For inSuit it has always been important to help reduce the digital gap; and when directly related to disability, even more still.
That is why, on 19 November 2020 we participated in the “Brecha Digital y Discapacidad” (The Digital Gap and Disability Conference) in collaboration with Juan Antonio Cebollada, inSuit’s founding partner and expert in web accessibility. This conference was promoted by the Cátedra Brecha Digital y Diversidad Funcional (DicaTIC – The Digital Gap and Functional Diversity Chair) of the Polytechnic University of València (UPV).
The aim of this event was to encourage participants to explore and continue work in the field of Technology and Disability in order to reduce the digital gap. Today, this issue significantly affects people living with disabilities in Spain and around the world.
On this occasion, Juan Antonio Cebollada had the opportunity to tell attendees, the majority being entrepreneurs and people with disabilities, how, using our technological experience, we worked with people with disabilities to develop a successful business model that contributes to the well-being of this community.
During his talk, Juan Antonio emphasised how any technology-based sector will always, in some form or another, become associated to the issue of disability:
“In my case, I’ve been working in the technology field for more than 25 years. I have participated in many research projects aimed at making technology accessible, and for those projects I contacted people with disabilities. They participated by testing those technologies; that’s when I fell in love with this field, when I saw all of the potential of this world, and of the people with disabilities themselves, who can develop so many skills but who often face limitations due to the lack of accessible tools. And that’s how inSuit was born!”
Indeed, if we look at this segment of society, that of people with disabilities, which in represents more than 4 million people in Spain and more than 1 billion around the world, we come to realise that the web accessibility market is quite ample, generating many opportunities for businesses and social impact.
And, if we add the elderly, this number increases considerably. Juan Antonio highlighted this aspect when commenting on the breadth of this market niche:
“We are talking about a market with many opportunities, one with its own laws and obligations, offering us the opportunity to respond to two significant issues. On the one hand, you have institutions, private companies, and public organisations that must comply with regulations and, on the other, users.”
Conference participants were able to learn first-hand how, after a six-year journey, inSuit boasts a consolidated platform operating on the websites of many public and private organisations. From the very beginning, its success was brought by the recognition of users and associations directly involved with people with disabilities.
Proof positive of this is receiving the Queen Letizia Award, a significant honour acknowledging the contribution and value we offer to the community of disabled people, by ensuring that websites are fully accessible to them.
At inSuit, we believe in the value of people with disabilities when they contribute to the productive development of society, and that is why we emphasise the importance of working with this group in the construction and development of the many projects taken on by inSuit.
The event served as the perfect opportunity to highlight how essential it is to ensure a close relationship with people living with disabilities.
This is a crucial point that should prevail, just as we have done in the case of inSuit, which boasts important alliances with CERMI (Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities), COCEMFE(Spanish Confederation of People with Physical and Organic Mental Disabilities) and Red Proyecto Social, organisations that fight daily against the digital gap, also supporting us every step of the way, starting at the design stage, through to the construction, development, and testing of our accessible technologies.
Indeed, our participation in the Digital Gap and Disability Conference was a valuable opportunity to convey the message that technological entrepreneurship, when linked to disability, is a market which enjoys countless possibilities waiting to be explored, in order to offer solutions based on business models that turn into well-being for others.
For those who were unable to attend the online event, access to the full recording of the conference on Youtube is now available.
