RTV Slovenija
Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTV Slovenija) is Slovenia’s national public broadcaster. It creates radio, TV, and online content. RTV Slovenija wants its content to be easy for everyone, including people with disabilities.
To help people who are deaf or hard of hearing, RTV Slovenija adds subtitles and sign language to its programs. For people who are blind or have low vision, it provides audio descriptions and audio subtitles.
RTV Slovenija runs two special websites. Dostopno is about the lives, rights, and needs of people with disabilities. It also collects radio and TV shows that use accessibility features. Enostavno is a news website that uses easy language. It also makes news videos in an easy-to-understand way. It is the only website in Slovenia that gives daily news in easy language.
RTV Slovenija has worked on European projects to improve accessibility. ADLAB PRO (2016-2019) improved audio descriptions for blind and visually impaired people. EASIT (2018-2021) trained people to make content easier to understand. SELSI (2022-2024) developed spoken easy language guidelines.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) is located in Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), near Barcelona. It was founded in 1968 and it is one of the main public universities in Spain. The UAB has over 40,000 students, almost 10,000 researchers and teaching staff, and hosts more than 5,000 foreign students.
The UAB promotes quality in teaching and attracts international talent, with a remarkable impact on research. The UAB is among the 12% of the best universities in the world and it is the third best Spanish University, according to the QS World University Rankings.
The UAB takes part in the ENACT project through TransMedia Catalonia research group. TransMedia Catalonia is a research group founded in 2005 which investigates accessibility to information and communication. TransMedia Catalonia has been involved in multiple research, educational and knowledge transfer projects on accessibility at national and European level. Some selected projects focusing on easy-to-understand language are EASIT, WEL or ClearClimate. TransMedia Catalonia researchers are also very active in standardisation at international level, contributing to standards on easy-to-understand language.
UNIAMOCI APS
Uniamoci APS is an association based in Palermo. It has been created in 2008.
Uniamoci APS has its office in a building that was owned by Mafia.
Now that place is the socio educational centre Uniamoci: it is place where people with disabilities who are older than 18 years old can come from Monday to Friday to learn and stay together.
Educators, psychologists and volunteers organize many different activities there:
– Art and handcraft workshops
– Writing and Foreign language courses
– Trainings on the Use of the computer and Internet
– training on social skills and emotions
– volunteering activities
Uniamoci APS has an online radio that is called Webradio Senza Barriere with some shows in easy to understand language.
Uniamoci APS also organizes seminars and events to talk about disabilities and social inclusion.
Uniamoci APS collaborates with many other associations located in Sicily, Italy, Europe and other countries in the world, to improve together the services and activities for people with disabilities.
ORF
The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) is Austria’s largest media provider, operating four national television and twelve radio channels, as well as a comprehensive range of websites. ORF is the leading multimedia platform in Austria and one of Europe’s most successful public service broadcasters with an audience of millions. ORF is the undisputed Austrian market leader in television, radio and online. ORF is formally a foundation under public law and as such must fulfill a number of duties and mandates laid down in the ORF Act. In this Act the obligation is appointed to increase the accessibility of the program to 100 percent. ORF offers “News in easy-to-understand language” in all media for years. Now it is necessary to develop them further with new technologies and with the exchange of experiences of other countries.
LATVIJAS RADIO
Latvian Radio (Latvijas Radio) is the oldest broadcasting media in the country and will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2025. Since January 2025, it has been part of the united Latvian Public Service Media, which also includes Latvian Public Television and the website LSM.lv. Latvian Radio consists of 5 radio channels offering informative programs, 24/7 news, entertainment, Latvian music, classical music, and cultural content, as well as programs for national minorities and youth.
Latvian Radio is the only media outlet in the country that provides news in an easy-to-understand language.
Since 2016, Latvian Radio has been offering its listeners a daily news edition in easy-to-understand language, broadcast on 3 radio channels every evening. Since 2024, easy-to-understand news in Latvian has also been aired on our Russian-language channel, serving as an integrative tool and assisting Latvian language learners. All news editions are also published on the LSM.lv website and are available on the mobile app.
ENACT is the first Easy-to-Understand project that Latvijas Radio is participating in, and we hope that our experience will be transferred to Latvian Television as well.
3CAT
The Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals – 3Cat is a public organisation that manages the audiovisual media of the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Grup d’Emissores de Catalunya Ràdio, in addition to the digital contents created by these media sources. It does this in compliance with its mission to act as a public service and with a firm commitment to quality, independence and the promotion of Catalan language and culture. It also forms part of the Fundació La Marató de 3Cat, which promotes social awareness and scientific research.
3Cat has 30% shareholdings in the Catalan News Agency (ACN), a public-listed company, which manages services and activities in written, radio and television communication formats at a local and county level in Catalan-speaking areas and throughout Spain.
The Corporació has been a member of FORTA (the Federation of Autonomous Area Radio and Television Organisations) since its founding, in April 1989. This body brings together radio and television companies from autonomous regions in order to aid cooperation in several areas.
It forms part of the UER-EBU (the European Broadcasting Union) through Catalunya Música, which takes part in this organisation’s musical exchange, Euroradio, which brings together all the public bodies and the main private European radio and television companies. It is also associated with CIRCOM Regional, which brings together 376 public television stations in 38 European countries with the aim of promoting and developing cooperation between its members.
Advisory board
Ulla Bohman was the director of the Easy Language Service at the Centre for Easy to Read from 2001 to 2014 and an employee of the Swedish Agency for Accessible Media (MTM) from 2015 to 2018. Since 2018 she has run her own business offering training, lectures and editing services in Easy Language, accessibility and human rights. She has expertise in intercultural and accessible communication and has been invited to present keynote addresses and workshops at several international conferences.
Katy Brickley is an experienced Easy Read translator and linguistics researcher based in the UK, specialising in accessible communication since 2005. With a PhD in linguistics and a strong background in participatory research and co-writing with people with learning disabilities, she combines her academic background and practical experience to produce clear, informed, and inclusive translations at Go Easy Read. Through this work, she focuses on developing standards informed by research, user feedback, and lived experiences, collaborating with professionals, organisations, and communities to promote their adoption.
Paul Harrison is a Media Project Manager at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), specialising in media literacy, accessibility and TV co-productions. He joined the EBU in 2021 after seven years at BBC News in London, where he worked in user-generated content verification, newsgathering and digital affairs. Paul graduated from the University of Sussex and University College London with degrees in politics. Prior to his journalism career, he gained experience in politics, charity campaigning and television production. He lives in Geneva.
Tatjana Knapp is the director of Zavod RISA, a Slovene non-profit organization focused on human rights, independent living, and accessibility, providing innovative services and tools to make information easier to understand and to support independent living of people with intellectual and other disabilities. Knapp has studied cultural anthropology, art therapy, and social work. In 2018, she co-authored Slovene Guidelines for Easy-to-Read (Easy Slovene), which provides 4 levels of text simplicity. She helped start ELIN, an international network of researchers and professionals who focus on Easy Language.
Elisa Perego, Associate Professor at the University of Pavia, Italy, specialises in English linguistics, audiovisual translation (AVT) and media accessibility. She holds a PhD from Pavia and worked for 17 years at the University of Trieste, where she promoted research on accessible communication. Her focus is on user-centered approaches integrating Plain and Easy Language in audio descriptions and genres such as podcasts and haptic museum guides. She coordinated the ADLAB PRO project and partnered on ADLAB, EASIT and SELSI to improve access for people with sensory impairments. Her publications include The Routledge Handbook of Audio Description (2022, edited with Chris Taylor) and monographs on accessible communication (2020) and audio description for the arts (2024).
Minna Pöntys started her career in Yle in 2001 as a subtitler-editor for the hard of hearing and leading up to the Head of the subtitling team. As Yle’s Strategic Head of Accessibility since 2019, she ensures that accessibility is known across Yle. She works closely with customers, advocacy organizations and unions to develop and communicate on Yle’s accessibility services. Minna Pöntys is Master of Arts and has studied Finnish language, literature, pedagogy and expressive arts.