In today’s increasingly digital workplace, ensuring websites, intranets, and electronic documents are accessible is more important than ever. This tool provides employers with practical guidance on making digital content and platforms inclusive for employees and candidates with a wide range of abilities. By implementing these best practices, organizations can foster a culture of belonging where everyone can contribute and thrive.

Introduction to Digital Accessibility

Digital accessibility means ensuring all users, regardless of disability, can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with electronic information and systems. It’s a critical component of an inclusive workplace.

Inaccessible digital content can create significant barriers for people with visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive disabilities.

Employers have a legal and ethical obligation to provide accessible digital experiences under standards like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)¹ and legislation like the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)². But beyond compliance, prioritizing digital accessibility benefits everyone. Features like logical heading structure, keyboard-friendly navigation, and clear language make content more user-friendly.

Principles of Accessible Web Design

Creating accessible websites and intranets starts with the following key principles:

• Perceivable: Information must be presentable in ways users can perceive, such as providing text alternatives for images.
• Operable: User interface and navigation must be operable, such as ensuring all functionality is available from a keyboard.
• Understandable: Information and operation of the user interface must be understandable, such as providing content in clear, concise language.
• Robust: Content must be robust enough to be interpreted by various user agents, including assistive technologies.

When designing digital platforms, consider the needs of users with different disabilities:

• Visual: Use sufficient colour contrast, provide image text alternatives, and ensure content is readable when magnified.
• Auditory: Provide captions and transcripts for audio content and ensure information is not conveyed solely through sound.
• Motor: Make all functionality available from a keyboard and avoid time limits that may pose barriers.
• Cognitive: Use clear, simple language, provide ample time to complete tasks, and offer support for web browsing and form completion.

Tips for Accessible Content

In addition to technical elements, the way content is written and formatted greatly impacts accessibility. Key tips:

• Use clear, concise language and avoid jargon. Aim for a grade 8 reading level.
• Structure content with logical headings (H1, H2, etc.) to make it easy to navigate and understand.
• Provide descriptive text alternatives for images that convey meaning.
• Use descriptive link text (e.g. “Annual Report” vs. “Click here”).
• Ensure sufficient colour contrast between text and background (at least 4.5:1 ratio).
• Choose sans serif fonts and avoid small font sizes. (Size 11 or larger is recommended.)

Creating Accessible Documents & Media

Digital accessibility goes beyond websites to include electronic documents, presentations, and multimedia. Key considerations:

Word & PDF:

• Use built-in heading styles for structure.
• Specify column header rows in tables.
• Provide Alt text for images and meaningful hyperlink text.
• Use the MS Word or Adobe Acrobat accessibility checkers.³
• Consider including a plain text version for compatibility.

PowerPoint :

• Ensure each slide has a unique title.
• Use simple slide layouts (avoid text boxes).
• Add Alt text for images and tables.⁴
• Use the built-in accessibility checker.

Audio/Video :

• Provide transcripts and captions for audio content.
• Include audio descriptions of key visual elements in videos.
• Ensure media players are keyboard-operable.

Social Media :

• Provide Alt text for images.
• Caption videos and provide transcripts.
• Use camel case, or capitalize each letter for multi-word hashtags (#DigitalAccessibility).

Internal Testing for Accessibility

Creating accessible digital content is an ongoing journey. Employers should test and validate accessibility regularly using automated tools and manual checks.

Automated testing tools like WAVE⁵ or aXe⁶ can identify technical issues like missing Alt text or insufficient colour contrast. Manual testing with assistive technologies like screen readers and enlarged displays can illuminate practical usability issues. Whenever possible, include people with disabilities in user testing. Their insights and lived experiences are invaluable for creating genuinely inclusive platforms.

Partnering with Accessibility Testing Companies

While automated tools and internal testing are essential, the most impactful insights often come from engaging real users with disabilities. This is where accessibility testing companies come in.
Accessibility testing companies connect organizations with a diverse community of testers who have a wide range of disabilities and use assistive technologies in their daily lives. By having their products tested by these users, companies can uncover usability barriers that may not be apparent to those without lived experience of disability.

These insights go beyond technical WCAG compliance to shed light on real-world usability. Testers provide valuable feedback on whether a product is understandable, operable, and user-friendly from their unique perspectives. This helps organizations prioritize the accessibility issues that will most impact inclusion.

Many small and mid-size businesses find partnering with an accessibility testing company a cost-effective way to incorporate user testing into their process. It allows them to tap into a ready pool of diverse testers without handling recruitment and logistics internally.

Combining insights from automated tools, manual checks, and user testing is a powerful formula for creating genuinely inclusive digital experiences.