Accessibility and Special Learning Differences in Communications (27.11.18)

About the event

Members of the Communications Network gathered to attend a panel discussion on the topic of accessibility and special learning differences in communications. The session was held in the Grantham Boardroom and facilitated by Neasan O'Neill (Communications Manager, Energy Futures Lab).

The broad aims of the meeting were

  • to help communications staff better understand what kind of considerations should be made around accessibility when producing digital and printed products
  • to raise awareness of common issues faced by end users with accessibility requirements
  • to highlight current barriers to delivering accessible content from a designer/communicator perspective

About the panel

Members of the network were joined by

Key points

Geoff Day

  • Creating accessible content improves the user experience for everybody
  • Use the College’s central platforms as they have been accessibility tested
  • When creating content for the web, prioritise

Abby Bolt

  • Print is a grey area for accessibility and it is difficult to find guidelines of best practice
  • Print products are often converted to PDF for online use, but this poses a number of problems for accessibility. Better options include building web pages to host content (rather than relying on PDFs) or to creating accessible PDFs.
  • Try not to overlay text on images, as this can’t be read by screen readers
  • When producing print products, try to follow basic design principles and emulate web content:
    • Use plain English
    • Don’t overload your medium with content and ensure it is well-spaced
    • Keep the hierarchy of text consistent throughout
    • Think about which font size is appropriate for different media
    • Make sure content is available in as many different forms as possible, so that people can consume it in accordance to their needs and preferences.

Lisa Phillips

  • Accessibility is for everyone: it’s not just about disability, it’s about ensuring that everyone is included.
  • In terms of print and digital products, there is a lack of best practice examples from around the College
  • There is also very little promotion of the disability services and support that are available within the College, and more needs to be done to publicise this to staff.
  • It should be the case that accessibility is proactively considered when planning events, rather than expecting attendees to request access.

Resources and further reading