Portal of the Government of Montenegro accessible to blind and partially sighted persons

The new portal of the Government of Montenegro is fully accessible to visually impaired persons. The Union of the Blind is happy with the fact that creators and decision makers in the Government of Montenegro recognized the real needs of all citizens and that on this occasion they were guided by the principles of universal design.

In the past, the Union of the Blind had a very constructive cooperation with the competent Ministry in solving the problem of accessibility of state administration sites, so in 2020, in joint cooperation, the monitoring of the application of guidelines for creating electronic documents was carried out in accordance with e-accessibility standards, the recommendations of which led to the creation of a Rulebook on the standards of accessibility. As an example of good practice, the Union have an active participation in mapping the problem, preparation process and testing, which shows that the involvement of target groups can lead to adequate and good results.

The portal meets the requirements of e-accessibility and a special menu for improved accessibility of content with control of contrast, font size, text spacing, animation, then a visual guide for easier reading, highlighting links, compatibility with screen readers through page structure, as well as a special font that makes it easier for people with dyslexia to read.

For the first time, for the needs of this platform, the studio recording of audio sequences in the Montenegrin language was made, which, in addition to machine learning, are used to generate a sound recording of any text on the portal. Now, by clicking the "Read me" button, users can listen the content of the article.

The importance of seeking, receiving and disseminating information has been recognized by this positive example, thus enabling the full inclusion of visually impaired persons.