Programme

Public hybrid hearing on "The Web accessibility directive: looking forward"

Via Interactio, online platform, EESC, JDE62 – Monday, 23 October 2023 from 09:30 a.m. to 01:00 p.m.

09.00 a.m. - 09.30 a.m. | Testing connections

09.30 a.m. - 09.40 a.m. | Welcome & Introduction

  • Christophe Lefèvre, President of the EESC Permanent Group on Disability rights (PG DIS)

09.40 a.m. - 11.00 a.m. | Panel I - View from the EU and Member States

This first panel will present the current framework and analyse the challenges faced by PWD on web accessibility

Moderator: Marie Zvolská,EESC PG DIS Member

  • June Lowery-Kingston, Head of Unit, Unit for Accessibility, Multilingualism and Safer Internet, DG CONNECT, European Commission
  • Dónal Rice, Senior Standards and Monitoring Officer for the EU Web Accessibility Directive at the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design, National Disability Authority, Ireland
  • Anete Ilves, Legal Counselor at the Latvian Ombudsman Office

Questions & answers

11.00 a.m. - 11.15 a.m. | Break

11.15 a.m. - 12.25 p.m. | Panel II - View from Civil Society Organisations and Academia

The second panel will look at the recommendations of civil society organisations to improve web accessibility

Moderator:Sif Holst, EESC PG DIS Member

  • Jakob Rosin, chair of the Estonian Blind Union, European Disability Forum (EDF)
  • Eric Welleman, Professor of Inclusive Digital Design & Engineering at Han University
  • Susanna Laurin, Representative of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) to the EU
  • Kevin White or David Montalvo, Web Accessibility Initiative W3C (W3C WAI) (to be confirmed)

Questions & answers

12.25 p.m. - 12.30 p.m. | Closing remarks

  • Christophe Lefèvre, President of the EESC Permanent Group on Disability rights (PG DIS)

Interpretation requested from French, English, Italian, Czech, Lithuanian, Polish and Slovak into French, English, Italian and Polish