Ensuring accessibility of digital and online resources for youth with disabilities

Project name: Ensuring accessibility of digital and online resources for youth with disabilities

Project acronym: SEOywd

Funding scheme: Erasmus+ Program – Youth

Partner countries: Germany – Estonia – Serbia – Italy – Croatia

Project duration: April 2025 – February 2027

Project budget: 250.000 €

Learning Library is part of the consortium implementing the project.

Disability inclusion is vital to upholding human rights. However, the Covid-19 global pandemic revealed one huge issue that was often overlooked: digital accessibility. As remote & hybrid work became more common, the focus on accessibility became less about the physical workplace and more about the digital workplace — though both are equally significant. To achieve digital accessibility, ICTs should not only be available & affordable, but also accessible, which means designed to meet the needs and abilities of as many people as possible – including those with disabilities. Accessibility of ICT is key given that ICTs have become the primary medium for communications, information, transactions, education & entertainment worldwide. Digital technologies must be as usable & inclusive as possible so that everyone across the globe can benefit irrespective of one’s disabilities so that everyone can realize the full potential of the Internet. People lacking access to such technologies either because of financial or physical resources are becoming part of an increasing digital divide and in this case the ‘accessibility’ divide.

SEOywd aims to enhance digital accessibility and inclusivity in youth work organisations, by creating a more inclusive digital environment for young people with disabilities through promoting awareness, understanding, and practical skills related to digital accessibility. This objective directly supports addressing digital transformation and adaptation of youth work organisations, development of their capacities and improvement of their youth work activities in digital environment. By achieving this, we are directly contributing to improvement of everyday lives of young people with disabilities, enabling them to be included in regular activities in digital environment, such as education, shopping, entertainment or looking for important information. In order to be able to achieve those objectives, we will work on development of innovative educational materials and resources for both youth workers and young people with disabilities, as well as on developing capacities of partner organisations to become pioneers in youth work for addressing digital accessibility.

Project objectives:

1. To improve the capacities and resources of youth workers for promoting digital accessibility and inclusion, through the development and dissemination of a curriculum that covers essential aspects of digital accessibility, through organizing trainings of youth workers, and through developed e-learning course for youth workers.
2. To empower youngsters with disabilities by providing them with the tools and knowledge necessary to navigate and utilize digital and online environments, through the creation of a comprehensive toolkit and the implementation of local piloting workshops, along with an e-learning course designed to meet their needs.
3. To widely disseminate relevant resources on digital accessibility and inclusivity through the establishment of the “SEOywd” online platform, targeted online campaigns for the developed resources (curriculum, e-learning courses, toolkit), and by organising national conferences, thereby reaching a broad audience and stakeholders involved in the digital inclusion of youth with disabilities.