Monitoring eAccessibility in Europe: 2011 Annual Report
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Home environmentThis category addresses technologies in the domain of digital homes (home appliances and domotics networks) and telecare services. Home automation generates promising innovations for people with disabilities. It involves the application of various technologies, such as electricity, electronics, computers, robotics and telecommunications, which converge and are integrated into a system to provide useful applications and services for residents of the home. The possibility of using web based interfaces to control the functions of home automation opens up huge possibilities, both on ubiquity (different functions can be controlled from anywhere through a computer, a PDA or a mobile phone) and on accessibility (due to the possibility of a redundancy channel that enables Web-based interfaces). Telecare refers to offering remote care of older people and physically less able people, providing the care and reassurance needed to allow them to remain in their own homes. Its aim is to enable people to remain independent in their own homes by providing person-centred technologies to support the individual or their carers. Access to telecare may be limited by a number of factors, linked to levels of disability and/or environmental factors. When considering telecare as a tool for appropriate, timely intervention or enablement for a user, accessibility is a crucial factor. For some users, accessibility may be obtained through provision of additional technology such as environmental control systems.
Figure Status of home environment accessibility in EU and non-EU countries Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages Figure Status of home environment accessibility, by country Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages The level of accessibility of the home environment in the total number of countries studied in the European Union is low, at 24%. Highest implementation level of practices identified with accessibility of the home environment is in Spain (61%), Greece and Ireland (both 42%), and France (35%) (medium accessibility), while all other EU countries recorded a low level of accessibility, with Denmark, Hungary and Sweden having only a 5% of compliance. There are no data available for the Netherlands. Home environment in the EU is less accessible than in the non EU reference countries. The average in those countries stands at 37%, 13 points more than in the EU, although it must be pointed out that there are important differences among them. Thus, the non-EU reference country in which home environment reaches the greatest degree of accessibility is Norway (81%), and the lowest level is found in the United States (5%). For the 17 countries surveyed, the 13 European Union members and four non-EU countries considered jointly, the average is 27% (low accessibility). Only one country (Norway) stands out for a high level of accessibility in this category. Regarding the home environment related technologies analysed in this study, both telecare and the digital homes present a lower level in EU countries than in countries outside the EU, which reach a medium level of accessibility. Table . Status of home environment accessibility11
Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages Digital homesDigital homes -also known as smart homes- provide a network in which computers, home appliances and/or consumer electronics are interconnected for environmental control and automation. One of their main aims is to improve the quality of life by making the home environment more comfortable. There is no single set of products that can be considered for a digital home, and the digital homes market includes a chain of suppliers, service providers, installers, and builders. In this study we consider only a part of the digital home product catalogue: home appliances and the domotics networks (smart home technologies and home automation systems) used to interconnect all elements. The study indicators in this area are listed below.
Figure . Status of digital homes accessibility in EU and non-EU countries Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages Figure . Status of digital homes accessibility, by country Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages For digital homes in the EU, the average among the countries surveyed is 17%. Highest implementation level of practices identified with digital homes is in Spain (46%) and France (35%) (medium accessibility), while all other EU countries have a low level of accessibility. For six countries, the level of accessibility is only 4%. No data are available for Netherlands. Accessibility information about digital homes in the EU is lower than in the non-EU reference countries. The average in these countries stands at 41% (medium accessibility), 24 points higher than in the EU. However, this is only due to the fact that Norway reaches 96% compliance, while the remaining three non EU countries have a very low level (less than 10% - with no information provided for Canada). For the 17 countries surveyed, the 13 European Union members and four from outside the EU considered jointly, the average is 22%. Only Norway achieves a high level of accessibility, with 12 of the 17 having low levels of accessibility (below 33%). Regarding the two indicators on which the level of accessibility of digital homes was based, both the volume of the accessibility information on the domotics network installers’ websites and the accessibility information available on the main home appliances manufacturers' websites present similar numbers, being lower (as an average) in the EU countries than in non EU countries. The experts from the Netherlands and Canada did not provide any information about the home appliance manufacturers and domotic network installers, while for the Denmark, Hungary, the Netherlans, Canada and Ireland there is no information about the domotic network installers. Table . Status of digital homes accessibility
Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages TelecareTelecare services allow users, via remote care services, to be more independent, assuring them that they will be attended without needing to leave their familiar environment - the home, for instance – while at the same time relieving their carers of some of the burden involved in care. Public administrations are therefore implementing measures aimed at care for dependent people, such as those based on telecare services. However, there is currently a lack of accessibility of these telecare services, which is why it is important to include them in this study. There are various different telecare services, the most widespread being the emergency alarm service. The analysis of accessibility in this area focuses on these first generation telecare services and takes into account both the main telecare device manufacturers and national telecare service providers. Figure . Status of telecare accessibility in EU and non-EU countries
Figure . Status of telecare accessibility, by country Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages The level of accessibility of telecare in the EU is low, the average among the countries surveyed being 32%. Only in two EU countries (Greece and Spain) is sufficient accessibility information provided by the two leading telecare services on their websites. Furthermore, only in five countries (France, Ireland, Greece, Spain and UK), do the leading telecare devices manufacturers provide some kind of accessibility information on their websites. In only three EU countries (Czech Republic, UK and Spain) are there some kinds of telecare services with accessible communication alternatives. Highest implementation level of practices related to telecare is identified in Spain (75%, high accessibility), followed by Greece (65%) and UK (60%), with two more countries having a medium level of accessibility. The other EU countries studied have a low level of compliance with the accessibility indicators, with the lowest levels found in Denmark, Hungary and Sweden (6%). There is no information available for Netherlands. Telecare in the EU is slightly less accessible than in the non EU reference countries. The average in these countries stands at 34%, two points higher than in the EU. The non EU reference country in which telecare achieves the highest level of accessibility is Norway (65%), while the lowest level is found in the United States (6%). The average for the 17 countries surveyed, the 13 European Union members and four from outside the EU considered jointly, is 32% (low accessibility). Only Spain stands out with a high level of accessibility in telecare. Regarding the indicators on which the level of accessibility in telecare was based, the following were considered: the volume of accessibility information offered on the websites of the leading telecare services and telecare devices manufacturers, and the availability of telecare services with accessible communication alternatives. In general, the level of compliance with the volume of accessibility information offered on the websites of the leading telecare services providers (35%) and telecare devices manufacturers (46%) is medium, while the availability of telecare services with accessible communication alternatives is very low (14%). The expert from the Netherlands did not provide any information about telecare accessibility. Table . Status of telecare accessibility
Source: Own elaboration, 2011. Unit: Percentages
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