When accessibility meets good design, with Neil King and Chris Edwards

2019-09-16

Neil King, the National Manager of Vision Australia’s Digital Access group and Chris Edwards, Manager of Government Relations & Advocacy for Vision Australia, join The Learning Hook Podcast to explore accessibility, especially focused on digital access for all. These guys work in this space A LOT. They know the Australian and international landscape so well and share many tactical ways to create better access for all, taking us from standards to strategy for change. Check out the great list of websites below that can help designers, developers and managers. Thanks for so ma...

These guys work in this space A LOT. They know the Australian and international landscape so well and share many tactical ways to create better access for all, taking us from standards to strategy for change. Check out the great list of websites below that can help designers, developers and managers. Thanks for so many insights Vision Australia!

This podcast may be of special interest for anyone who wants to improve access to digital media in their organisation, Learning and Development professionals, and those wanting to roll out better elearning. From the creators, engagers to the managers and strategists, there’s something in this for everyone.

Snapshot below

Runtime: 50 minutes
Chris and Neil’s back stories
Accessibility is about greater access for all
Some mind boggling statistics that give us all pause for thought
Provide the burning case for change, to create greater access for all
Why good accessibility = good design
Learn the right way to say WCAG 😊 (is it ‘waycag’, W.C.A.G. or wicag?)
Top tips to impact digital access in your organisation
The accessibility landscape in Australia – how do we compare globally?

Links from the podcast:

Tools

Document Accessibility Toolbar (DAT) to create and validate accessibility of MS Word documents https://www.visionaustralia.org/services/digital-access/document-accessibility-toolbar
Web Accessibility Toolbar to assess the accessibility of your webpage (supports non-technical staff) https://www.visionaustralia.org/services/digital-access/resources/web-accessibility-toolbar-ie
AXE website accessibility automated testing tool https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/axe/lhdoppojpmngadmnindnejefpokejbdd
WAVE to assess the accessibility of your webpage https://wave.webaim.org/
HTML CodeSniffer website accessibility automated testing tool https://squizlabs.github.io/HTML_CodeSniffer/
Colour Contrast Analyser to assess the contrast of any digital resource (website, document etc) https://www.visionaustralia.org/services/digital-access/resources/colour-contrast-analyser

Disability awareness simulators

Web Disability Simulator https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/web-disability-simulator/olioanlbgbpmdlgjnnampnnlohigkjla?hl=en
Funkify – Disability Simulator https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/funkify-%E2%80%93-disability-simu/ojcijjdchelkddboickefhnbdpeajdjg

Toolkits and resources

Microsoft Inclusive Design Toolkit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/design/inclusive
SA Government Online Accessibility Toolkit https://www.accessibility.sa.gov.au/
Guidance on Inclusive Language https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-communication/inclusive-language-words-to-use-and-avoid-when-writing-about-disability

Connect with Neil on LinkedIn or Chris on LinkedIn.

In the chat: