Accessibility

Why is Accessibility Important?

Accessibility allows us to tap into everyone’s potential. ― Debra Ruh

Online content and linked documents must meet minimum accessibility standards to ensure equal opportunity for individuals with various disabilities to access and ingest content. Achieving these standards requires thoughtful design and decision-making. At times, additional effort is necessary in the initial course design to ensure accessibility for all or most users. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide detailed guidance to assist developers in creating online content. They emphasize four key principles:

  1. Perceivable: Content should be available to the senses through the browser or assistive technologies.
  2. Operable: Users should be able to interact using a mouse, keyboard, or assistive device.
  3. Understandable: Content should be clear and unambiguous.
  4. Robust: Various technologies and assistive technologies should be able to access the material.
Photo by Paul Downey

I was a driving force in my previous position, implementing processes and assembling teams to ensure that the content we create is accessible. I firmly believe that designing with these guidelines in mind benefits everyone, not just those with specific disabilities. It is valuable to invest time and effort in considering the learning experience from the learner’s perspective.

Below are three efforts that I spearheaded in my current position to help support my passion for accessible design:

1

Developed & Launched Internal Training Course

In order to provide training across teams on accessibility standards, I developed a training course focusing on document accessibility standards. Topics included Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations, PDF documents and forms, and adding appropriate alt text. Employees viewed various tutorial videos and then practiced their skill in hands-on activities. Each modules ended with a graded activity where they could demonstrate that they understood the accessibility standards.

*Use arrows to view images

2

Established a New Digital and Document Accessibility Team

Hired a team of contractors who are proficient in accessibility guidelines, WCAG, and ADA standards. This team is integrated into projects to perform a variety of tasks including:

  • Reviewing and remediating documents to meeting accessibility standards.
  • Reviewing document templates and providing feedback to creators.
  • Reviewing online courses and documenting accessibility issues.
  • Remediating online courses to meet accessibility standards.

3

Created Checklists & Documents to Support Accessibility Reviews

This checklist is based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 and allowed our teams to efficiently review online courses.