L'Oréal Brazil is democratizing beauty, simplifying in different ways the access to information for Persons with Disabilities (PwD) in all its digital platforms. Relying on Hand Talk, an application that translates the content of the websites to "Libras", the Brazilian Sign Language, 97% of the company's website pages are already adapted for hearing impaired persons. The feature has been installed on L'Oréal Brazil, the brands websites, e-commerce, content portals, L'Oréal Talents - the company's recruitment blog - and on the website of the "Programa Para Mulheres na Ciência" ("Women In Science Programme"). This initiative is the first of its kind and was presented to the Group in October, during the 2016 edition of the Trophies for Disability Initiatives.

In addition to the translation to "Libras", many websites are already compatible with tools for the visually impaired, in addition to being partially browsed with the keyboard. These changes take the contents of L'Oréal to around 25 million people with disabilities in Brazil, customers and consumers with different profiles and needs, who now can find information on the company's websites. "As 70% of the hearing impaired persons do not speak Portuguese, the adaptation opens doors and gives autonomy to these people for accessing information and knowledge," said Leticia Novak, head of the Diversity division at L'Oréal Brazil.

The initiative began with the "Voz da Beleza" ("Voice of Beauty") portal, the first 100% accessible website of L'Oréal Brazil, but gained momentum among the brands after a workshop on Diversity held with trainees last year. With the reflection proposed by the workshop, Júlia Kalil - a Digital Marketing intern from L'Oréal Paris - proposed to extend the tools for all the company's websites. "The training made me reflect on small forms of exclusion that we practice every day, because we don't realize that respect is associated to empathy. When I put myself in the shoes of people with disabilities, I realized the importance of accessibility," she says.

Other forms of adaptation will still be incorporated into the company's websites so that they are accessible to even more people. "New technologies will emerge and we will always incorporate the best features into our digital platforms in order to share beauty also over the internet," says Jan Purisco, IT Analyst.

For Leticia, the work has only just begun. The challenge now is to understand how to implement the tools in mobile phones and tablets, since several of the websites are already accessible for the visually impaired.