It is important to remember that persons with disabilities form a very heterogeneous group and face different barriers. Not providing accessibility features could be considered discrimination.
In the 2030 Agenda, UN Member States committed themselves to ensure that ‘no one is left behind’. The word ‘disability’ was mentioned dozens of times in issues related to data collection, education, accessibility, work, justice, inequalities and much more. This speaks volumes about the importance of physical and digital inclusion of people with disabilities.
Telefónica is a company that values diversity and inclusion in all its initiatives. For this reason, the company joined the global initiative The Valuable 500, which brings together several leading companies around the world with the aim of strengthening the global agenda for the inclusion of people with disabilities. This is yet another of Telefónica’s actions to ensure that all people have the right to contribute their talent and potential in a working environment free of barriers and prejudice. We are also committed to promoting accessibility in our offer and our relationship with customers and society. All people have skills and abilities that can be useful in different areas, the inclusion of these professionals is fundamental to the success of the business.
Accessibility as a way to promote social inclusion
As technology evolves, more and more companies are investing in digital content to promote their products and services, and it is important that this content is accessible to everyone regardless of their conditions.
Digital platforms should be designed taking into account international accessibility standards, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). In this article I will present best practices for creating accessible content. This will help you to achieve an inclusive society.
Accessibility measures
Plan resources for accessibility
Including accessibility measures in planning from the beginning is more efficient and less costly than trying to fix problems later.
Use simple and understandable language
Using simple language allows all users, including people with cognitive difficulties, to better understand the content. To ensure this, it is necessary to: structure the text in paragraphs, create short sentences, avoid technical jargon and terms in other languages.
Describing images
Use the alternative text that is present in most Office 365 tools, web pages and other electronic documents. The description should be clear, concise and specific. In theory, all images in a text should be described except those that are merely decorative. Do not describe emotions, use adjectives or repeat text already written in the title of the description to avoid duplication of information. Using simple language allows all users, including people with cognitive difficulties, to better understand the content. To do this: structure the text in paragraphs, create short sentences and avoid technical jargon.
Format text taking into account assistive technology factors.
Making texts available in an organised and accessible way for assistive technologies is essential and therefore we should pay attention to some factors:
- Hierarchy of headings through heading and subheading marks.
- Text aligned to the left to ensure smooth reading
- Colour contrast between the background and the font
- Simple, easy-to-read fonts, such as Arial, Verdana and Calibri.
- Avoid an entire block in capitals, italics or bold. Screen readers do not identify font styles, including: colour, underline and strikethrough. Use these styles to provide visual breaks. Do not use them as the only way to indicate importance or communicate information.
- Accessible hyperlinks, i.e. the link should make sense even when read out of context. Avoid using only the hyperlink in ‘click here’ or ‘here’, as keyboard navigation will be limited to that pair of words only, making it difficult to interpret the destination of the link.
- Emojis, use this function instead of using characters, as screen readers already recognise these symbols.
Captioning videos
Closed captioning allows deaf or hearing impaired people to access content with images, improving their browsing experience. Open captions are placed directly on the video recording and cannot be disabled by the viewer. Closed captioning, on the other hand, can be turned on or off, giving control to the viewer. Many video streaming services supportcaption closed captioning, allowing users to turn them on or off as needed.
Accessibility is in the environment, in communications and in everyone’s attitudes, so each of us must be committed to promoting it in every aspect of our lives.
