Accessibility in Content Strategy

I've seen so many posts being shared recognising and celebrating International Day of Persons/ Disabled People. Which is amazing! But sadly the vast majority of the content being shared is inaccessible. A day reflecting on equality and equity, but yet we're creating barriers that Disabled people. It's ironic, on a day of inclusion so many of us are excluded So please, if you are posting make your content accessible! Here are some tips to get you started: Image Description: Content Checklist. Six sections with tips read: 1. Message Body. Write in plain English. Use short paragraphs. Avoid using acronyms and jargon. Left align text where possible. Do not use a font generator, they are inaccessible for screen readers. 2. Images. Add Alt Text. Remember to keep Alt Text short and factual. Add an Image Description. Image Description is more descriptive and includes things like colour, texture, backgrounds etc. Any Text on a graphic or image should have sufficient Colour Contrast. 3. Video. Always use Closed Captions. These should appear at the bottom of a video. Use accessible Sans Serif fonts like Arial, Calibri or Helvetica. Include an audio description to describe what's happening in the video. Always manually check captions. Automated captions aren't always reliable. 4. Emojis & Hashtags. Don't replace words with Emojis. Don't overuse Emojis. Do use Emojis at the end of a sentence. Do use a capital letter for each new word in a hashtag. #camelCase or #PascalCase. 5. Check Colour Contrast here: https://lnkd.in/ecQAWnR4 checker. www.contrastchecker.com. www. userway.org/contrast. https://lnkd.in/exj-tFeV. 6. Add Captions Using:Youtube Online. CapCut Online. Adobe Premier Pro App. MixCaptions App. AutoCap App. Automated Social Media Apps. #DisabilityInclusion #IDPWD #DiversityAndInclusion #Accessibility

Inclusive design is not just about the font you choose. It is about how your content behaves when it meets a different nervous system. Last week, we pruned your typography. This week, we are looking at the soil. We are auditing your media and structure. In our rush for "engagement," corporate communications often rely on visual shortcuts like flashing GIFs, color-coded alerts, and walls of emojis. Marketing calls these "hacks." I call them Barriers. When you rely on a color change to signal "danger," you lock out the colorblind. When you replace words with a string of emojis, you create chaos for a screen reader user (hearing "Face with tears of joy" five times in a row). When you post a video without captions, you tell the Deaf and Auditory Processing communities that they are not your audience. Accessibility is not a "feature" for a minority group. It is an indicator of Organizational Health. If your content requires perfect vision, perfect hearing, and neurotypical processing speed to understand... your content is flawed. Below is The Inclusive Content Audit (Part 2). We moved beyond fonts to look at media, structure, and interaction. Here are 9 Ways to Operationalize Inclusion in your content: 1. The Emoji Restraint ❌ Barrier: Emojis read aloud via screen readers as clunky descriptions. ✅ Fix: Use clear words to convey tone. Keep emojis at the end of sentences rather than in the middle. 2. The Caption Mandate ❌ Barrier: Audio/Video posted "naked." ✅ Fix: Burned-in open captions. (This helps ADHD brains like mine focus just as much as it helps Deaf users). 3. The Contrast Rule ❌ Barrier: Text over busy, semi-transparent backgrounds. ✅ Fix: Solid color backgrounds behind text blocks to reduce visual noise. 4. The "Color + Shape" Rule ❌ Barrier: Using only color to convey meaning (e.g., Red = Error). ✅ Fix: Pair color with a distinct shape or icon label. 5. The Alt-Text Discipline ❌ Barrier: Images with file names like "IMG_5920.jpg". ✅ Fix: Descriptive, concise Alternative Text. 6. The Header Hierarchy ❌ Barrier: Manually bolding text to look like a header. ✅ Fix: Using actual "Heading Styles" (H1, H2) so screen readers can navigate the structure. 7. The Motion Control ❌ Barrier: Auto-playing GIFs or flashing content. ✅ Fix: Static images or user-controlled "Play" buttons. (Protect your team from vestibular triggers). 8. The Data Summary ❌ Barrier: Complex charts with no text explanation. ✅ Fix: A simple text summary beneath the visual. 9. The Permanent Label ❌ Barrier: Form field labels that disappear once you start typing. ✅ Fix: Labels that remain visible above the field. (Reduces cognitive load and working memory strain). The Verdict: Low-friction content is high-impact content. Stop making your audience fight your design to get to your message. #Accessibility #InclusiveDesign #WCAG #Neurodiversity #Leadership #ClinicalStrategy

Web accessibility & mental health: why we need to talk about it In my years working as a web accessibility expert, I’ve often noticed: we tend to focus on physical and sensory disabilities, but mental-health issues and cognitive differences often sit in the shadows of our accessibility discussions. Here’s what I’ve come to understand: · A recent study found that when accessibility features designed for cognitive support were absent, even users without disabilities showed declining cognitive engagement over time (eye-tracking & heart-rate monitoring used) (link to the study: https://lnkd.in/e5ZQe2i7) · The World Wide Web Consortium has a dedicated page on Cognitive Accessibility, acknowledging that many user needs are still not addressed in current standards (link to the webpage: https://lnkd.in/enTWiJdJ) · The European Commission published a 2022 study on inclusive web-accessibility for persons with cognitive disabilities, noting that improved cognitive accessibility benefits everyone (link to the study: https://lnkd.in/e7Z-XAxW) 🚨 Why mental health & cognitive accessibility matters, but gets overlooked · Many mental-health conditions affect attention, memory, processing speed, anxiety, distraction. Yet accessibility standards like WCAG only indirectly address these via criteria like “Readable” or “Predictable”. · This means a website can be technically WCAG compliant, but still highly stressful or inaccessible for a person experiencing anxiety, depression, PTSD, or cognitive fatigue. · Because mental-health issues are less visible and more variable, teams often don’t plan for them, yet by doing so we exclude a very large group of users. ✏️ Practical tips for designing with mental-health & cognitive needs in mind 1. Simplify tasks & reduce cognitive load Use clear, concise language; break down complex processes into simple steps. Provide “skip this step” or “help” options when tasks require concentration. 2. Manage pace, timing & interruptions Don’t assume users can process content the same as usual - allow more time, allow pauses. Provide options to reduce motion, remove auto-refreshing content. 3. Offer predictable, consistent navigation and UI Avoid surprises, unexpected changes, hidden actions. People with anxiety or executive-function challenges benefit greatly from consistency. 4. Enable personalization & adaptation Allow users to choose simpler mode, reduce visual clutter, choose focus mode, change colours or fonts. 5. Test with real users Too often we test only “visual/motor” disabilities, but persons with cognitive or mental-health-related challenges have unique real-world pain points and involve them early. If you’re working on a project, I invite you to pause and ask: “How would this feel if I were anxious, processing slowly, distracted, or tired?” Because accessibility is empathy translated into design. #Accessibility #MentalHealth #CognitiveAccessibility #InclusiveDesign #WebAccessibility #A11y #UX

1 in 6 people globally live with a disability. Add family members and caregivers, and the influence grows dramatically. This is one of the largest underserved consumer markets. Ask yourself: → Can someone use your website without a mouse? → Are your videos captioned? → Are your PDFs readable by screen readers? → Is your checkout usable without precise clicking? These details affect who can engage with your brand. The UK Click-Away Pound research found that 71% of consumers with disabilities leave websites that are hard to use. Inclusive campaigns deliver results too (study by Unstereotype Alliance, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, Unilever): → 62% likelihood of being a consumer’s first choice → 3.5% higher short-term sales and 16% higher long-term sales → 15% higher consumer loyalty Simple changes like adding keyboard navigation, captioning videos, making PDFs readable, and structuring your copy make things easier for everyone. Customers spend more time, make purchases more easily, and return more often. Run a basic accessibility check on your website. Review your video library for captions. Test your checkout with only a keyboard. Look at your PDFs through a screen reader. If you find gaps, fix them. If you’re not sure where to start, bring in expertise. Accessible marketing is good business. Companies that get this earn loyalty and stand out in the market. How easy is it for someone with a disability to buy from you? #AccessibleMarketing #DigitalAccessibility #CustomerExperience #DisabilityInclusion #DisabilityAwareness

Design can only be termed good if it reaches all. Creating beautiful and innovative designs is a key goal for graphic designers. However, even the most visually appealing designs can be inaccessible to some users if they don’t consider various accessibility needs. Low contrast between text and gaudy backgrounds can make it difficult for people with visual impairments or colour blindness to read the content. Decorative fonts can be hard to read for everyone, especially for people with dyslexia or other reading disabilities. So, what do we do to make designs more disability inclusive? 🔍 Understand Diverse Needs: Begin with empathy. Get to know the unique needs and challenges faced by people with disabilities. This understanding will guide your design process to be more inclusive. 🖼️ Accessible Visuals: Use high-contrast colors and clear fonts to make text and images easily readable. 🗣️ Alt Text Matters: Provide descriptive alt text for all images to ensure that screen readers can convey the content to visually impaired users, making your designs more inclusive. 🎨 Responsive Design: Design with flexibility by creating layouts that adapt seamlessly across different devices and screen sizes, including those used by people with disabilities. ♿ Universal Symbols: Use universally recognized symbols and icons to communicate important information. 💬 Inclusive Language: Choose words that respect and acknowledge people with disabilities. Avoid ableist language and ensure your message is positive and empowering. 👩💻 User Testing with Disabled Communities:  Involve people with disabilities in your testing process. Their feedback is invaluable in creating designs that truly meet their needs. Embracing disability inclusion in our designs is the next step to making the world a better place. Let me know of more design inclusive strategies in the comments below! #inclusive #design #accessibility #uxdesign #a11y #disabilityinclusion #universaldesign #webaccessibility #empathyindesign #userexperience #designthinking

What if... Instead of building AI strategies around efficiency, profit, and productivity, we built our strategies around accessibility. 🤔 The ancient Greeks had a concept called metis—cunning intelligence. Not cleverness for its own sake, but the practical wisdom to find adaptive solutions to complex, changing problems. I think accessibility represents the best form of this cunning intelligence for content professionals working with AI. Here's why: ➡️ When you design content for screen readers, you're creating the same semantic structure that language models rely on to parse information hierarchy. ➡️ When you write in plain language for cognitive accessibility, you're building the clarity that reduces AI processing errors. ➡️ When you create logical information architecture for diverse navigation needs, you're constructing the relationships that machine learning systems depend on. That's practical wisdom in action. The content professionals who understand this aren't chasing every new AI tool. They're building human-centered content systems that work effectively with AI by design. Accessibility isn't just a matter of ethics ... Its a strategy and a way of thinking. The best AI strategy isn't about prompts or tokens. It's about building content that serves diverse human needs in ways that also optimize machine processing.

💎 Accessibility For Designers Checklist (PDF: https://lnkd.in/e9Z2G2kF), a practical set of cards on WCAG accessibility guidelines, from accessible color, typography, animations, media, layout and development — to kick-off accessibility conversations early on. Kindly put together by Geri Reid. WCAG for Designers Checklist, by Geri Reid Article: https://lnkd.in/ef8-Yy9E PDF: https://lnkd.in/e9Z2G2kF WCAG 2.2 Guidelines: https://lnkd.in/eYmzrNh7 Accessibility isn’t about compliance. It’s not about ticking off checkboxes. And it’s not about plugging in accessibility overlays or AI engines either. It’s about *designing* with a wide range of people in mind — from the very start, independent of their skills and preferences. In my experience, the most impactful way to embed accessibility in your work is to bring a handful of people with different needs early into design process and usability testing. It’s making these test sessions accessible to the entire team, and showing real impact of design and code on real people using a real product. Teams usually don’t get time to work on features which don’t have a clear business case. But no manager really wants to be seen publicly ignoring their prospect customers. Visualize accessibility to everyone on the team and try to make an argument about potential reach and potential income. Don’t ask for big commitments: embed accessibility in your work by default. Account for accessibility needs in your estimates. Create accessibility tickets and flag accessibility issues. Don’t mistake smiling and nodding for support — establish timelines, roles, specifics, objectives. And most importantly: measure the impact of your work by repeatedly conducting accessibility testing with real people. Build a strong before/after case to show the change that the team has enabled and contributed to, and celebrate small and big accessibility wins. It might not sound like much, but it can start changing the culture faster than you think. Useful resources: Giving A Damn About Accessibility, by Sheri Byrne-Haber (disabled) https://lnkd.in/eCeFutuJ Accessibility For Designers: Where Do I Start?, by Stéphanie Walter https://lnkd.in/ecG5qASY Web Accessibility In Plain Language (Free Book), by Charlie Triplett https://lnkd.in/e2AMAwyt Building Accessibility Research Practices, by Maya Alvarado https://lnkd.in/eq_3zSPJ How To Build A Strong Case For Accessibility, ↳ https://lnkd.in/ehGivAdY, by 🦞 Todd Libby ↳ https://lnkd.in/eC4jehMX, by Yichan Wang #ux #accessibility

Do you use emojis instead of bullet points? Do you post a photo but forget to describe it? Maybe you love creating images where there is text over a photo... If you're doing any of these things, your communication is not as accessible as you might think. And as today is International Day of People with a Disability, it's a great time to reflect on our own accessible communication practices. The good news is that there are plenty of resources out there to help, like the brilliant Kelly Thibodeau, CUA, CPACC, and Matisse Hamel-Nelis, ADS, CPACC and Lisa Riemers' brand-new, amazingly helpful book, 'Accessible Communication: Create impact, avoid missteps, and build trust.' While you're getting your hands on a copy, here's five of my top tips to get you on the right track, especially if you're communicating through digital channels like social media. 1. Avoid emojis and emoticons. If a person uses a screen reader, these are very annoying! Also, they don't convey the same meaning for everyone. Use them sparingly, and at the end of a sentence if at all. 2. Include alt text and descriptions of your images. It's great for screen readers, great for SEO, and also just helpful for people to better understand the message the image is conveying. 3. Use colours with strong contrast. People with poor vision or visual processing can struggle to decipher text in different colours. Black on white is always a winner. There are great tools and guidelines out there to help assess your colour use. 4. Use short sentences and clear, common words. It's not just for accessibility ... it's just better for everyone! 5. Always include captions and transcripts for video and audio. People consume information in different ways and contexts anyway, and some people need a transcript to give them more time to process the messages. What else would you add to the list? [Image description: pale green tile with black text. The headline reads: Top tips for accessible communication, and lists the five points in this post. The logo for Cuttlefish, Mel's business, is on the right-hand side in black, all-caps text.]

If your agency builds websites, accessibility isn't just the developer's job. It's a content job. It's a design job. It's a project management job. It's a UX job. It's a marketing job. It's a QA job. It's a leadership job. Accessibility touches every role. And the best results happen when the whole team is trained, knowledgeable, and on board. Developers may be the ones to code the functionality and fix bugs, but: Writers choose the link text, heading structure, and decide whether that image needs alt text. Designers select color contrast, spacing, and visual cues that support understanding. Project managers build accessibility into timelines and keep it on the radar during reviews. UX designers ensure flows are intuitive and inclusive for all users. Marketing teams ensure social posts, campaign pages, and email content are accessible too. QA testers make sure everything works with a keyboard or a screen reader. Leadership sets the tone by prioritizing accessibility and giving the team time and resources to do their jobs well. It's not about doing everything. It's about knowing the part you play and building accessibility into your everyday work, from start to finish. It's easier (and more effective) when one person doesn't try to do it alone. #Accessibility #DigitalAgencies #WorkCulture