What is Accessibility? Getting Back to Basics.

Accessibility is a deeply personal issue for me. I’ve previously written about how a childhood injury resulted in a significant hearing loss, teaching me an incredible lesson in the importance of accessibility. I realized how much the world is set up for people with full hearing, and became aware of the challenges of operating in environments not designed for people with limited hearing. (I also developed a real appreciation for closed captioning!) This evolved into an understanding that many people face challenges every day trying to participate in experiences that weren’t designed to include them.

Getting Started

As a marketer, accessibility is crucial to my work, particularly in regard to digital experiences I create. In my professional roles, I’ve been an advocate for thinking with an accessibility-first mindset. I’ve had the opportunity to lead workshops and be a public speaker on the topic, for audiences ranging from front-end web developers and user experience (UX) designers, to marketing, public relations, and communications professionals, as well as non-profit and foundation leaders.

What always strikes me is how attendees who speak with me after my sessions express that, while they feel inspired to embrace accessibility, they don’t know where to start. In that spirit, I offer the following as a jumping-off point for understanding accessibility. I will urge readers to remember that accessibly is not a one-time concern, but is an ongoing journey. Still, while you’ll never check accessibility off your to-do list, adopting an accessibility-first approach will improve relationships with your existing audience, expand your reach to new audiences, and help you discover opportunities to improve your creation.

What is Accessibility?

For some people, the word “accessibility” is misunderstood as merely making accommodations for individuals with physical disabilities, such as vision or hearing impairments, or with limited mobility. Accessibility actually means creating inclusive experiences for people with cognitive differences, temporary health issues, technological limitations (including low connectivity), varied levels of education, mental health considerations, a wide range of skin tones, left-handed users, non-native speakers, and more.

Accessibility is a mindset, in which we use empathy from the beginning of a project to put ourselves in the position of our users.

When we think of accessibility as a burden or requirement, we aim only for the bare minimum to comply with the Department of Justice’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Standards for Accessible Design or the General Services Administration's (GSA) Section 508 Federal Electronic and Information Technology guidelines.

However, accessibility isn’t a burden, and it isn’t a reactive process to fix a product or experience once it has already been launched. Accessibility is a mindset, in which we use empathy from the beginning of a project to put ourselves in the position of our users. This allows us to anticipate challenges individuals might face with our content or product and enables us to build an inclusive experience from the very start – which often results in creative problem solving and innovation!

Quick Tips

Now that we understand accessibility as a mindset, what are some quick ways you can start incorporating this mindset into your work? Unfortunately, there is no accessibility checklist. Accessibility will look different for each of you depending on your roles and audiences, but what is most important is that you are keeping it in mind.

If you create digital content, such as social media or websites, these are tips you can use right now to improve accessibility:

1. Hashtags: Capitalize the first letter of each word in your hashtags. This helps screen reader software pronounce your hashtags, and makes them easier to read for individuals with neurodiversity, such as dyslexia. Test how they will be pronounced using the “Read Aloud” feature in Microsoft Word.
2. Photos: Compress your photos for faster loading on screens to help individuals with slower internet, and follow best practices to create meaningful, descriptive file names and alt tags so screen reader software can describe the image out loud.
3. Plain language: Use clear, concise language so individuals can easily understand your message and so translation software can process your copy. Use the Hemingway Editor to analyze your content!
4. Colors: When you design graphics, make sure they will be visible for all users. Use a resource such as the Adobe Accessibility Tool to learn about safe color combinations and color conflicts.
5. Audit: Check your website for accessibility using a tool such as the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool.

Resources

Accessibility is dynamic and, as additional technology is developed and research is conducted, standards are continuously updated. There are countless ways to stay up to date, but here are a few resources I like to reference that cover the basics and can get you going:

• A11Y Weekly, a weekly newsletter with the latest in accessibility
• Microsoft Accessibility Approach
• Section 508, a must-read if your work involves the US Government
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the international standard for web accessibility
• Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design by Kat Holmes

Wherever you are in your accessibility journey, remember that accessibility is, above all, an opportunity not just for audiences, but for creators, too!

Beka Wueste is the Director of Marketing at Hexagon US Federal, headquartered in Chantilly, VA.