SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 22nd February (EUROPA PRESS) –
The President of the Canary Islands’ Legislative Assembly, Astrid Pérez, unveiled a series of enhancements to the institutional website and social media channels on Thursday. The upgrades aim to eliminate barriers and enhance accessibility. Additionally, a third channel for broadcasting up to three live events from the chamber has been established.
During a press conference, she emphasized that these changes mark a significant shift, as more than 55,000 Canarians with disabilities – according to Istac data – will now have access to all parliamentary events and information. The President stressed that universal accessibility has been a “top priority” since taking office, with the goal of making communication from the Chamber more inclusive. This move places the Canary Islands’ Legislative Assembly among four other autonomous regions with comprehensive accessibility.
Notably, the new features include a text-to-speech reader system designed for individuals with visual impairments, “tailored to the most commonly used applications by this demographic for internet browsing,” she highlighted.
Pérez also highlighted Parliament’s commitment to transparency, with over 4,700 data sets available in ‘open source’ format. The institutional website has attained significant traffic, with over 1,500 daily visits and occasional peaks exceeding 18,000.
Furthermore, she announced that with the assistance of an Artificial Intelligence company, parliamentary committees and plenary sessions will now be subtitled, with a 20-second delay from the live broadcast. In a subsequent phase, video files will also feature subtitles.
Initially, Pérez acknowledged the potential challenges for the tool in handling Canarian terms, toponyms, and proper names.
The President also commended the efforts of the Chamber’s services in realizing this project, emphasizing that the initiative brings Parliament closer to people with hearing impairments. She specifically thanked Technical Administrative Assistance, Documentation, Archives, and IT for their indispensable contributions towards achieving this goal.
Parliament is set to invest approximately 6,000 euros annually in these improvements, in addition to the 12,000 euros allocated for sign language services.
