The following article is the first in a series on the importance of digital accessibility. The author is the interim executive director of digital accessibility and online learning.
Imagine opening an email from a coworker. An image appears at the top, followed by written instructions and several links to additional websites. But instead of looking at the screen, you are listening to the email. Your screen reader reads the text aloud as you navigate the email with your keyboard.
You reach the image. “Image.” And then it moves on. But wait – what was the image of? Was it important? Did you miss something you needed to know? You continue and hear: “Click here. Link.” Then another: “Learn more. Link.”
You know the links are there, but without meaningful link text that tells you where they will take you, what do you do? Each link requires additional navigation away from the email, making what should be a simple task slower and more frustrating.
For people who use screen readers, experiences like these are part of navigating digital spaces designed primarily for people who can see.
For Marley Doyle MD, associate professor in the UNMC Department of Psychiatry and director of the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska, a screen reader is simply part of how she manages her work each day.
“A screen reader allows me to work independently and efficiently by reading aloud the information on my computer,” Dr. Doyle said. “When content is designed accessibly, using a screen reader is simply another way of accessing the same information as everyone else.”
When the content creates the barrier
A screen reader reads the information on a screen aloud, allowing someone to navigate and interact with digital content by listening rather than relying on what they can see.
Without proper accessible formatting, a heading that looks like a heading only because the font is larger and bold may not be identified as a heading at all. Similarly, an image without meaningful alternative text may leave important information unavailable. A link labeled “click here” provides little information about where it goes, especially when someone is navigating through a list of links. Properly structured headings, meaningful link text and alternative descriptions for images give assistive technologies the information they need to help people navigate and understand digital content.
“An inaccessible document can turn a task that should take a few minutes into something that takes much longer,” Dr. Doyle said. “It creates additional work that has nothing to do with the actual task I am trying to accomplish.”
Accessibility is part of everyday work
At UNMC, digital content is created and shared every day.
- An instructor uploads a PowerPoint to Canvas.
- A staff member sends an email.
- A department posts a PDF.
- Someone creates a form, shares a spreadsheet or posts a video.
Each interaction may seem isolated, but collectively they shape a person’s digital experience at UNMC. That person may be a student, faculty member, colleague, employee, patient or member of the public. We may never know who benefits from the accessibility choices we make because disabilities are not always visible.
“When something is accessible, I can focus on the content and my work rather than on figuring out how to access it,” Dr. Doyle said. “It also communicates that accessibility was considered from the beginning rather than being left for me to solve.”
Creating accessible content does not have to be complicated, simply:
- Use heading styles rather than making text large and bold.
- Write descriptive link text.
- Add meaningful alternative text to images.
- Use sufficient color contrast.
- Caption videos.
- Run the accessibility checker.
“Accessibility does not have to be complicated,” Dr. Doyle said. “Small choices—like using proper headings, meaningful links, accessible tables and readable PDFs—make a significant difference. Building accessibility in from the beginning is much easier than trying to fix it afterward.”
To help employees meet the digital accessibility requirements of ADA Title II and University of Nebraska Executive Memorandum 47 (EM 47), UNMC has launched an Employee Digital Accessibility Resource Hub on SharePoint. The employee hub provides step-by-step guidance, checklists, videos, training resources and other tools for creating accessible digital content in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, PDFs, Canvas, multimedia and more.
Training, open office hours and individual consultations also are available to faculty and staff.
The next time you send an email, upload a document or share something online, ask yourself, “If you could not see the screen, what would you hear?” That question can serve as a starting point for a more accessible digital experience.