The 18th of May marks the 12th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). The purpose of this awareness day is to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion, and how it impacts the more than One Billion people with disabilities or impairments worldwide.
What is Digital Accessibility?
Digital Accessibility ensures that people with disabilities are able to experience websites, web-based services, content and other digital products with the same successful outcome as those without disabilities. Every user deserves a first-rate digital experience, and every organisation has the responsibility to help deliver that with their digital services.
Accessibility Removes Barriers and Unlocks the Possible
In September 2022, Connect Three and Passion4Social began a project as part of the Workplace Equality Fund called Accessibility for All. Since then we have delivered free training webinars, accessibility audits, and face-to-face Accessibility presentations in order to help Scottish businesses to create accessible and inclusive online experiences.
This project aimed to:
- Improve employment opportunities and progression policies for people with disabilities, particularly within the technology sector,
- Improve knowledge, skills, and practices within Scottish businesses,
- Create a more accessible web in Scotland.
Through the webinars, we educated over 300 attendees on creating inclusive working environments and we have seen more than 50 organisations commit to the free accessibility audits. Accessibility for All has also enabled us to create employment for four people with disabilities and train an additional six people with disabilities to become Accessibility Testers.
We Have a Long Way to Go
While we may be championing this work with our partners Passion4Social, the Connect Three team is well aware that we are not completely digitally accessible ourselves! We’ve had the accessibility testers carry out an audit on our digital footprint and we are working to improve on the areas that have been flagged by the tests.
As with any aspect of EDI work, digital accessibility is a journey, not a destination, and we will be continually working to make all aspects of our brand and business as inclusive as possible for everyone in our community.
Which Common Disabilities and Impairments Can Accessible Websites Cater For?
- Visual
People who are blind or visually impaired need alternative text descriptions for meaningful images and buttons, and they will use the keyboard rather than a mouse to interact with interactive elements. - Hearing
People who are deaf or hearing impaired need captions for video presentations, and require visual indicators in place of audio cues. - Motor
People with motor impairments may need alternative keyboards, eye control or some other adaptive hardware to help them type and navigate on their devices. - Cognitive
An uncluttered screen, consistent navigation, and the use of plain language is useful for people with different learning disabilities or impairments.
The Challenge
The main challenge, and the thing we’d like to highlight on this Global Accessibility Awareness Day, is still shifting mindsets and budgets from considering Accessibility as just an aesthetic option, to becoming part of the organisation’s strategy. There is still a widespread lack of understanding of the service and its relevance for society, which is why we will continue to push Digital Accessibility forward as an important part of any organisation’s EDI strategy.