Accessibility

Accessibility

Brazil has more than 14 million persons with disabilities, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), while research by Ceweb.br shows that the number of accessible websites is low. This scenario creates a series of barriers for persons with disabilities, who may have difficulty seeing content on a computer or smartphone screen, and may be prevented from filling in a form for online purchases or even understanding a web video.

Ceweb.br has been working since its launch to promote digital accessibility and initiatives to eliminate access barriers for persons with disabilities. We offer translations of technical documents, guides, and booklets on the subject and actively participate in the development of technical standards to make the Web accessible to all.

Brazilian Technical Standards

Ceweb.br coordinated the "Accessibility for Digital Inclusion" Study Committee of the Brazilian Technical Standards Association (ABNT). This committee has developed two technical standards for information and communication technologies:

ABNT NBR 17060 - Accessibility in mobile applications

Published in 2022, this standard aims to present accessibility requirements and recommendations for the development of applications for mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. The standard covers web applications and native applications for different operating systems.

ABNT NBR 17225 - Accessibility in web content and applications

A technical standard published in 2025, it presents requirements and recommendations for making web content accessible to persons with disabilities. This standard is based on the international accessibility guidelines, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) version 2.2, and presents simple guidelines for eliminating access barriers in web pages and applications.

ABNT standards for accessibility are distributed free of charge and are available for download from the ABNT catalog.

Authorized Translation of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

One of Ceweb.br’s activities is providing Portuguese translations of important accessibility documents. Several documents have already been translated, but the most important are the International Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

In 2014, Ceweb.br led the authorized translation of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 document, and in 2025, we coordinated the translation of the most current version, WCAG 2.2. A translation authorized by the international W3C means that the documents went through a lengthy review process by experts and stakeholders before being published by the W3C.

 


ICT Web Accessibility

The ICT Web Accessibility project aims to collect Brazilian governmental web pages and perform automatic verification of compliance with web accessibility standards. The platform has already collected and evaluated the accessibility of 1,486 websites and 564,892 web pages

Web Accessibility Primers

The Web Accessibility Primers were developed to disseminate information about the importance of digital accessibility and the rights of persons with disabilities. Six issues have been published. They present the benefits of accessibility for people, enterprises, and governments, guide users on what to do when they encounter access barriers on websites, and show them how to create accessible content on the Web.

Other Materials

Ceweb.br’s digital collection has an area dedicated exclusively to publications related to digital accessibility. The materials available in this repository range from lectures and workshops given on the subject to articles and papers published at academic conferences.

National Web Accessibility Award

Between 2012 and 2016, Ceweb.br promoted four editions of the National Web Accessibility Award, as determined by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee. The aim was to recognize initiatives to promote digital accessibility and websites that follow technical accessibility standards and have no access barriers for persons with disabilities. More than sixty websites and initiatives won awards in these four years.

Policy and Standards Development

Ceweb.br participates in working groups for the development of digital accessibility standards within the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). We also coordinate local initiatives with groups of experts who discuss actions and initiatives in favor of web accessibility in Brazil. This group collaborated on the development of Brazilian technical standards for digital accessibility and the Brazilian Inclusion Law to ensure that technical standards and good practices for digital accessibility were included in the law.

Brazil-UK Digital Accessibility Cooperation Program

BR-UK - Digital Accessibility is the result of the UK-Brazil Digital Access Cooperation Program (DAP). The project took place during 2022 through an initiative funded by the British government, in partnership with the Digital Government Secretariat of the Ministry of Economy (SGD/ME). It was coordinated by the Web Technologies Study Center (Ceweb) of NIC. br, with the support and participation of the Ministry of Health (MS), the National School of Public Administration (Enap), and the Web for All Movement.

The general objective of the program is to provide the Brazilian federal government with theoretical and practical subsidies, documentation, and tools to implement digital transformation strategies in line with international good practices in web accessibility, taking into account the State’s duty to guarantee adequate treatment for people with disabilities and to implement public policies based on concepts of human rights and social vulnerabilities.

The partnership resulted in various products to promote accessibility, from educational videos and tutorials on the subject to a guide to best practices for developing accessible websites and applications.