THE PROBLEM
75% of blind people are unemployed*
It all started in the fall of 2023, when the Deloitte Digital team engaged in implementing Salesforce services for CAP Holding – Italy's leading water service utility company – faced the challenge of making the platform accessible and usable by Barbara Contini, a blind employee, enabling her to perform responsibilities on par with all colleagues.
Today, Barbara can perform all types of tasks, from the daily routine ones to the most urgent and complex assignments, all thanks to Deloitte Digital's interventions. However, for many other people with disabilities, professional digital tools remain a significant technological barrier, hindering their job opportunities and ambitions.
In Italy, in fact, the unemployment rate for blind people, whether fully or partially blind, is about 75%. More generally, only 32.2% of people with limitations are employed (ISTAT, 2021). The experience and technical knowledge that the team has gained in months of development are therefore incredibly valuable: the more they are applied, the more people with disabilities will gain access to professions that were once out of reach, and the more barriers will be broken down.
*Source: ANSA, Italy, 2022
ACTION
A short film to inspire other companies
That's why, in December 2023, Deloitte Digital decided to launch a communication campaign created by ACNE Italy (the group's creative agency) aimed at digital and business leaders with the tagline "working should not be a burden": the goal is to inspire other companies to embark on the same path. The short film, fully accessible to non-sighted people, tells the story of Barbara and the intervention at CAP Holding to share her experience with the entire business community.
ACHIEVEMENT
Breaking down digital barriers through an open guide project
All our expertise and knowledge resulted in an open guide released to professionals from other companies aimed at sharing our know-how in terms of digital accessibility: a constantly evolving tool, with information and solutions to give accessibility to any professional tool, for any people, in any company.
Offering fully accessible digital tools according to WCAG 2.2 standards is not only useful but also mandatory. Indeed, 100% of G8 countries have laws setting requirements for the accessibility of digital channels. In 2019, the European Accessibility Act (EU 2019/882) established the provisions of the Web Accessibility Directive also for the private sector for all companies with more than 10 employees and 2 million euros in turnover. In Italy, the Stanca Law of 2004 provides for sanctions up to €100,000 in this regard.
The first step in ensuring the accessibility of your digital tools is the accessibility assessment, a topic addressed in the first part of The Guide Project. To discover how to tackle it, to find out what steps to take next, and how to approach the accessibility process for your digital tools, you can now download The Guide Project.