Roadmap for a digitally accessible organization
The journey to fully accessible online communication, applications, and services can seem daunting, especially for organizations starting out in this endeavor. However, there's good news: achieving results with relatively little effort is achievable for everyone. From there, you can begin to consider further steps to embed accessibility across all facets of your organization.
But how do you ensure that digital accessibility becomes a priority for your organization? And what comes next? In this article, I outline 8 steps to put digital accessibility on your organization's agenda, emphasize its importance, and provide practical tools to implement it.
1. Start with awareness
The first step involves engaging stakeholders within your organization. To embed accessibility, you need individuals responsible for vision and policy, marketing and communication, IT, budgets, and ultimately, implementing guidelines.
This includes: executive leadership, policy makers, product owners, document managers, communication specialists, brand guardians, and designers.
Do you need all of them immediately? No, initially, it's about developing vision and policy and gaining support from executive leadership. Without their support, an organization cannot systematically implement digital accessibility.
2. Begin with 'why'
Particularly now that some organizations are required to make online communications and services accessible, there's often a rush towards the technical aspects and implementation: the "what" and "how." It's a matter of compliance, so let's get started. Goal achieved, obligation fulfilled.
However, it's crucial for your organization to understand why accessibility matters. It provides insight, aids decision-making, and helps outline a long-term strategy.
Demonstrate that accessibility goes beyond catering to a specific demographic; it offers business benefits such as enhanced customer experience, increased website conversion and retention rates, improved brand perception, and better search engine visibility—compelling business arguments.
3. Address misconceptions
Let's be frank: disability is often initially associated with wheelchairs, blindness, deafness, or intellectual disabilities—groups most organizations don't engage with daily.
However, accessibility encompasses a much broader segment of society. Recognize that we're talking about a demographic of at least 4 million Dutch citizens, many of whom struggle primarily with reading and understanding text—a significant eye-opener for many.
Making texts comprehensible and readable is an immediate action organizations can take, expanding their reach and enhancing SEO with relatively low costs, as writing clear text is something you were doing already.
4. Empathy with the target audience
It's challenging to understand the experiences of someone with a disability if you haven't experienced it yourself. Consider inviting individuals with disabilities to present on their experiences and the importance of accessibility for their specific challenges. They may offer practical advice on overcoming barriers.
However, aim for a diverse perspective, as not all disabilities are the same. Consider setting up a test panel or advisory group of experts to actively seek feedback.
5. Conduct a baseline assessment
Start by determining your organization's current standing. A baseline assessment provides insights: how accessible are your website, brochures, and PDFs? Do visual designs need adjustments or additional style guidelines? Are videos comprehensible to those who are deaf or hard of hearing?
While online tools can assess your website, engaging an accessibility expert offers deeper insights beyond technicalities and code.
Following the baseline assessment, you'll have specific areas to address and measure your progress.
6. Plan for the future
It's unrealistic to address everything at once. Even if your baseline assessment is positive, ongoing education and compliance with new regulations and developments are essential.
Thus, develop a plan with key stakeholders, securing the necessary resources and authority for execution. Clarify responsibilities and timelines to ensure accountability and progress.
Establish clear goals and determine the steps needed to achieve them. Begin with attainable milestones.
7. Ensure knowledge and experience are institutionalized
Integral to an accessible strategy is ensuring that personnel across your organization acquire and maintain knowledge. Offer workshops and training sessions to raise awareness among those involved in content creation and management.
Incorporate accessibility guidelines into style guides and editorial manuals, ensuring they're comprehensible for all contributors, regardless of expertise.
8. Integrate accessibility into core values
Virtually every organization upholds core values that define its behavior towards customers and society. Align accessibility with these values.
For instance, if your organization promotes customer-centricity, accessibility naturally follows suit. By integrating accessibility into your core values, you enhance the likelihood of success and pave the way for broader organizational integration beyond online services.
Conclusion
While there are additional steps towards achieving a more digitally accessible organization, these 8 steps are intended to set you on the right path.
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