A6: A big myth is that the #EAA only applies to websites—it doesn’t. It covers banking, transport, e-books, e-commerce, and more. Another myth? That accessibility is expensive. In truth, retrofits are costly—building access in from the start saves money and includes more people. #AXSChat

The depth of requirements in areas that go beyond the expertise and experience of small companies will be a challenge, especially if everything was done in house. #AXSChat

talking about packaging, i love how in europe medicines always have #braille in packaging (name, strength as min) #axschat

Still another day before we can go total Midsummer mode ...

Thanks @neilmilliken.bsky.social @akwyz.com @debraruh.bsky.social for making sure #AXSChat is alive and kicking! Many good interactions tonight. Now time for bed.

A6 The vendor needs to be able to have a discussion about pros and cons, prioritisation and how to handle tricky decisions where the best solutions is really expensive and the second best may exclude user groups etc. #AXSChat

A6 If references are used in the procurement process, I would spend a bit of time to talk to one or two of them, to get a feel of how the vendor see their role – as compliance specialists referencing the requirements or actual consultants? #AXSChat

A6 A common misconception is that all you need is technical staff who know accessibility. That can never be enough, as accessibility is just as much about design, UX and content creation. #AXSChat

A6 Above all, vendors should have real, practical experience. It is not enough to know standards and legislation by heart – you need to have met enough users with various needs to understand the complexity of possible solutions. #AXSChat

A5 Deciding what your goal is, is equally important. Do you aim for being the most user friendly and accessible provider in the world … or is the goal just not to get in trouble by breaking the law? If you can answer that question, it will be easier to find the right vendor. #AXSChat

A5 The internal analysis will show some gaps needed to be filled, by training and recruiting, or by selecting a vendor that can complement the already existing competences. #AXSChat

A5 Strategy, no matter the legal framework: I strongly believe in knowing where you are and where you are going, before you move into action. If you are new to accessibility, you need to look internally first, to understand the current status and what competences you have internally. #AXSChat

A5 We are still talking about the European Accessibility Act, right? Not my intention to be picky, but people tend to confuse it with the Web Accessibility Directive and if you call it the "EU Accessibility Directive" it is really a mix of apples and pears. #AXSChat

A4 Another important aspect is empowering people with disabilities by making it easy for users to report accessibility issues and provide suggestions. Introducing accessibility in school curricula to create awareness from a young age is an important but of course long-term strategy. #AXSChat

A4 Cross-sector collaboration can help: building alliances between public, private, and non-profit organisations to take advantage of resources and expertise. #AXSChat

A4 I believe a series of actions must be taken to succeed. It seems like everyone agrees stakeholder involvement is important, but still it is rarely carried out. #AXSChat

A3 More indirectly, accessibility testing and monitoring will also be more efficient with AI, leading (hopefully) to increased accessibility. NB there are also risks – we need humans to be clever when using and implementing AI. #AXSChat

A3 Another positive impact is built-in personal preferences by default, instead of requiring the individual to re-program things to fit their needs. #AXSChat

A3 There are great opportunities for personalised user experiences, where I get the information/interface exactly the way it suits me. We already see improvements in assistive technology being more precise using AI. #AXSChat

A3 Accessibility is mainly about providing alternatives. AI can already turn speech into text and text into audio, it can describe (or rather guess) what an image is showing etc. As these functions improve and cover more languages, we will all benefit. #AXSChat

A2 The European Accessibility Act's global impact starts with sharing best practices, encouraging worldwide adoption, and showing businesses accessibility drives innovation. By making compliance attractive and inclusive, we transform standards into a global movement for disability rights. #AXSChat

A2 It doesn’t really make business sense to develop and maintain two versions in parallel .... so the region with the toughest requirements will have an indirect impact also on other markets. #AXSChat

A2 When a company is obliged to meet accessibility requirements in the EU, chances are that they will implement the same version of their product/service to all their markets, rather than marketing one accessible to be sold in the EU and one inaccessible to be sold elsewhere. #AXSChat

A2 The EAA is going to benefit people far beyond the EU, as companies who want to sell their products or services in scope of the directive are covered – no matter where they are headquartered. #AXSChat

A1 Organisations representing persons with disabilities may not always have the capacity to support all the requests they get and many of them struggle to make ends meet. That may not be the perfect supplier of technical assistance BUT they do of course represent a unique lived experience. #AXSChat

A1 I have worked for both commercial and not-for-profit organisations and my feeling is that it is easier to be a not-for-profit. Policy makers are much less afraid of me while wearing the not-for-profit hat, which makes it easier to lobby ... #AXSChat

A1 Research organisations like us are another type of nonprofit, and we can deliver equivalent services as commercial companies. One difference being our total independence and the possibility to keep prices low, as we don’t need to make a revenue. #AXSChat

A1 What the rest of society needs to learn is to pay persons with disabilities as the experts they are – no matter if we talk about OPDs or individuals with disabilities. #AXSChat

This week on #AXSChat we welcome back @susannalaurin.bsky.social to the chat. Susanna is the CEO of Funka Foundation which carries out research to support inclusion and accessibility through user centred research and innovation. Join us for the Q&A at 8pm UK vimeo.com/1048651321?s...