Access of people with disabilities to online information and services has become a critical requirement for an inclusive society as described in the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD). Many digital resources are still not accessible to people with disabilities. The rising demand for accessibility competence means that accessibility evaluation skills must become part of the standard IT skill set.The COMPARE strategic partnership between DIAS (DE), BrailleNet (FR) and Funka (SE) was set up to support and strengthen the accessibility competence both of skilled evaluators and non-expert IT staff. All three partner organisations have a long involvement and high expertise in the field of accessibility and in the development of tools and methodologies for accessibility evaluation. All three are important multipliers in their respective country. The project has built and tested an innovative learning resource that enables its users to look at real web content examples and related accessibility ratings by different experts / peers across Europe The partnership has developed and implemented the COMPARE repository of web content cases with accessibility ratings (PAR Repository) – see https://compare.accessiweb.org . The system is based on Wikimedia installation and has been populated with cases, accessibility assessments, and user testing results. The focus is on interactive widgets that are often hard to evaluate. Evaluators and developers can investigate the cases and ratings when learning to evaluate the accessibility of real web content. They can also validate one's own assessments against the judgments of peers. Accessibility experts and organisations of people with disabilities across Europe have contributed cases, assessments and user testing results. A second major project output is a Learning and Exploration Module called Access & Use. It features best practices and many video examples of user testing showing key accessibility requirements of interactive widgets. It links to related cases in the repository for exploration – see https://accessuse.eu . Access & Use can be deployed in existing training contexts, but also be used as part of future accessibility curricula. It shows eight key interactive web components, and interfaces with cases in the PAR repository where example cases can be explored further. The concept has been validated by other accessibility experts across Europe that are core stakeholders and contributors to the repository.The COMPARE resources offer a hands-on learning and exploration approach to accessibility where the focus is on real, complex web content and associated accessibility ratings. User testing results have added a third dimension. The impact of the project has been an improvement of the accessibility evaluation competence of experts and learners across Europe. With the PAR repository, experts have learned by comparing the different assessments of peers which validate (or at times contradict) their own judgments. They have also made use of the hands-on examples of user testing and the problems these videos demonstrate in https://access.use.eu in their familiarization and training activities. The International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) has signaled that it will use the COMPARE resources in their training activities. Access & use had also become a part of the EAE training course by French partner BrailleNet and is used by partners Funka and Dias in the training of accessibility evaluators that are needed to meet the strongly growing demand for accessibility evaluation services across Europe. In addition, standards bodies like WAI / W3C already benefit because working group members draw on COMPARE content examples and assessments to validate test procedures and techniques that are developed as resources of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

The Users as Experts project will develop innovative solutions that enable VET providers to convert personal experiences of disability into recognised areas of expertise. This idea, which we refer to as ‘user expertise’, promotes increased inclusion of persons with disabilities in society. User expertise will also improve outcomes in disability-relevant policy areas – in particular, with regard to the field of web accessibility.To ensure that the digital transformation of society includes everyone, the EU has introduced new requirements for digital accessibility in the public sector. These requirements affect hundreds of thousands of websites and mobile applications, many of which need to be updated to ensure compliance. As such, demand for web accessibility expertise is likely to balloon far beyond the current supply. More web accessibility experts, who understand the requirements and can identify compliance gaps, are needed. We propose to address this need by engaging those who are most likely to have experienced web inaccessibility: persons with disabilities. This has the added benefit of providing occupational opportunities to a target group that is excluded from the labour market across Europe.The project will result in four interrelated Intellectual Outputs:•A repository of best practices for making use of personal experiences of disability and inaccessibility (IO1)•A methodological toolkit for the conversion of personal experiences into recognised areas of expertise (IO2)•A typology of web accessibility competences for persons with disabilities (IO3)•A model curriculum for a course on web accessibility for persons with disabilities (IO4)These outputs will be developed according to an iterative co-creation methodology. The project partners will contribute to all activities and learn from each other in the process, and each activity will build on the results of previous activities. In addition, key target audiences – persons with disabilities, VET providers and public sector bodies – will participate in workshops, surveys and interviews in order to ensure that the materials developed meet actually existing needs and desires. All outputs will be made available as open source materials to VET providers, disabled persons’ organisations (DPOs) and public sector bodies across Europe.The project partners are Funka Nu AB (SE) Synthesis (CY), DIAS GmbH (DE) and Föreningen Furuboda (SE).Funka is a market-leading web accessibility consultancy. Aside from serving as project coordinator, Funka will lead the development of the best practice repository (IO1) and contribute expertise throughout. Synthesis is an accredited VET provider and social entrepreneurship hub. They will lead the development of the methodological toolkit for user expertise (IO2). DIAS provides a range of services in the fields of inclusion and professional rehabilitation, including on behalf of the German government. They will lead the development of the web accessibility competence typology (IO3). Furuboda is an accredited VET provider running a “folk high school” at two campuses in southern Sweden. Furuboda caters specifically to persons with disabilities. In this project, Furuboda will lead the development of the model curriculum (IO4).In the longer term, this project will promote the user expertise model in general and web accessibility in particular, while simultaneously contributing to increased social inclusion for persons with disabilities.