The report “Access Denied” reveals that European political parties’ websites are vastly inaccessible to users with disabilities, with some components even reversing default accessibility measures.
The report, co-authored by the European Disability Forum and the Funka Foundation (a leader in the sector of digital accessibility), found appalling results in the websites of the 7 main European political parties – European People’s Party, Party of European Socialists, ALDE Party, ECR Party, European Greens, European Left and Identity and Democracy. The report identifies that these results are a symptom of the problem of widespread inaccessibility of political information – which hinders persons with disabilities from casting an informed vote.
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Reports
- Report “Access Denied: The (in)accessibility of European Political Party websites” (short version – 27 pages) PDF
- Report “Access Denied: The (in)accessibility of European Political Party websites” (full report – 92 pages) PDF
- Report “Access Denied: The (in)accessibility of European Political Party websites” – detailed results per tested criteria PDF
- Report “Access Denied: The (in)accessibility of European Political Party websites” – scope PDF
- Report “Access Denied: The (in)accessibility of European Political Party websites” (short version – 27 pages, 6 MB) Word
- Report “Access Denied: The (in)acessibility of European Political Party websites” (full report – 96 pages, 63,8 MB) Word, opens in new window
- Report “Access Denied: The (in)accessibility of European Political Party websites” – scope Word
Executive Summary
Our democratic systems and political processes rely on citizens being able to cast an informed vote. However, as seen in this report, the over 100 million persons with disabilities living in Europe are largely failed by political parties in their duty to provide accessible, reliable political information.
European political parties seem to be neglecting their obligation to provide information to all voters, whether they have specific access needs or not. In doing so, they are creating a barrier not only for persons with disabilities but for the democratic process itself.
While we recognise that the majority of voters will rely on information given by national political parties – and provided through a variety of means – we consider these disappointing results to provide an accurate snapshot of the inaccessibility of the political process, especially election campaigns, when it comes to the needs of persons with disabilities.
The disappointing results show that:
- All political parties’ websites have severe accessibility issues, excluding groups of users from content while making it difficult for others to access information.
- Some instances of insufficient colour contrast were the worst that any of the involved experts had ever measured before. A depressing record.
- Some website owners had actively removed code that benefits users, thereby deliberately making the interface less accessible.
This report analyses accessibility through the angle of persons with disabilities. This means that technical and practical arrangements are in place to ensure persons with disabilities can access and interact with society and enjoy their rights on an equal basis with others. This is far from the reality displayed in our study.
We call on EU political parties and all political actors to:
- Train web authors and other relevant staff in basic accessible publishing.
- Use the European standard for accessible ICT (EN301549) when procuring, designing and developing digital interfaces. The standard is free of charge.
- Involve end users with disabilities in designing, developing and testing digital interfaces, to make sure they work for everyone.
Finally, we encourage all political actors to meaningfully involve organisations of persons with disabilities in accordance with the disability movement’s updated motto: “Nothing without us.”