Towards an inclusive RDM in Germany

The topic of data accessibility for people with disabilities has received little or no consideration within research data management in Germany so far. RDM services and tools are being developed without taking into account requirements for the creation of accessible or low-barrier content. This makes it difficult for people with disabilities to access scientific information and research data or to pursue a scientific career. The absence of disabled scientists in turn reinforces the invisibility of discrimination. To remedy this situation, the working group "Inclusive RDM" was formed within the GO Unite!-Initiative. GO Unite! is the German Chapter of the GO FAIR Implementation Network Data Stewardship Competence Centers (DSCC-IN). Our talk aims to introduce the goals and tasks of this new working group and, in particular, to discuss challenges that arise for inclusive RDM. The new working group will start with the topic of accessibility in research data repositories. While there are already detailed recommendations for data publication on web interfaces (WCAG 2), there is still a lack of such for the access and use of data beyond the graphic user interface, i.e. for repositories and further RDM tools. The focus of the new working group will therefore initially be on communicating the technical and legal requirements for implementing open and more accessible research data repositories. A main goal of the working group is to create awareness within the RDM community in order to sensitize for this important topic. This is intended to accelerate the long overdue cultural change, not least to prepare the RDM community for the implementation of the European Accessibility Act (EAA) in 2025 at the national level.