Co-financed by Erasmus+, European Union

Period: 01/2023 - 06/2025

Accessibility and Design for All are the base for the independent living and full participation of persons with disabilities in society and its all domains such as education, work, politics, administration, culture, leisure/sports, entertainment. To achieve that - Accessibility and Design for All must become an integral part of mainstream curricula of Higher Education (HE) to educate professionals at all levels and in all areas like IT, Design and Arts, Architecture, Civil Engineering, Audiovisual, Teacher Education, Care and Social Sciences, Politics, Administration, Business, Economics and Management. Those professionals must be aware of and have knowledge of guidelines, standards, techniques and tools in Accessibility and Design for All and can design, implement, procure, set-up, integrate, use and maintain accessible services andaccessible products in order to benefit individuals with disabilities, their communities and society as a whole.

The ATHENA project we will develop a set of recommendations on how to integrate Accessibility and Design for All into the Higher Education curricula. This will be a huge step forward in promoting equal opportunities and social inclusion of persons with disabilities.

The partnership of European Disability Forum representing over 100 million persons with disability in Europe, 4 universities having expertise in accessibility and EURASHE, one of the key stakeholders in the European Higher Education Area will create the recommendations through exchange and development of new practices and methods. The last year of the project will be dedicated to reaching out to HE institutions and influencing them to take on the guidelines developed in the project.

With ATHENA we want to transform the HE sector and to offer students education that will include the knowledge on accessibility. This will lead to new approaches in a variety of professions what will build more inclusive society.