What is accessibility and why should we think about it? Accessibility is ensuring physical and digital spaces and products are accessible to people with disabilities. It is also a lot more than that, because by making access easier for disabled people, we make access easier for everyone. Moreover, thinking about accessibility is not optional, it ensures compliance with minimum legal requirements, such as the Equality Act (2010) and the EU Directive on Web Accessibility (2018). As highlighted by the Global Accessibility Awareness Day, accessibility is not just ‘nice to have’ or a ‘tick-box’ exercise, so everyone in an organisation must know and be committed to best practices.
So, how do you start making your digital content accessible if you are not an expert on Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities, like sensory impairments, dyslexia or sensory processing difficulties? First, be proactive and search for relevant guidance, there is plenty freely available online. My own organisation, UCL, for example, provides general guidance and in-depth advice for specific types of content, including text, images, audio and video. Here, I summarise some of the most important actions I have seen, drawing on UCL’s Accessibility Fundamentals and my own research on inclusive education for learners with sensory and multisensory impairment. Below are some general considerations that you can use as rules of thumb.
When writing documents, use styles for Headings and descriptive text for hyperlinks, instead of using the full URL or ‘click here’, to allow navigation for people using screen-readers. For easier visual access, choose sans serif font types; font size minimum 11 and 24 in PPT; bold for emphasis (and not italics or underlined text); do not use ‘justified’ text. Share an editable version (not a PDF) and clearly state how it can be accessed in alternative formats (e.g. Braille or Large Print).
