Accessibility

Why create accessible content?


  1. New accessibility regulations

As of 23rd September 2018, new regulations were brought in for all public sector bodies (including higher education institutions). These regulations state that you must make your content 'perceivable, operable, understandable and robust'.

These regulations build on the Equality Act 2010 which states that ‘reasonable adjustments’ must be considered for disabled people.

In summary, this EU directive states that:

  • All FE/HE institutions should ensure that websites/learning environments are ‘perceivable, operable, understandable and robust’ (Art. 4. Web Accessibility Directive).

  • Institutions must provide an inclusive and accessible experience to all learners.

  • Institutions should be aware of accessibility and transparent about policies and practices.

Find out more about the ‘Public Sector Bodies (Websites and mobile Applications)(No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.'

2. Accessible content is better for everyone

Ensuring your content is accessible will also go a long way towards improving the way users who do not need to use assistive technologies consume your content. This video from the Web Accessibility Initiative shows a variety of ways that content produced to be accessible is also beneficial for all users regardless of ability.

How to create accessible content?

Follow these good practices when designing and adding your content. You will not only create better learning material, you will have content that can be more easily reused and repurposed – saving a lot of time in the future.

You may also want to visit blog posts: 10 Tips for Creating Accessible Resources to have tips and a greater insight of the reason of implementing these practice.

Create accessible Word & PDF documents

Create accessible Powerpoint presentations

Create accessible Moodle content

Create accessible videos & audios with Panopto

Accessibility Checker

It is important to check if there are any areas in your content that still have accessibility issues and fix them before students start using it. The following tools are very useful to make sure your content is fully accessible.

  1. Use Ally and other helpful tools in Moodle to check and fix content in Moodle that have accessibility issues.

  2. Use Microsoft Word Accessibility Checker to check and fix any accessibility issues the Microsoft Word document that you developed may have.

  3. Use PDF Accessibility Checker to check and fix any accessibility issues of the PDF document that you have converted.

  4. Use Microsoft PowerPoint Accessibility Checker to check and fix any accessibility issues your presentation may have.

However no automated tool can catch all issues. Manual checks may still be needed for some items.

Accessible exam guideline

Please refer to the following guidance to take the opportunity to develop accessible online assessment which is both engaging and encouraged a positive experience for students. It is only a guide and should be treated as such. If you have concerns around individual students, particular disabilities or learning outcomes, these should be discussed in detail with the team at ASDAC.