Procap is the largest membership association of and for people with disabilities in Switzerland with around 24,000 members in around 40 regional sections and 30 sports groups. Procap Travel specifically supports people with disabilities in making their vacation dreams come true.
The Procap Travel & Sport vacation catalog includes trips for people with disabilities as well as older people with limited mobility. "We check all our offers to see whether they are suitable for people with disabilities," explains Helena Bigler, Head of Travel and Sport at Procap. We also offer supervised group trips where people with different disabilities can travel together - in Switzerland and all over the world. Procap's mission also includes training courses for barrier-free travel - for example at tourism schools.
"Procap Travel is always looking for motivated people who would like to get involved as vacation companions or for sports camps and, of course, donors. We therefore very much hope that we can achieve greater public awareness of this important topic through greater media presence," says Deputy Managing Director of Primcom Sabine Biedermann, who is managing the mandate as a PR consultant. "As Procap Reisen will be celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2025 and Procap Sport will even be 65 years old, the timing is just right."
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In an increasingly digital world, it is essential that companies make their products and services accessible to people with disabilities. This aspect of digital accessibility was the focus of Nils Kümin's bachelor thesis, which was awarded the UBS Sustainability Prize. The thesis provides valuable recommendations for action for Swiss companies to identify the need for accessible offerings and to meet the new legal requirements of EU Directive 2019/882.
Although Switzerland is not a member of the EU, Swiss companies operating in the EU are bound by the directive. It requires accessibility in digital products and services in order to promote inclusion. Nils Kümin shows how qualitative interviews with those affected and company representatives can be used to develop practical approaches for the implementation of digital accessibility.
His research reveals that although there is a great need for accessible solutions, there are still numerous hurdles - from economic concerns to technical know-how - that need to be overcome. The recommendations for action developed by Kümin help companies to take concrete steps to implement digital accessibility and adapt to legal requirements.
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In 2025, the new Accessibility Reinforcement Act (BFSG) will come into force in Germany. This means that new requirements for the accessible design of websites and other products will become legally binding. This is also relevant for all Swiss companies that offer products and services in the EU or Germany, as they must also meet the requirements. Swiss companies must also expect fines of up to 100,000 euros for non-compliance. In addition, the eCH-0059 Accessibility Standard V3.0 applies to the public sector in Switzerland.
To provide companies with guidance on barrier-free user experience, the management consultancy Elaboratum has now published a new white paper on the topic of digital inclusion. In Germany, almost eight million people are affected by long-term or temporary impairments that make it difficult to access digital interfaces smoothly. In Switzerland, the figure is around 1.8 million, i.e. around 20 percent of all inhabitants. These people have limited or no access to services and products on the web.
An accessible website reduces discrimination and enables companies to promote digital participation. They also benefit from this themselves, as search engines prefer websites that are easily accessible, have a high level of usability and use plain language. In addition to presenting the dimensions of accessibility and the legal requirements, the Elaboratum team of experts provides specific tips for website optimization in the white paper.
Six criteria for the self-check
Some aspects of accessibility can be checked by companies themselves, for example:
Keyboard operability: A website should be able to offer identical content when requested via a keyboard.
Visual clarity: Weak contrasts between text and background are barriers for people with visual impairments, who may miss out on important information.
Enlargement function: Page zoom should be possible without any problems so that users can access all content without restrictions.
Text Spacing: To improve the readability of website content, the spacing between letters and words in texts should be checked.
Font: Frequently used fonts, with which users are presumably familiar, are perceived as easy to read.
Alt attributes and multimedia accessibility: These elements enable so-called assistive technologies to make the website more accessible for people with visual or hearing impairments. They should be taken into account in the website design.
In the white paper, Elaboratum gives advice on what companies can do themselves to identify and optimize these six important aspects of accessibility. Here you can download the white paper free of charge.
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Google, as the first official Cannes Lions accessibility partner, is introducing a playbook for designing accessible marketing. This detailed guide is part of the enhanced marketing toolkit "All In" and was created in collaboration with disability inclusion experts such as Disability:IN and LaVant Consulting, and endorsed by influential industry organizations such as the American Association of Ad Agencies and the Ad Council. The handbook is available free of charge.
Google says: "While much has been done in the advertising industry in terms of inclusive marketing across genders and communities, there is still much to be done in terms of representation of people with disabilities: In many commercials, people with disabilities either don't appear at all, they are reduced solely to their disability, or many ads are not accessible to people with visual or hearing impairments, for example."
More information on the topic in the Google Blogpost by Lorraine Twohill
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