ICT accessibility competences - Guidelines for a more inclusive ICT development

This document specifies the knowledges, skills, responsibility and autonomy of ICT experts involved in the development of products and services (including digital contents) to increase the accessibility knowledge in different fields, for different competences and responsibilities.
This document:
-   considers accessibility as "base line" (accessibility has been also recognized in EN 16234-1:2019 as a Transversal aspect);
-   recognizes accessibility as the requirement in procurement for both public and private sectors;
-   provides an overview of useful CEN, ISO and ESCO publications in the field;
-   defines a set of knowledges, skills, responsibility and autonomy for different ICT areas to improve accessibility in the current professional roles and job positions (hardware, software, web);
-   refers to ESCO ICT profiles, that can be adapted for the three main areas: hardware, software, web;
-   refers to W3C activities for define knowledges, skills, responsibility and autonomy in web accessibility role profiles;
-   supports activities for educational providers and exam/certification institutes.
This document should help, for example, to:
-   avoid issues on the definition of third level profiles derived from European ICT Professional Role Profiles without missing accessibility requirements;
-   enable easy application of accessibility related EU-level standards and references from CEN, ISO and ESCO;
-   allow the market to adapt their current job profiles and/or training courses adding the accessibility skills.
This document supports the definition of knowledge and skills for each ICT professional role without creating new ICT role profiles which includes accessibility competences.

IKT-Zugänglichkeitskompetenzen - Leitlinien für eine umfassendere IKT-Entwicklung

Kompetence za dostopnost IKT - Smernice za širši razvoj IKT

General Information

Status
Not Published
Public Enquiry End Date
31-Jul-2022
Technical Committee
Current Stage
5520 - Unique Acceptance Procedure (UAP) (Adopted Project)
Start Date
02-Jun-2022
Due Date
20-Oct-2022

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SLOVENSKI STANDARD
kSIST-TP FprCEN/TR 17884:2022
01-julij-2022
Kompetence za dostopnost IKT - Smernice za širši razvoj IKT
ICT accessibility competences - Guidelines for a more inclusive ICT development

IKT-Zugänglichkeitskompetenzen - Leitlinien für eine umfassendere IKT-Entwicklung

Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: FprCEN/TR 17884
ICS:
03.100.30 Vodenje ljudi Management of human
resources
35.020 Informacijska tehnika in Information technology (IT) in
tehnologija na splošno general
kSIST-TP FprCEN/TR 17884:2022 en,fr,de

2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

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kSIST-TP FprCEN/TR 17884:2022
FINAL DRAFT
TECHNICAL REPORT
FprCEN/TR 17884
RAPPORT TECHNIQUE
TECHNISCHER BERICHT
May 2022
ICS 35.020; 03.100.30
English Version
ICT accessibility competences - Guidelines for a more
inclusive ICT development
IKT-Zugänglichkeitskompetenzen - Leitlinien für eine
umfassendere IKT-Entwicklung

This draft Technical Report is submitted to CEN members for Vote. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee CEN/TC

428.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,

Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,

Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and

United Kingdom.

Recipients of this draft are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent rights of which they are

aware and to provide supporting documentation.

Warning : This document is not a Technical Report. It is distributed for review and comments. It is subject to change without

notice and shall not be referred to as a Technical Report.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION
EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels

© 2022 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. FprCEN/TR 17884:2022 E

worldwide for CEN national Members.
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Contents Page

European foreword ...................................................................................................................................................... 3

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................... 4

1 Scope .................................................................................................................................................................... 6

2 Normative references .................................................................................................................................... 6

3 Terms and definitions ................................................................................................................................... 7

4 ICT competences and accessibility ........................................................................................................... 7

4.1 State of art ......................................................................................................................................................... 7

4.2 e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT Professionals

in all sectors - Part 1: Framework, EN 16234-1:2019 ........................................................................ 7

4.3 European ICT Professional Role Profiles, CWA 16458:2018 series ............................................. 8

4.4 Curriculum for training ICT Professionals in Universal Design, CWA 16266:2011 .............. 10

4.5 Foundational Body of Knowledge for the ICT Profession - Part 1: The Body of Knowledge

(ICT BoK), EN 17748-1 ................................................................................................................................ 11

4.6 Information technology — Development of user interface accessibility — Part 1: Code of

practice for creating accessible ICT products and services, ISO/IEC 30071-1:2019 ............ 11

4.7 European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) .................................. 12

4.8 Curricula on Web Accessibility, W3C ..................................................................................................... 13

5 ICT product requirements and accessibility ....................................................................................... 14

5.1 Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services ............................................................ 14

5.2 Accessibility goals for new ICT competences ..................................................................................... 15

6 ICT accessibility competence requirements ....................................................................................... 15

6.1 Rationale .......................................................................................................................................................... 15

6.2 ICT competences and functional performances ................................................................................ 15

6.3 Common and base accessibility knowledge ........................................................................................ 16

6.4 Digital Communication Role ..................................................................................................................... 17

6.5 Education and Outreach Role ................................................................................................................... 18

6.6 Hardware Developer Role ......................................................................................................................... 19

6.7 Software Developer Role ............................................................................................................................ 20

6.8 Web Role Profiles .......................................................................................................................................... 21

Annex A (informative) ICT Accessibility Role Profiles examples ............................................................. 26

Bibliography ................................................................................................................................................................. 31

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European foreword

This document (FprCEN/TR 17884:2022) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 428 “ICT

professionalism and digital competences”, the secretariat of which is held by UNI.

This document is currently submitted to the Vote on TR.
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Introduction

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) allows the removal of many of the remaining

barriers faced by persons with disabilities. With ICT increasingly integrated into every aspect of the

modern world, these ubiquitous technologies have become a positive force of transformation and a

crucial element of any personal development/empowerment and institutional framework for inclusive

development. ICT is already providing access to key public services, with widespread implications for

social progress and economic growth aimed at eradicating poverty and promoting inclusive societies and

sustainable development. Accessible ICT developments have the potential to provide persons with

disabilities unprecedented levels of access to education, skills training and employment, as well as the

opportunity to participate in the economic, cultural and social life of their communities.

Currently accessibility is not always considered in the design process and this leads to an exclusion of

persons with disabilities from access to ICT technologies which generates a digital discrimination.

Accessibility has become necessary due to the rapid growth of online information and interactive services

provided by web and mobile applications. Even if people with disabilities want to be independent and

carry out their activities independently, unfortunately, most Information and Communication

Technologies (ICT) applications and systems are not fully accessible today.

Nowadays everything interacts with technologies and for this reason technologies and digital

communication should be available for all.

The inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of society is one of the remaining challenges of the

global development agenda. The widespread adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of

the Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2006 heralded a major step forward in advancing the inclusion

of persons with disabilities, turning their socio-economic exclusion into a human rights issue. The

UNCRPD places significant obligations on all state officials responsible for equal access to education and

employment opportunities.

In April 2019, the European Union published the DIRECTIVE (EU) 2019/882 OF THE EUROPEAN

PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the accessibility requirements for products and services.

The “European Accessibility Act” (EAA) will become national law in the member states by 2022.

The EEA will have implications for different actors in the ICT field:
— Service providers offering ICT (especially Web) services for their customers;
— Device manufacturers;
— Software and ICT hardware manufacturers;
— Procurers and procurement of ICT products.

Standardization bodies as an organization offering services to its members and the public may be affected

by the EAA.

Europe is currently developing and defining the requirements for accessible devices and services.

EN 301549 (published under Mandate M 376) specifies functional accessibility requirements applicable

to ICT products and services, together with a description of the test procedures and evaluation

methodology for each accessibility requirement in a form that is suitable for use in procurement. The

minimum requirements of the European Web Accessibility Directive (Directive 2016/2102) are explicitly

detailed in Annex A of EN 301549:2021.
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In this scenario, there is a need to set the basic ground of ICT competences related to Accessibility. The

EN 16234-1:2019, e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT

Professionals in all sectors - Part 1: Framework refers to accessibility competences, but different actors in

the ICT market (e.g. education institutes, professional certifications) still need to be supported with

specific requirement knowledge, skills, responsibility and autonomy related to different ICT professional

profiles.
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1 Scope

This document specifies the knowledges, skills, responsibility and autonomy of ICT experts involved in

the development of products and services (including digital contents) to increase the accessibility

knowledge in different fields, for different competences and responsibilities.
This document:

— considers accessibility as "base line" (accessibility has been also recognized in EN 16234-1:2019 as

a Transversal aspect);

— recognizes accessibility as the requirement in procurement for both public and private sectors;

— provides an overview of useful CEN, ISO and ESCO publications in the field;

— defines a set of knowledges, skills, responsibility and autonomy for different ICT areas to improve

accessibility in the current professional roles and job positions (hardware, software, web);

— refers to ESCO ICT profiles, that can be adapted for the three main areas: hardware, software, web;

— refers to W3C activities for define knowledges, skills, responsibility and autonomy in web

accessibility role profiles;

— supports activities for educational providers and exam/certification institutes.

This document should help, for example, to:

— avoid issues on the definition of third level profiles derived from European ICT Professional Role

Profiles without missing accessibility requirements;

— enable easy application of accessibility related EU-level standards and references from CEN, ISO and

ESCO;

— allow the market to adapt their current job profiles and/or training courses adding the accessibility

skills.

This document supports the definition of knowledge and skills for each ICT professional role without

creating new ICT role profiles which includes accessibility competences.
2 Normative references

The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content

constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For

undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

EN 16234-1:2019, e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT

Professionals in all sectors - Part 1: Framework
EN 301549:2021, Accessibility requirements for ICT products and services

CWA 16458-1:2018, European ICT professional role profiles – Part 1: 30 ICT Profiles

CWA 16458-2:2018, European ICT professional role profiles – Part 2: User Guide
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CWA 16458-3:2018, European ICT professional role profiles – Part 3: Methodology
CWA 16458-4:2018, European ICT professional role profiles – Part 4: Case studies
CWA 16266:2011, Curriculum for training ICT Professionals in Universal Design
3 Terms and definitions

For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in EN 16234-1:2019, EN 301549:2021,

CWA 16458:2018 series and CWA 16266:2011 apply.

ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:

— IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp
4 ICT competences and accessibility
4.1 State of art

e-Competence in accessibility field is a core topic that can be found in different frameworks and

documents produced by standardization bodies and third parties.

EN 16234-1:2019, ESCO, CWA 16458-1:2018 and CWA 16266:2011 described in the following clauses,

set the state of art regarding accessibility aspects without addressing the specific competences required

by ICT professionals that have basic and/or advanced accessibility principles knowledge.

4.2 e-Competence Framework (e-CF) - A common European Framework for ICT
Professionals in all sectors - Part 1: Framework, EN 16234-1:2019

EN 16234-1:2019 provides a reference of 41 competences as required and applied at the Information and

Communication Technology (ICT) professional work environment, using a common language for

competences, skills and proficiency levels that can be understood across Europe.
EN 16234-1:2019 can be used by:
— ICT service, user and supply organizations,
— ICT professionals, managers and human resource (HR) departments,

— vocational education institutions and training bodies including higher education,

— social partners (trade unions and employer associations), professional associations, accreditation,

validation and assessment bodies,

— market analysts and policy makers, and other organizations and stakeholders in public and private

sectors.

It recognizes the relevance of several cross-cutting aspects that are important and provide additional

generic ICT related descriptors for successful application of e-CF competences in a workplace context.

They are complementary to competence descriptions and provide additional descriptors that vary in

their relevance to each competence ranging from the need for awareness to proactive engagement.

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One of transversal aspects identified for context-specific and flexible application within this document is

T1, Accessibility, described as follow:
— T1 Accessibility

Accessibility is applicable to the design of products, devices, services or environments to ensure that

they are usable by all, irrespective of their personal capacities. It is relevant to the extent to which

products, systems, services, environments and facilities can be used by people from a population

with the widest range of characteristics and capabilities to achieve a specified goal. For example, web

accessibility allows people with visual impairment to gain access to online content such as webpages,

electronic documents, and multimedia. Accessibility is also relevant, for example, when working in

adverse conditions (such as noisy or badly illuminated environments) or stressful situations.

This transversal aspect affects many e-competences. For example, “A.6. Application Design”, dimension

4, it quotes “K5 principles, standards, methods and frameworks related to ergonomics and accessibility”.

4.3 European ICT Professional Role Profiles, CWA 16458:2018 series
4.3.1 Develop and manage ICT Professional needs

The CWA 16458:2018 series increases transparency and convergence of the European ICT Skills

landscape and mature the ICT Profession overall. In addition to focusing upon individual ICT professional

competence and performance, the overall aim is to influence the ability of organizations to leverage ICT

for better performance.

CWA 16458:2018 series complements EN 16234-1:2019 and contributes to a shared European reference

language for developing, planning and managing ICT Professionals needs in a long-term perspective.

Benefitting from collaboration and exchange on multiple levels across Europe, the European ICT

Professional Role Profiles and the underpinning concepts provide a means of summarizing and

organizing the insights of experts and stakeholders into a reference tool.
4.3.2 How to make best use of the Role Profiles

There are many ways to apply the 30 typical ICT Profiles as described in the CWA 16458:2018 series.

CWA 16548-2:2018 “User Guide” and CWA 16458-4:2018 “Case studies” provide pragmatic explanations

and user experiences on how to apply CWA 16458-1:2018 from multiple stakeholder perspectives and

for a broad range of application purposes, such as, for example:
— HR planning,
— recruitment,
— digital transformation process support,

— curriculum design and qualifications promotion, including transfer of the concept to other sectors.

4.3.3 Generations for role profiles

The profiles may be used for reference or alternatively as a base to develop further profile generations.

Structured in seven main ICT Profile families, the 30 profiles reflect the top of a European ICT Profile

Family Tree (see Figure 1). The concept is broadly analogous to a human family where characteristics

from one generation pass from one generation to the next but are also combined with new characteristics.

In a similar way it is envisaged that the core components of the 30 ‘generation 2’ profiles may be passed

down and adapted as needed to user generated profiles with higher granularity.
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Figure 1 — 30 European ICT Professional Role Profiles (generation 2) in seven families

(generation 1) at the top of the European ICT Profile Family Tree (from CWA 16458-1:2018)

It is possible to form new profiles with greater granularity (generation 3) associated and derived from

the 30 profiles of generation 2. An example for a full third generation ICT professional role profile,

regarding “Web Accessibility Expert” role, is available in Annex A, A.2.
4.3.4 The European ICT Professional Role Profile template

A standard template facilitates users to compare different profiles and also provide a fast start to develop

new role profiles or contribute to design new job descriptions.
Profile elements are described in CWA 16458-2:2018, Table 3.

The template was designed to respond to assist users in communicating the purpose and potential

application of the profiles within their organization.

The main principle applied to constructing the profiles was to focus on the most essential characteristics

that accurately represent the profile and effectively differentiate one profile from another.

The European ICT Professional Role Profiles have therefore been created in a generic and simple way, in

order to enable reference and use by all types of ICT organisations, whatever their size and their

structure. In consequence, the ICT Profiles provide high level outlines of typical ICT Professional Roles;

easy to apply to the next context specific application level, for instance job descriptions.

The European ICT Profiles provide a consistent structure and offer a base to facilitate the creation of

further and more detailed Profiles.
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In this context the Italian document UNI 11621-3:2017 “Unregulated professional activities – ICT

professional profiles - Part 3: Web profession professional profiles” defines 12 web related professional

profiles (third-generation ICT profile) which incorporates the accessibility requirements. One of them is

the Web Accessibility Expert (see Annex A), a third level ICT role profile and a professional position that

supports the development of Web services to guarantee that the product complies with Web accessibility

specifications.

4.4 Curriculum for training ICT Professionals in Universal Design, CWA 16266:2011

CWA 16266:2011 describes curriculum guidelines on Universal Design that are suitable for training ICT

professionals. These guidelines, referred to as curricula or syllabi, aim at ensuring a high-quality,

comprehensive training plan that meets industry needs. The guidelines may be also used in universities

or for other professional education, training of procurers and relevant persons in public authorities.

The guidelines follow general recommendations in the European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong

Learning (EQF), the European credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) and related

recommendations by the Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European Commission.

In order for ICT industry to adopt Universal Design principles, methods and solutions, the professionals

involved need to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. This is a crucial condition for an effective,

as well as economic, change in management, services and production process in the ICT industry.

CWA 16266:2011 identifies the knowledge and skills that are necessary to successfully implement the

Universal Design approach in an ICT development process. The training guidelines reflect the special

training needs of ICT professionals, the conditions and context of training for professionals, and the

different needs of different professional roles in the ICT industry.

Accessible Design (AD) is closely related to Universal Design. It emphasizes adaptive design and

interoperability with assistive devices. These training guidelines are for use for anyone in industry

developing continuous professional development training materials to educate ICT professionals in the

Universal Design approach and Accessibility requirements EN 301549. These ICT professionals include:

— executive manager;
— middle manager;
— software and hardware developer;
— designer;
— reviewer and tester;
— marketing and communication personnel;
— human resources personnel.

The training guidelines are designed for use by ICT professionals. Those who benefit from improved

design of ICT systems include people experiencing some form of performance limitation due to age, size,

physical environment, ability or disability.
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4.5 Foundational Body of Knowledge for the ICT Profession - Part 1: The Body of
Knowledge (ICT BoK), EN 17748-1

Similar to and complementary to EN 16234-1 (e-CF), which provides an efficient and broadly accepted

common European language about ICT professional competence, the European ICT Foundational Body of

Knowledge will make another key contribution to increase transparency and mature the ICT Profession

across Europe.

Beyond basic knowledge clustered by specific areas of expertise the European Foundational Body of

Knowledge will establish an underpinning common body of knowledge shared by all ICT professionals

regardless of speciality.

For successful BoK development strong ICT sector engagement is needed from both ICT qualification and

workplace perspectives, the latter involving ICT supply and demand. Personal experience and views

coming from across the European ICT multi-stakeholder community are essential to broad acceptance

and usability of the forthcoming ICT BoK.

EN 17748-1 (EU ICT BoK) has a specific unit called “Accessibility [T1]” defined as follow:

The Accessibility knowledge unit concerns knowledge about the extent to which the design of products,

devices, services or environments are usable by all, irrespective of personal capacities. It relates to the

extent to which products, systems, services, environments and facilities may be used by people with the

widest range of characteristics and capabilities to achieve specified goals. This unit incorporates

crosscutting knowledge directly related to the e-CF transversal aspect, ‘T1 – Accessibility’.

4.6 Information technology — Development of user interface accessibility — Part 1:

Code of practice for creating accessible ICT products and services,
ISO/IEC 30071-1:2019

ISO/IEC 30071-1:2019 provides guidance on developing and implementing an organizational

accessibility policy for creating accessible ICT systems (including products and services). It can help

organizations to ensure that their ICT systems are accessible to diverse users.

The design of many ICT systems unnecessarily excludes users with disabilities or others with accessibility

requirements, for example, older persons, which can leave organizations that provide these systems

subject to legal challenge on the grounds of discrimination. However, by following good practice in

creating, updating or procuring ICT systems, this exclusion can generally be prevented.

ISO/IEC 30071-1:2019 contains process-related guidance rather than technical requirements. It brings

together and summarizes important information needed to enable organizations that create ICT systems

to understand:

— how to create organizational policies to embed accessibility considerations into their "business as

usual" processes;

— how to consider the needs of users with disabilities and older people at all stages of the ICT

development process.
The document is intended for:
— persons responsible for setting high-level organizational policies;

— persons responsible for setting accessibility policies and procedures at the system, product or service

level;

— persons responsible for directly designing or implementing accessibility activities derived from the

policies applied within the organization.
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The guidance focuses on activities and outcomes rather than specifying complete processes and methods,

allowing organizations to implement this guidance in the manner most suited to their individual

organizational culture and operations.

Drivers for organizations to make their ICT systems more accessible and usable include:

— legal reasons;
— commercial reasons;
— ethical reasons/human rights/social responsibility;
— innovation reasons.

Often, these drivers interrelate. These include the accessibility of ICT systems that support employment,

those used in public and private transport, in public buildings, in the home, in education, in social

networking and in the ubiquitous use of ICT known as the Internet of Things. Ensuring systems are

accessible to the widest range of diverse users will increase inclusion. This can create benefits for many

sectors of society.

ISO/IEC 30071:2019 takes a holistic approach to the accessibility of information and communications

technology (ICT) by combining guidance on implementing the accessibility of ICT systems (ICT

accessibility) both at organizational and system development levels.

ISO/IEC 30071:2019 gives guidelines for building and maintaining ICT systems (including products and

services) that are accessible to diverse users (including users with disabilities and older people).

ISO/IEC 30071:2019 is applicable to all types of organizations and applies to the breadth of ICT systems

and the results of convergent and emerging technologies within an organization including, but not limited

to: information systems; intranet systems; websites; mobile and wearable applications; social media; and

Internet of Things (IoT) systems.
It gives requirements and recommendations for organizations:
a) ensuring accessibility is consi
...

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