The City of Rosario is working to improve the accessibility of persons with disabilities, mainly by eliminating physical barriers.
Since 2016, regulation 9524 defines the accessibility to communication and information as fundamental to exercising human rights and basic liberties for persons with disabilities, but this regulation does not mandate cross-cutting actions or the collection of user feedback.
To guarantee equal treatment and opportunities for all, we decided to strengthen the inclusion of persons with disabilities by assessing the accessibility and usability of the platform “Rosario Participa”, a digital tool used for citizen participation in Rosario.
We also created a set of guidelines for the design of accessible web materials across government websites, with an emphasis on the portal. These guidelines allow for the correct use of the available tools, establish specifications for content accessibility and raise awareness among public servants. We call this the “Accessible guide”.
In a workshop hosted by government institutions and civil society organizations, 40+ participants assessed the usability and accessibility of Rosario Participa, analyzed the technological barriers found by users and systematized the results. This input was then used to create the Accessible Guide.
To reach persons with disabilities and with low digital literacy, we implemented a public consultation via “Rosario Participa”, emails, digital forms, Whatsapp and other social media. Contributions gathered through the consultation were used to optimize the website and the Accessible Guide.
This initiative was presented at Decidim Fest 2021, an international conference on participatory democracy that Barcelona, Spain hosted.
Finally, after the write-up and design process, we published the document, including all the input from the workshop and public surveys that were used for the publication of the Accessible Guide at the inter-district neighborhood council.
Building the Team
Capacity building and learning were always key to the project, which we achieved by creating a team with members from the Directorates of Digital Transformation (Natalia Pelillo), Disabilities (Fernando Plenza), and Open Government (Ana Mosich), two of whom are persons with disabilities. We also worked with civil society organizations, which provided key input to the Guide and the platform Rosario Participa.
Fernando is visually impaired and Nadia has a motor disability. They both joined the process and provided input to ensure better compliance with the law and that all operations are accessible to them, with a focus on the channels that Rosario has developed for citizen participation in the local government.
Fernando focuses on promoting participation. “To be meaningful, participation must include everyone”, he says. Natalia, as a systems analyst, provides technical input to the manual. As she puts it, “a small, but concrete victory, where the greatest challenge was to work across agencies of the municipal government”. In turn, Ana emphasized what the professional challenge represented as a designer of the guide.
What We Learned
Through this project, we learned new lessons. First, we shared the necessary tools to publish information in an accessible manner, including alternative text in visuals, the correct use of color contrast and simplifying texts, among others.
We also confirmed the importance of participation and interaction between the government and civil society. To refine the public policy-making process, we need to improve these channels and create a network for all participants.
Lastly, the process contributed to strengthening the capacities of the municipal government on analyzing digital accessibility by creating a team composed of experts in open government, disabilities and digital transformation.
Today, we are moving forward with the most ambitious project: setting the foundation for a permanent assessment process to evaluate the accessibility and usability of rosario.gob.ar, our main portal, and one of the pillars of the digital transformation of Rosario, together with the Digital Profile.
