On December 3, International Day of Persons with Disabilities, the Russian campaign StartInclusion was launched. It united social entrepreneurs, NGOs, private companies, media outlets, bloggers, activists and opinion leaders in promoting an important topic – inclusion, accessibility and universal design in our lives.
In a broad sense, the word “inclusion” means engaging representatives of vulnerable, discriminated and marginalized groups – not just people with disabilities, but also elderly people, people with limited mobility, and people with injuries or lower social status – in various public areas, such as education, work, sports, etc.
The campaign was initiated by the inclusive social entrepreneurial project Everland, which provides jobs to people with disabilities and helps promote inclusion in society, uniting 2,000 people with different types of disabilities from Russia and other countries.
The Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ with its project Explore the Internet & Govern It also joined the campaign. In 2022, a gaming educational module for visually impaired internet users was launched on the project website. It received the sign of accessibility for people with disabilities. The module was designed according to the latest standards and is compatible with screen readers that translate text on a webpage into speech. The module was developed jointly with Everland.
“Having developed a game for visually impaired internet users that describes the structure of a computer, network infrastructure, artificial intelligence, as well as teaches the basics of network communication and the protection of personal data, we have taken a step towards ensuring that people with visual impairments in Russia receive and consolidate knowledge in a convenient way, and then become participants in the global process of internet governance, that is, take part in the development of the rules by which the World Wide Web should develop,” Andrey Vorobyev, Director of the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ, said.
The websites of the Coordination Center and the Explore the Internet project offer versions for the visually impaired.
We invite you to the StartInclusion website, where, in addition to details on the campaign and inclusive projects by its partners, you can find recommendations for communication in an inclusive society and the results of the study, “Should people with disabilities work in Russia? 2022 update,” that helps to create a portrait of the disabled so employers can understand what might prevent them from being integrated into the work process.
