Inmaculada Placencia: Internet Accessibility, Key to Business Development

Inmaculada Placencia, one of the world's leading experts in accessibility to new information technologies, will be one of the keynote speakers at the 1st Alares® International Congress on Dependency, Diversity, Equality, Work-Life Balance, and Their Strategic Influence on Business Competitiveness. Placencia is Deputy Head of Unit in the “e-inclusion” Unit of the Directorate-General for the Information Society of the European Commission. She holds degrees in Physics and Computer Science and has worked for the European Commission since 1991 on various research programs concerning accessibility and applications for people with disabilities and older people. Her current work focuses on policies related to activities in the areas of eAccessibility and eInclusion, specifically “design for all” (DFA) and assistive technologies. She has also participated in projects such as Waida and Wai-ties, as well as other activities related to Web accessibility. The European “e-inclusion” program she leads has received more than €200 million to carry out over 200 projects aimed at improving the accessibility of websites. The investment responds to the need identified in a study conducted by the European Commission in 2004, which showed that most of the 2,500 websites analyzed did not meet the minimum accessibility requirements. “There are still many people in Europe who are excluded from the benefits of new technologies.” Since 1991, Placencia has advocated improving accessibility and Web standards so that every citizen can view any page from any browser or device. The speaker states that “Public Administrations will adopt the necessary measures so that the information available on their respective Internet pages can be accessible to people with disabilities and older people, in accordance with recognized accessibility criteria, before December 31, 2005.”. “The future of any business depends on being truly accessible on the Internet. Hearing Inmaculada Placencia is an opportunity to learn what the next steps in this competitive race will be,” said Javier Benavente, president of the Alares® Foundation. Registration for the Congress can be completed through the website: http://www.congresointernacionalalares.com./ The registration fee is voluntary to allow anyone interested in the topics covered to attend. The website contains the detailed Congress program, event schedules, lectures and presentations, information about the speakers, useful information about the Congress, and the registration form for the Gala Dinner.