It’s important for organizations to prioritize digital accessibility and make it a core part of their design, development, and testing processes. This will help to ensure that all users, including those with disabilities, can use and benefit from digital products and services. Many designers and product managers are not aware of the importance of accessibility and do not understand the needs of users with disabilities. For this reason, adequate accessibility testing should be mandatory. Perhaps bringing in testers who have first-hand experience with navigating a website as a differently abled person would be useful. Accessibility testing should involve the opinions of those who will be using certain features as opposed to able-bodied people making assumptions about some characteristics and ignoring others. However, limited resources and ever-changing technologies may make it difficult for small businesses to keep up with the standards of larger corporations. Some digital accessibility practices that often get overlooked include form labeling, color contrast, alt text for image, time limits and keyboard accessibility. For instance, we can use my website (the one you’re currently browsing) as an example. My WAVE report indicates that my website has the following accessibility issues: 0 errors, 16 contrast errors, 7 alerts, 1 feature, 11 structural elements and 8 ARIA. It’s important to remember that accessibility is a continuous process and requires ongoing effort to ensure that everyone can use and benefit from digital technologies.
If we think about digital accessibility in schools, proper technology use can be incredibly helpful. For instance, while discussing HP5 in our Learning pod today, Nicola mentioned how it could be used for storytelling and story writing in an English class. H5P could be used to create a video as opposed to writing out a story in paragraphs. I feel students would be more likely to actively participate in a storytelling activity if they were not solely limited to pen and paper. For students diagnosed with dysgraphia or dyslexia, a digital and verbal way of telling a story would facilitate a more inclusive version of traditional storytelling activities. In my experience, for students who struggle with their handwriting or spelling, story writing becomes increasingly more difficult as they must focus on challenges beyond creating the story itself. I have attached a copy of my newly edited HP5 video with inclusive updates, such as subtitles, down below.
