MeAC – Measuring Progress of eAccessibility in Europe

Below are the results of the MeAC eAccessibility status measurement for Belgium.

Websites

The MeAC survey assessed the accessibility of a similar sample of 12 key websites in each of the EU Member States, as well as the USA, Canada and Australia. These included 6 key public websites (national government, national parliament, and key ministries such as social, employment, health and education) and 6 key sectoral/commercial websites (e.g. railways, TV, newspapers, and retail banking). All websites were evaluated against WCAG 1.0 Level A criteria, including both automatic and manual evaluation. (For methodological details see Annex II of the project report).

The results for Belgium, as measured in 2007, were as follows:

• 1 out of 6 of the selected public websites passed the automatic evaluation, however none passed both the automatic and the manual evaluations
• none of the sectoral/commercial websites even passed the automatic evaluation

Telecoms

Utilization of telecoms services and equipment can pose a variety of accessibility challenges for different disability groups. For the purposes of the MeAC study the availability of a number of selected accessibility provisions was surveyed in each of the 27 countries. In Belgium the following situation was identified in 2007:

• The main emergency number (112 or other) was not directly accessible by means of text telephones
• A text relay service was available, although only in Flanders (the Dutch speaking part of Belgium). A video relay service was not available
• Neither of the two main mobile telephony operators provided eAccessibility related information to customers with disabilities via their website. Neither of them offered models that are labeled as hearing aid compatible via their online sales channel
• Neither of the two main landline telephone operators provided eAccessibility-related information to customers with disabilities via their website. Neither of them offered models that are labeled as hearing aid compatible via their online sales channel

Broadcasting

To ensure that people with disabilities can access and enjoy TV broadcast programs in the same manner as everyone else, a variety of accessibility provisions need to be made available, including subtitling and sign language interpretation for people with hearing impairments and audio description for people with vision impairments. As regards their availability in Belgium, the following situation was found by the MeAC study in 2007:

• Of the two main public TV channels (operated by the same broadcaster), in 2006
  • both provided national language programs with subtitling. In terms of volumes, the broadcaster’s programs provided with subtitling amounted to 50% of its overall national language programming. (Information on individual channels was not available)
  • neither provided any programs with signing
  • neither provided any programs with audio description
  • Information about the TV access services provided was made available on the public broadcaster’s website and via teletext
• Of the two main commercial TV channels, in 2006
  • both provided national language programs with subtitling. In terms of volumes, one channel provided programs with subtitling amounted to 5% of its overall national language programming. No data were available for the other channel
  • neither provided any programs with signing
  • neither provided any programs with audio description

Self-service terminals

The utilisation of standard self-service terminals can pose various accessibility challenges to different groups. In the banking sector, for instance, automatic teller machines (ATMs) which are designed to meet the needs of vision impaired people are now being manufactured. Usually referred to as “talking” ATMs, such machines have a voice output option via headphones and/or external loud speakers.

As regards the availability of such banking terminals in Belgium, the following situation, as measured in 2007, was found by the MeAC study:

• Of the two main retail banks operating in the country, neither had installed any talking ATMs, nor did they have any plans to install talking ATMs

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