How can you avoid marginalizing people with disabilities in digital publications?

1 What is digital accessibility?

Digital accessibility means that your digital publications are designed and developed in a way that allows people with different types of disabilities to perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with them. Disabilities can affect vision, hearing, mobility, cognition, or mental health, and they can be temporary, permanent, or situational. For example, someone with low vision might use a screen reader to listen to your text, someone with a hearing impairment might rely on captions for your audio or video, someone with arthritis might prefer keyboard shortcuts to mouse clicks, someone with dyslexia might benefit from a clear and simple layout, and someone in a noisy environment might need to adjust the volume or contrast of your content.

2 Why is digital accessibility important?

Digital accessibility is important for many reasons. First of all, it is a human right and a legal obligation in many countries and regions. By making your digital publications accessible, you are respecting the dignity, equality, and inclusion of people with disabilities, and complying with relevant standards and regulations. Second, it is a good practice and a competitive advantage. By making your digital publications accessible, you are reaching a wider and more diverse audience, improving your user experience and satisfaction, enhancing your reputation and credibility, and reducing the risk of complaints or lawsuits. Third, it is a creative and innovative opportunity. By making your digital publications accessible, you are challenging yourself to think differently, use new tools and techniques, and create more engaging and versatile content.

3 How can you make your digital publications accessible?

Making your digital publications accessible doesn't have to be complicated or expensive. To start, you can follow some basic principles and best practices that apply to most formats and platforms. For example, use clear and concise language, avoid jargon and slang, and provide definitions or explanations for unfamiliar terms or acronyms. Additionally, use headings, lists, tables, and other structural elements to organize your content and make it easier to scan and navigate. Descriptive and meaningful text should be used for links, images, and other non-text elements; alternative text or captions should also be provided. Consistent and contrastive colors, fonts, and sizes should be used for text and background; avoid using color alone to convey meaning or emphasis. Audio and video should be clear and audible; transcripts, captions, and audio descriptions should also be provided. Interactive elements should be responsive and accessible; keyboard access, feedback, and instructions should also be provided. Finally, test your digital publications with different devices, browsers, and assistive technologies; ask for feedback from people with disabilities or accessibility experts too.

4 What are some resources and tools for digital accessibility?

If you're looking to learn more about digital accessibility and how to implement it in your digital publications, there are many resources and tools available online. For instance, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are the most widely adopted standards for web accessibility and provide criteria, techniques, and examples for making content accessible to people with disabilities. The Accessible Digital Office Document (ADOD) Project is another helpful resource that offers guidance and templates for creating accessible documents in various formats such as Word, PDF, PowerPoint, and Excel. Additionally, the A11Y Project is a community-driven initiative that provides articles, checklists, tools, and resources for web accessibility. Finally, the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool is a free online tool that allows you to check your web pages for accessibility issues and provides suggestions for fixing them.

5 How can you promote digital accessibility and inclusion?

Making digital publications accessible is not only a technical or legal matter, but also a social and ethical one. You can do more than just following the guidelines and best practices by promoting digital accessibility and inclusion as a value and a vision. To do this, educate yourself and others about the benefits and challenges of digital accessibility, advocate for digital accessibility in your field or community, celebrate the diversity of people with disabilities, and collaborate with them. Additionally, share your knowledge and experience with your peers, colleagues, clients, and audiences. Support initiatives and campaigns that raise awareness and demand action. Showcase stories, perspectives, and contributions of people with disabilities in your digital publications. Invite them to participate in your digital publishing projects as co-creators, consultants, or reviewers.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?