Widzialni Foundation (www.widzialni.org) is engaged in combating digital and social exclusion. The main purpose of the Foundation is making the free access to all Internet resources accessible to all citizens, regardless of their age, disability, wealth, equipment and software. Based on its developed operations, the organization draws attention of public opinion and state administration to the problem of Internet sites accessibility for persons endangered to digital exclusion.

the prize Sektor 3.0

The Foundation is a laureate of special prize "Sektor 3.0" awarded by Polish - American Foundation of Freedom for many year long and efficient operations in aid of liquidation of barriers causing digital exclusion of disabled persons.

Handing the Prize Sektor 3.0normal

MAC logo  The Foundation participated in the works concerning the Decision of the Council
  of Ministers of 12 April 2012
on the National Frameworks of Interoperability.
  Because of the input of the Foundation and many other organizations, a decision
  has been prepared that obliged all institutions implementing public tasks to adapt
  their websites until 2015 to the needs of excluded persons.

WCAG 2.0 Good Practices Manual Experts at the Foundation are the authors of the first in Poland WCAG 2.0
Good Practices Manual
, dedicated to websites administrators, webmasters
and each person interested in operations striving to make the Internet sites
more accessible. The Manual was prepared in cooperation with Orange Polska
and under patronage of the Ministry of Administration and Digitization, Office
of Electronic Communication and the University of Silesia, and published by
PWN in 2013 (ISBN 978-83-01-16873-5).
This publication, as the first one in Poland describes in detail and explains individual
items of the WCAG 2.0 standard - standard currently applicable to creation of websites
accessible to all, developed by the international consortium W3C World Wide Web Consortium). It provides practical examples facilitating disabled, elderly and endangered to digital exclusion persons using the Internet resources. It also described the method of testing a site from the point of view of accessibility.

Orange logo

 

  The Foundation cooperates with Orange Polska within the scope
  of accessibility of services as well as provides advisory role concerning
  information solutions, applications and offers.

University of Silesia logo

University of Silesia and the Foundation have developed and
established new faculty "Digital and social exclusion: Internet
sites, audio-description, multimedia". The faculty will educate
future specialists within the scope of digital and social exclusion
since September 2013.

Together with the University of Silesia, the Foundation has
developed a complex methodology for testing websites based
on the standard WCAG 2.0 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).

The Foundation, together with the Unioversity and deputy to the European Parliament Rafał Trzaskowski was the organizer of the national competition "Website without Barriers", addressed to public administration entities, NGOs and commercial sector. In December 2013, the 5th edition of the competition was organized. Its purpose was to propagate the Internet free from barriers and accessible to everyone. Increasing number of institutions participating in it is the evidence of the undertaking rank and efficient promotion of websites creation according to WCAG standards, thus of the effectiveness of these operations.
The event was supported by a promoting campaign and conference Digitally Excluded with the participation of representatives of Ministries, Citizen Rights Spokesman Office, universities and NGOs. Both, the competition and the conference were covered by the patronages of: the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Administration and Digitization, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Sciences and Higher Education, Citizen Rights spokesman, Office of Electronic Communications.

Together with the deputy to the European Parliament, Rafał Trzaskowski, Widzialni Foundation implemented the competition for children with sensory disability "Magic Europe".

 Information about Widzialni Foundation in PJMDostepni

The Foundation creates partnerships and wide coalitions in aid of digital exclusion:

  • participates in creating "Wide Coalition in Aid of DIgital Skills" initiated by Polish DIgitization Leader, under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Poland, which is to initiate and support operations leading to common digital education, promote good practices and diffuse digital technologies in Poland. 
  • actively operates as the member of the Coalition for DIgital Inclusion of Generation 50+ "M@turity in the net" initiated by UPC Polska together with the Academy of Philanthropy Development in Poland. Purpose of the project is unification of companies, non-government organizations, offices and institutions to coax elderly people to actively use the Internet. 
  • initiated partnership "Television without Barriers" together with Telewizja Polska S.A., Polish Association of the Deaf and the Association for the Deaf and Blind Assistance, which is to increase the program offer of TVP for disabled persons
  • initiated the Tripartite Arrangement between the University of Silesia, Microsoft Polska and Widzialni Foundation. The organizations have committed themselves to promote good practices related to digital inclusion.
  • "Certificate without Barriers" addressed to telecoms is the result of the Foundation cooperation with the Office of Electronic Communications. The Certificate is awarded to these operators, who consider persons with special needs in their offer and operations. 
  • it is a member-founder of the Forum of Available Cyberspace, an initiative associating NGOs, public organization, scientific centers and universities as well as representatives of commercial sector, and its purpose is widely comprehended promotion of availability standards in the electronic space, works over legislative solutions concerning access to information and combating digital exclusion.
  • it is a member of the EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION OF SERVICE PROVIDERS FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES within the scope of which, it is engaged in transfer and exchange of knowledge and experience between the European Union states.
  • cooperation with the Internet Sector Employers Association IAB Polska, within the scope of propagating the idea of Internet available for everyone, assistance in diffusing and creating available Internet sites. 

The Foundation implements many-year-long projects from EU funds:

  • Innovative Project within the priority VII Social Integration Program, Action 7.3 Operational Program Human Capital "E-learning for blind persons and persons with vision impairment" to activate persons with sight disabilities in the open labour market.
  • Within the scope of the priority VII Social Integration Promotion, Action 7.4 Operational Program Human Capital "Available for you" to professionally activate and provide competences allowing for taking a job by disabled persons.
  • In the partnership with City Office in Częstochowa, Innovative Project "Self-government - NGO - good practices within the scope of public tasks transfer" within the scope of Priority V, Action 5.4 Development of third sector potential. The purpose of the project is to develop, test and implement standard for transferring public tasks within the homelessness sector.