Digital Accessibility: 11 Things You Can Do
Regardless of your role, you can contribute to an accessible and inclusive technology presence on your campus. Familiarize yourself with some core practices that will generally improve the experience for people with and without disabilities. By themselves, these will not make your content fully accessible, but they will improve both accessibility and usability.
You may already know some or all of these practices; now see how they intersect with digital accessibility.
1. Use headings to organize your digital documents and web pages
Headings provide structure to your documents by describing topic and subtopic areas in an outline fashion. Word processing documents (such as Word or Open Office), web documents (such as HTML pages), and destination formats (such as PDF) all are more usable and navigable by assistive technology, as well as by bookmark and Table of Contents users, when these document structures are in place.
2. Include text alternatives with your images and graphics
Web images, infographics, photos, charts, and other digital graphics all present content in a fundamentally inaccessible manner. If you use images in documents or email, be sure to provide descriptive ALT text, captions, summaries, or other text alternatives to for users who cannot see or otherwise experience the images.
3. Create lists with list tools
Ordered (sequential or numbered) and unordered (bulleted) lists present items or information in a sequence for the user. Lists also provide a visual break from dense or unbroken chunks of text. Rather than typing out A. B. C. or 1. 2. 3, always use the list tools in your authoring program to create bulleted or numbered lists.
Read more about accessible lists
4. Create well-structured tables
Tables should be used to present data in rows and columns. Simple tables are reasonably accessible when they include standard features like header and data cells and captions. Avoid tables for positioning or layout, and do not nest one table inside another. Discrete sets of data should be presented in separate tables.
Read more about accessible data tables
5. Provide descriptive link text
Hyperlinks are now a fundamental part of almost any document type. By providing links that are clearly labeled and easy to find and use, you make your document more navigable for everyone. Hyperlink text should clearly indicate the purpose and destination of the link. Links presented by image should include good ALT text.
6. Use color and contrast appropriately
Color can liven up a visual document, graphic, or website, but some users can't distinguish the meaning of an item based on color alone. Make sure that your designs and content do not rely solely on color to convey their meaning. Insufficient contrast may also present a barrier to some users; make sure that background and foreground colors, in the content and in the interface, have enough contrast that all users can distinguish one from the other.
7. Check your digital media for captions or transcripts
If your group provides digital media, check to ensure that the media includes captions (for video) or a transcript (for audio). Captions should accurately reflect onscreen sounds and dialogue, and also should be synchronized with the content on the screen.
8. Make sure your content is presented in the right order
Logical reading order means that the information in a document is presented to assistive technology in the same linear order as it is intended to be read visually. Documents with complex layouts, tables, sidebars, callouts, text wrap, and other specialized formatting can present content in an unpredictable order, resulting in accessibility barriers for some readers. Scanned and converted documents and documents prepared using optical character recognition are especially susceptible to reading order issues.
View OCR Video Series Topic 9: Logical Reading Order (Open Captioned Video, 4:05)
9. Use a tool to check for accessibility
There are numerous free resources to help you check the accessibility of your organization’s websites. UDOIT and the Canvas Accessibility Checker offer insight into the accessibility of your Canvas content in ICON. Siteimprove, the WAVE toolbar, the Web Developer Toolbar, and other tools can provide some insight into your website’s compliance with accessibility standards and guidelines. Some desktop applications like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Adobe Acrobat include onboard checkers to help you identify and address accessibility gaps in those products. If you create online documents, learn to use accessibility checkers and correct any issues before distributing documents.
Visit Accessibility@IOWA: Accessibility Testing Tools
10. Purchase and procure accessible technology
If you purchase or otherwise acquire new technology for your campus, do some market research to learn about the accessibility of products that meet your needs. Ask vendors about Accessibility Conformance Reports (ACRs, sometimes referred to as VPATs) and other accessibility roadmap items. Find out whether products have been tested with assistive technology. If possible, incorporate purchasing language that requires vendors to provide accessible products when possible. Note: if your development team is providing the new tech, ask them these questions as well.
Visit Accessibility@IOWA: Purchasing and Procuring Accessible Technology
11. Ask, "What about accessibility?"
Although it's last in the list, it all starts here. Whatever your role in supporting technology, make sure that accessibility is part of the conversation. Ask vendors and developers to share information on their accessibility efforts, make accessibility a project requirement, educate yourself on accessibility efforts on your campus. If you are in a position of leadership, encourage others to consider accessibility and green-light accessibility training and professional development for your staff.
For more, visit Accessibility@IOWA, the Digital and IT Accessibility website at the University of Iowa