How do seniors or people with disabilities navigate the digital world? A startup from Serbia can help with that

When we want to buy something online, like a T-shirt, we can do it with just a few clicks without much thought.

"We focus on digital accessibility, and our vision is to provide a digital environment where everyone has equal opportunities to participate in society. We have several missions, and one of the first is to help IT companies and businesses assess how their user interfaces, whether websites, applications, or even TV apps, deviate from digital accessibility standards," explained Đorđe Obradović, founder and director of "Includify.me," to EUpravo zato.

"Includify.me" currently consists of "a handful of enthusiasts," as Obradović himself noted, but their contribution could be significant in our society.

Navigating the digital world, whether it's reading websites, online shopping, or using ATMs, is not as easy as it seems. For example, not everyone can hear or see breaking news or alerts.

"This is just one example when it comes to media. Not to mention basic human needs such as food, housing, communication, or mobility. It's essential to enable adequate access to shopping portals and education. Our colleague Miloš is blind and faced challenges when applying for a job. He couldn't fill out the form because the company didn't consider making such forms accessible to screen readers and visually impaired individuals," emphasized Obradović.

He highlighted that guidelines for web content accessibility, specifically "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines" version 2.1 AA, are crucial in this field. The European Accessibility Act is an EU legislative framework aimed at ensuring product and service accessibility for people with disabilities across the EU, effective from June 28.

"EU member states had over five years to align their national legislation with this new obligation. But you know how it goes. The market usually waits to react. Everyone waits to see if someone else will be sued or fined by a government institution, and so on. Therefore, there's ample room for education, both within the IT community and among people with disabilities and the general population, that every digital space today must be accessible in the 21st century," added Obradović.

According to him, the IT community often overlooks people with disabilities and their navigation through the online world.

"There may be unconscious discrimination because certain IT professionals or companies simply haven't dealt with it before—it hasn't been part of their job. Or, they consciously neglect the need to produce accessible user interfaces, waiting for regulations or public condemnation to push them. So, there's a significant opportunity, technically and socially, to influence society. 'Includify.me' is developing software solutions, and we've received a €50,000 grant through European programs for the development of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), expected to launch in the market by the end of the year. Until then, we're working on many other exciting projects," said Obradović.

People with disabilities are not the only ones facing obstacles in the digital world.

"We know that the elderly population is growing. They often need to increase website display by 200%. But even with this enlargement, everything must work flawlessly, which often isn't the case. So, we're talking about different groups of people. We also provide training, collaborate with specific NGOs and associations of people with disabilities, and focus on developing software that helps the IT sector create digital solutions that facilitate easier navigation through the digital space. With our assistance, they'll see how their solutions deviate and how they can adjust their products. These are small steps but can mean a lot. We aim to raise community awareness and offer tools that enable it," said Obradović.

It's crucial for IT professionals to develop products accessible to everyone from the outset, according to the EUpravo zato contributor.

"Training at universities is also essential for young IT professionals to think ahead about the digital products they'll create. I often ask them: would you exclude, as it's said today, or shut out people with disabilities from the online world? Of course not. I then tell them: 'Do you know that in a year or two, when you graduate and find a job in IT, that's what you'll be doing—unconsciously? Our goal is not only to create a product that helps the IT industry today but to address the root of the problem, which is awareness and education, both in universities and various courses. From the outset, digital accessibility shouldn't just be a checkbox to tick off but a fundamental point in developing digital solutions. In short, we want to lead the change in software development paradigm, not just be a niche addressing accessibility," he noted.

One example could be the "euprava" portal where Serbian citizens can perform many administrative tasks.

"We talk so much about inclusion or non-discrimination, but we forget such things. That's why the state should be involved because 'Includify' wants to offer its services, experts, and tools to address accessibility of basic services for citizens of our country. These services are currently being developed in a certain way, which is great because there wasn't this before. But let's see how those that exist now, as well as those being developed in the future, can be accessible to everyone. We want to invite all stakeholders and institutions to pay attention, not just to 'Includify.me' and our team, but to everyone else who wants to develop accessible solutions, and there aren't many of us. We can all ask ourselves, at our workplace, whether what we're doing or the projects we're implementing and the digital environment we're creating or funding, have all the citizens of Serbia in mind. We have noticed that experts who have someone with a disability in their environment create accessible solutions themselves. Therefore, it's important to bring these people closer to all of us, to understand that they exist, and we all live together in the same society," concluded the founder of "Includify.me."

 (EUpravo zato)