A Celebration of Human Dignity – Zero Project Conference 2018

This year, I attended the Zero Project Conference for the first time. The event, initiated by the Essl Foundation, was so inspiring that I am already looking forward to the next edition. The United Nations provided the perfect setting for the conference at the Vienna International Centre. Over 600 participants from more than 70 countries presented their approaches to the themes of inclusion, accessibility, and equality for all people.

Breaking Barriers

In recent years, voices have become particularly loud on social media, with more and more posts addressing the guidelines and applications submitted to the Zero Project by a remarkable 4000 experts. These cover a wide range of different projects, all of which have one thing in common: they support the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD). Over a 4-year cycle, work was carried out on four different themes, and the team from and around Martin Essl also did an excellent job this year.

Immediately upon entering the Vienna International Centre, even before passing through the security checks, one gets a good impression of what awaits participants over the next few days. The opening ceremony, moderated by Caroline Casey, was already the first impactful moment. She brought exactly the right amount of energy and empathy to captivate every listener. This session was, so to speak, the starting signal for my journey into a more inclusive society. (Well, I have already been working in the field of accessible web for several years, but this event gave me even more impetus, I want to achieve even more!)

The first expert I had the pleasure of meeting, Mikael Snaprud from Tingtun, built an application for accessibility checks on large websites. He also gave me the idea to offer a scalable solution for improving website accessibility and to combine this with the ideological commitment of our project, the Austrian Web Accessibility Certificate Initiative. This not only improves legal responsibility but also strengthens the employment and education sectors. I hope to meet Mikael again soon to collaborate with him in this area.

One of the most moving moments of the entire conference for me was the broadcast of the video from the Canadian Down Syndrome Foundation. See for yourselves:

Day #2: Our Project

As a board member of the Austrian Web Accessibility Certificate Initiative, I had the opportunity to attend the event, to see Klaus Höckner from the Austrian Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired and to present our project, which is based on international standards, implemented with the help of open-source software, and checks the conformity of websites. It not only includes a monitoring tool for state initiatives and institutions but also offers website operators a means of quality assurance regarding performance and SEO topics. Furthermore, we plan to combine this infrastructure with training goals, thereby further strengthening and supporting service providers in the digital sector. We thus offer a somewhat different approach to a widespread problem. Shortly thereafter, Werner Rosenberger and I also had a conversation with [Monica Duhem]/https://www.facebook.com/zeroproject.org/videos/vl.528577097514173/1792598110779841/?type=1 "Monica Duhem") from Hearcolors, discussing optimisation processes related to web accessibility in Mexico and Bangladesh.

Later in the afternoon, the ceremonial part of the conference began. All participants and guests made their way to the Rotunda of the United Nations building, where a large gospel choir welcomed them to perform the official anthem of the Zero Project Conference live for the first time in the event's history. Two Nobel Peace Prize medals were also exhibited in this setting to symbolise the UN's vision of creating a better world.

After this performance, Martin Essl presented an artwork to the United Nations Office in Vienna, intended to express his support for the movement: the “Project Zero Being”. Emmerich Weissenberger created the painting in such a way that blind people could also enjoy it: with a built-in tactile board that made the depiction tangible on 7 relief panels.

At the end of the second evening, 75 innovative projects were honoured. Congratulations to all the winners!

Highlights

With so many interesting sessions happening simultaneously, one always had to choose just one. Even though that was not always easy. A remarkable project from Paraguay particularly stuck in my mind: an initiative raised awareness of barriers in public spaces by attaching huge stickers. This went so far that residents no longer wanted to wait for government decisions but instead built ramps themselves or simply demolished impassable steps leading to pavements to make the environment more accessible to everyone. A first step in the right direction.

Another highlight was the presentation of the Zero Project Award to Yuval Wagner and his team from Access Israel, who founded an initiative in 1999 to train service providers in accessibility. This is further proof that true dedication pays off and can contribute to change.

As my childhood was shaped by my parents' catering business, it was a great honour for me to meet Ewoud Lagring from Visit Flanders. The Flanders tourism region in northern Belgium has a special vision for accessible holiday destinations, involving stakeholders from all business partners. Afterwards, I looked at various tourism regions and their accessibility and was amazed at how much potential for improving the UX for people with disabilities still lies buried in this area. But we already know that we still have a long way to go. At this point, I would like to highlight the work of Trivago and Expedia (online booking platforms), which have already managed to improve their user experience and accessibility on their sites. As one can imagine, implementation is not always easy, as Ian Devlin, Lead Developer at Trivago, describes in a blog post. Of course, it is always better to make progress in small steps than to remain stagnant. So keep up the good work!

An International Partner for Inclusion

The Zero Project Conference is not only relevant for exchanging ideas and experiences but also for adapting standards. This limits the time and effort spent on unnecessary tasks and accelerates inclusion. In Europe, for example, there are 300 different guidelines and laws dealing with accessibility. This circumstance not only makes simple implementation difficult but also causes organisations and companies to doubt legal certainty. That is why it is so important to hold conferences that address the process of change and innovation, bringing together the most diverse brilliant minds from all over the world.

During these 3 days, I met so many new people, but of course also long-standing colleagues, partners, and old friends. Listing them all would go beyond the scope here, but I would still like to highlight a few with whom I had particularly interesting conversations and a lot of fun. These include Klaus Miesenberger from JKU, Shadi from W3C WAI, Christine Hemphill from OpenInclusion, Franz Pühretmair & Gerhard Nussbaum from KI-I, Gregor Demblin & Wolfgang Kowatsch from myAbility, Heidi Egger from the Austrian Council for Persons with Disabilities and Victoria Doppler from Caritas Vienna.

Great respect also to Martin Habacher, who acted as social media consultant for the conference. He rushed through the halls, captured the best moments, and conducted interviews with speakers and the organisation team. Thank you for this excellent job!

See You Next Year!

Being part of this movement this year made me very happy. I would also like to thank Martin Essl and his team at the Zero Project Foundation, as well as all the volunteers who made the event, the exchange, and the wonderful time possible. I hope to see many now familiar faces at other events around the world and to continue the exchange about various projects throughout the year until we all meet again next time at #ZeroCon19.