May 2020

All the latest updates from our ongoing campaigns including the Marrakesh Treaty, Creative Europe/MEDIA, accessible lifts, rail passenger rights, and the continuing Covid 19 response.

Welcome to the May edition of the EBU Access Cast, full of interesting news from the Assistive Technology and Digital Accessibility industries.

Are you young and ambitious, passionate about technology, and think that you know something about assistive technology? If so, then you can perhaps become a new contributor to the EBU Access Cast podcast.

EBU Executive Director Lars Bosselmann was interviewed on the BBC In Touch radio programme, along with other contributors, on the theme of social distancing and leaving lockdown.

The common collaboration of the communities of Visually Impaired people all over Hungary resulted in success: The SozialMarie Audience Award 2020 went to TÁVSZEM – Remote Eye.

The Tender for SozialMarie is announced every year, searching for projects aiming at the improvement of the quality of life of a disadvantaged social group through innovative tools and community solutions. The program searches for social innovations that have already been tried and proved to be effective in Central and Eastern Europe. Due to the ongoing COVID-19, the 16^th SozialMarie was awarded to 15 excellent social innovations in frame of a virtual Award Ceremony on 1^st May, 2020. The first three prize-winners were endowed with € 15,000, € 10,000 and € 5,000, while the other 12 projects won € 2,000, each.

Virtual Reality (VR) is changing the ways people play games, watch videos and use software. Visually impaired people can use virtual reality products even if they have a severe vision loss. Our students have used VR technology to visit interesting sites on Google earth, land on the moon and of course play games! At the moment we are testing the effectiveness of using a 360°video recordings in helping individuals with visual impairment to learn new travel routes.

A final-year student at the University of Abertay in Dundee has developed a video game that people who are blind and partially sighted can play. Alasdair Marnoch (22) from the Isle of Lewis launched his new game, called 'FHear', at the university's digital graduate show on Friday, May 15^th.

The Physical and Cultural Accessibility service of the association Valentin Haüy has set up (in French) ‘Regards Tactiles’, a visit with audiodescription of the museums of the Paris municipality.