The TOURISTIC Project aims to find new and innovative answers to all challenges by upskilling disabled people in Digital Skills applied to the design of innovative commercial services and products in Online Accessible Tourism

As part of the TOURISTIC project – which is focused on finding new and innovative answers to all challenges by upskilling disabled people in Digital Skills applied to the design of innovative commercial services and products in Online Accessible Tourism, we are progressing with the development of O1, a European framework of reference on Digital Skills applied to the design of innovative commercial services and products in Online Accessible Tourism.

One key resources for this in an Irish context is the National Disability Authority (NDA) – the independent statutory body of Ireland that provides information and advice to the Government on policy and practice relevant to the lives of persons with disabilities. The NDA has a role to assist the Minister for Justice and Equality in the co-ordination of disability policy and in all areas pertaining to this. 

While not specifically aligned to the area of accessible tourism, the NDA is active in a wide range of areas which it is felt, present very relevant potential for and alignment to the area of accessible tourism. In particular, the NDA provide an Accessibility toolkit which advises on ensuring that a business’ services, buildings, information, and websites more accessible to customers with disabilities. 

The NDA provides a library of research related to the areas of disability research, disability policy, universal design, and related topics.

Additionally, the NDA periodically makes recommendations to the Irish Department of Transport, Tourism and Sports which further supports the implementation of accessibility for Irish and European citizens. The NDA is also responsible for the setup and running of the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design (CEUD).