Utrecht University (UU) considers inclusion to be important. This means you also need to be digitally accessible across all your channels, says Wouter Dielesen, senior communications advisor at UU. The university has already achieved impressive results in this area. Wouter discusses their approach, the challenges they’ve faced, and where they currently stand in terms of accessibility.
The theme of Autism Awareness Week this year is “What does peace of mind mean to you?” In my previous blog post, I explained that certain situations can quickly make me feel anxious. Fortunately, there are also things that do bring me peace of mind. I’ll talk about those in this blog post.
After writing a guest blog for Swink in 2024 and another one in 2025 as part of Autism Awareness Week, I’ve been asked to write a blog again this year. The theme is “What does peace of mind mean to me?” Good question—and a big one, too…
The theme of Autism Awareness Week is “What does peace of mind mean to you?” When I think about it myself, I ask: “Peace of mind—do I ever really have that?” In this blog, I’ll take you on a journey through my mind.
The Kadaster (The Netherlands’ Cadastre, Land Registry and Mapping Agency) is an organisation with more than 100 public front-end systems. As a result, it faces every possible challenge in the field of accessibility. It is no coincidence that Kees Ligtelijn, online channels coordinator, refers to the Kadaster as ‘the University of Accessibility’. That is why we are looking at how they address the issue of accessibility. Together with Debby Kilic, independent digital accessibility consultant, Kees talks about their approach.
Swink has become a partner of Deque for the Benelux region. By combining our knowledge and experience with that of Deque, we can offer even better services. But what does that mean? One of the changes is that we will now be conducting our accessibility audits using Deque's tool: axe Auditor. Michiel shares his initial experiences, demonstrates what this tool has to offer and explains what this means for our customers.
We train our digital accessibility specialists ourselves. This allows us to guarantee high quality and ensures that new colleagues quickly become familiar with our company. We mainly hire people with autism, which is why it is important that the training itself is also accessible. Specially for Accessibility Week, with its theme of ‘accessible education’, consultant Renate talks about this.
We have extraordinarily exciting news: Swink and Deque have established a partnership for the Benelux! This makes us one of Deque's first European partners. Are you wondering: what is Deque and why is this important? We are happy to explain.
Sunweb Group's mission is to offer “holidays for the many.” This means that vacations must be accessible to everyone. Digital accessibility is part of this. Sunweb Group not only wants to comply with legislation (European Accessibility Act - EAA), but also wants to be a leader in this regard within their industry. Monique van Agthoven, Head of Sustainability at Sunweb Group, talks about their approach and ambitions for digital accessibility.
More and more organizations need to do “something” about accessibility. At first, this can be as intimidating as Mount Everest is for a mountaineer. Because there is a lot involved. For example, how do you get the organization on board? Accessibility is therefore a long-term process. It's like a marathon. As a marathon runner and digital accessibility researcher, I happen to have experience with both. Put on your running shoes, and I'll take you through the marathon process of accessibility.
Digital accessibility often remains an afterthought for many organizations. The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is a wake-up call for organizations who have yet to start with accessibility. Although being compliant is important, it is much more relevant you meet the needs of people with disabilities as Dean Birkett points out.
Blind or visually impaired people cannot see images on your site or in your document. Therefore, it is important that you provide images with alternative text. But how do you write such text? Find out here.
As an organization, you have worked on digital accessibility and you want to show it! But how do you do that? Are there quality marks or certifications? And if so, what status do they have? In this blog we will discuss the meaning of trustmarks and certifications for digital accessibility.
The European Accessibility Act (EAA) will come into force on June 28, 2025. Just how do you make sure you comply with this law? We show you in this blog.
Due to the European Accessibility Act, accessibility is increasingly on the agenda in the business market as well. But how does a large commercial organization go about this? ANWB has already taken the first steps. Erwin Schaapman, product owner design system digital channels at ANWB, tells about it.
The Alkmaar-based software company Solutions Factory helps organizations in the public sector find and connect with the right employees. One of the ways the company does this is by developing working-at-sites for clients. Solutions Factory is working hard to make their products digitally accessible. Klaas de Boer, Manager Delivery & Support at Solutions Factory, has a leading role in this. “Our ambition is to deliver a fully digitally accessible working-at-site system.”
To determine if your website is accessible, we test it against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) guidelines. This is the international standard for digital accessibility. There are different versions and levels. We show the differences between WCAG A, WCAG AA and WCAG AAA and which one you should have for an accessible website.
Since the end of 2023, Bram Duvigneau has joined the Swink team. Or actually we got two more colleagues, because service dog Mellow joins him cozily to the Swink office in Amsterdam Sloterdijk. In addition to being a highly experienced digital accessibility specialist, Bram is also blind. He doesn't let that stop him. On the contrary. For example, he travels by public transport and regularly works at clients' offices, where Mellow is a familiar face.
Digital accessibility was already mandatory for Dutch public authorities. From 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) ensures that businesses and organizations must also become accessible. An important development, because in Europe there are tens of millions of people with disabilities. What the EAA is and what it means for your organization, we will show you in this blog.
Digital accessibility affects the entire organization and is therefore primarily an organizational issue. But how do you approach something this big? Tackling the flow of inaccessible PDFs is a good starting point. Corinne van den Heuvel is associated with Swink as a consultant on digital accessibility. She tells how she implements such projects at large government organizations.