee and avert possible problems.

The information technology company which designed the platform in collaboration with DYPA won the GOLD award in a contest held as part of the Impact BITE Awards 2021. The especially designed website, which is adapted to the needs of persons with disabilities, is a measure to overcome the barriers vulnerable social groups face such as access to information for all actions and services offered by DYPA as well as difficulty in dealing with the DYPA local services. Via the website and the features offered persons with disabilities can now navigate its content with ease. For example in an easy and simple way they can gather information about the implemented actions such as the open employment and training programmes as well as the processes available, registration to the Unemployed persons Registry, and application for unemployment benefit, etc. Furthermore access to information such as the provided consulting services is facilitated and as a result persons of this particular social group have more opportunities to be integrated into the labour market.

According to the above, this specific action has multiple advantages for persons with disabilities and the whole society in general since it has improved the users’ accessibility and satisfaction while at the same time it was fully accepted by the public, a fact proven by the high rate of visits to the website. More specifically 9.591 persons visited the website and made 10.257 visits in total since September 2021 when the website was launched.

Innovation Description

What Makes Your Project Innovative?

The innovation’s added value is that it was designed according to the new WCAG 2.1 AAA accessibility standard and was implemented according to the latest internationally recognized rules. This makes it unique for both DYPA and the Public Administration in Greece. Moreover, it is an upgraded version of the current DYPA website with additional features for persons with disabilities. The most important result produced to this day is that it facilitates the access of persons with disabilities to information providing the following:

Customisation of font size/ colour combinations
Text instead of images, text to speech conversion
Text of Audio files/ video navigation via the keyboard/ mouse
Simplified content layout for persons with visual impairments/ difficulties

What is the current status of your innovation?

The platform is interoperable with the existing information infrastructure. 37.940 persons visited the website and made 41.266 visits in total. The issue arising was the need to interface the special digital platform (prosvasis) with the dypa.gov.gr website so that the content of the special digital platform for persons with disabilities is updated automatically every time the content on the main website is updated. The contractor company is working towards this end, i.e. achieving a successful interconnection and so far the results are satisfactory.

Innovation Development

Collaborations & Partnerships

The particularly increased requirements for the development of a project with special technical characteristics created the need to collaborate with an external contractor company with which a contract was signed. Furthermore, DYPA collaborated with the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens for the experimental implementation of the action.

Users, Stakeholders & Beneficiaries

The prosvasis.dypa.gr digital platform is based on the most advanced international standard and ensures better access to the DYPA websites content for vulnerable social groups that face the following issues:

Partial or total vision loss and learning disabilities
Understanding, navigating and locating content
Photosensitivity or epileptic seasures
Difficulties in content comprehension or communicating in Greek as well as filling in data

Innovation Reflections

Results, Outcomes & Impacts

This specific action has multiple advantages for persons with disabilities and the whole society in general. Users are facilitated in locating information and navigating, they feel safe to fill in data and in general they refer to the internal help mechanism easily and quickly. All the above lead to the conclusion that this particular action has improved the users’ accessibility and satisfaction and at the same time the platform was fully accepted by the public, a fact proven by the high visit rate of the website.

Challenges and Failures

It is a fact that persons with disabilities face barriers such as access to information for all actions and services offered by DYPA as well as difficulty in dealing with the DYPA local services. This is why a platform accessible to persons with disabilities and adapted to their needs was designed. The issue arising was the need to interface the special digital platform (prosvasis) with the dypa.gov.gr website so that the content of the special digital platform for persons with disabilities is updated automatically every time the content on the main website is updated. We are working on overcoming these issues and constantly improve the platform.

Conditions for Success

In this case the critical factors contributing to the success of the innovation under submission are the following:

Harmonisation with modern accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AAA.)
Harmonisation with the European and national legislation to support persons with special social needs and enhance their accessibility
Support from the political leadership and the head of the competent Ministry and Institution to this project
Acceptance of the action by the Institution’s staff and its further communication to the public
Publicity of the platform’s capacities
Prevalence of digital procedures for the public, a fact which in turn calls for the facilitation of vulnerable social groups and their direct access to the information for persons with disability.

Replication

The PROSVASIS (prosvasis.dypa.gov.gr) digital platform facilitates the digital accessibility of persons with disabilities. It is a standard that could be adopted by public and private bodies which wish that their websites be upgraded in such a way that could appeal to vulnerable social groups facing access barriers and the danger of social exclusion. The innovation has not been transfered to any other public body. The platform is constantly evolving within the Public Employment Service (DYPA).

Lessons Learned

The Project’s implementation is extended to two basic pillars:

Design pillar: the design of the platform (UI and UX) was carried out based on all modern rules closely following the standard (WCAG 2.1 AAA).
Operational pillar: all functionalities available on the platform serve persons with disabilities and many of them have been implemented in such a way to foresee and avert possible problems.

Additionally, a technical evaluation report was carried out for the digital accessibility of the content of the updated website. All the above are the main characteristics that are deemed as necessary and important in the design of such actions.