Clone of Directorate for universal accessibility and innovation

The mission of the UNIVERSAL ACCESSIBILITY AND INNOVATION DEPARTMENT is to promote Design for Everyone and thus achieve universal accessibility as an essential condition for equal opportunities for people with disabilities.

The strategic lines of this area are:

• the ONCE Foundation's LEADERSHIP in accessibility through strategies and projects.
• the generation, incorporation and dissemination of KNOWLEDGE, the key to advancing in new ways to improve the accessibility of environments, products, goods and services.
• and the SUSTAINABILITY of the projects over time, both financially and in terms of results and human resources.

These strategic lines included in the three basic pillars of activity are:

1. Alliances, Networks and Platforms: development of strategies and projects aimed at the creation of public-private collaborative networks that promote accessibility in environments, products and services with a 360º vision.
2. Training, Studies and Publications: generation of knowledge through training in any of its modalities and the study and approach of technical issues related to accessibility in environments, products and services.
3. Research and Innovation: search for new ways, fields and solutions in terms of accessibility in environments, products and services.
4. Dissemination: development of projects to disseminate accessibility to the maximum in order to reach the greatest number of people and standardise its application in the design of environments, products and services.

These strategic lines are aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals set out in the  United Nations 2030 Agenda.

The Directorate divides its management structure into three Departments:

Physical Accessibility Department

Traditionally, when talking about accessibility, only building, urban planning and means of transport were taken into account. Today we are aware that accessibility must be a feature of all environments, products and services, including so-called virtual ones. Naturally, although the importance of the latter is growing day by day, due to the incorporation of communication technologies in all areas, tangible environments, products and services (the so-called physical services) are essential.

This area deals with a wide range of actions, activities and projects in which the constructed environment plays a major role, including observatories in different fields, advice to public and private entities, technical training, participation in Technical Standardisation Committees, etc.

Our mission is to work to ensure that criteria and standards are established, known and applied when designing, constructing, adapting and maintaining the environment, its facilities, products and services so that they achieve, maintain or improve their levels of accessibility.

Culture and Leisure Department

Access to culture and leisure for people with disabilities may at first sight seem unimportant, but we must reject this idea. It is a right of all people.

Throughout its history, the ONCE Foundation has aimed to achieve the full inclusion of people with disabilities and is aware that areas such as culture cannot be forgotten in order to achieve total normalisation in the lives of the people who make up this group.

https://arteycultura.fundaciononce.es/

In addition to developing its own projects, this department supports the implementation of cultural and leisure initiatives by other entities when their purpose is to benefit people with disabilities.

Accessible Technology and the R&D Department

That technology should be accessible and usable for all, that it should also be a tool at the service of people with disabilities, that ICTs and other emerging technologies can contribute to people's independence by supporting them in their daily life, leisure and working life, making them more independent, is the main set of objectives on which the activity of this Department pivots.

Dissemination of good practices in ICT accessibility, training in universal design in technology, collaboration in the creation of standards and norms for greater accessibility of the technological environment are just some examples of the activities aimed at achieving our objectives.

Through the Department of Accessible Technology and R&D, the ONCE Foundation is at the forefront of research and innovation, participating in initiatives such as the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme, Horizon 2020, etc.

DISSEMINATION

The ONCE Foundation has set up different specific platforms for the dissemination of its activity in the field of Universal Accessibility, in addition to its own communication channels, with the following initiatives standing out: