Global Accessibility Awareness Day: Making the digital world a more inclusive place

In an ever-growing digital world, it’s important now more than ever for people with different accessibility needs to be able to access information digitally.

And with more than 1 billion people worldwide having disabilities or impairments – such as visual, hearing, motor and/or cognitive – it’s critical to maintain accessibility as a priority when using technology.

That’s why Global Accessibility Awareness Day (or GAAD) is so important. It encourages us to get thinking about digital access and inclusion for all.

Every effort counts, from small website and document tweaks, communicating via online meetings or emails, to complete website or product design overhauls. Reflecting on ways in which we can improve is all in the interests of making the digital world a more inclusive place.

Here at Walnut, on behalf of the DEI Committee, we care for and value the importance of digital accessibility and we want to raise awareness of this cause. We are also humbly on a journey of improving and learning ourselves, and have also supported clients in doing so on their ongoing digital journey too.

From low contrast text to empty links, buttons and even activating automated subtitles when presenting live in PowerPoint – there are relatively simple but hugely effective ways to improve and make the digital experience a whole lot easier for those that engage with it.

Our work with clients across sectors and learnings within our own business have given us some tips and tricks to consider when making digital content more accessible:

• People who are blind or visually impaired need alt text descriptions for images. And thinking about your website and digital content, is it easy on the eyes for everyone who may access it? There are tools available that allow you to check if pages or documents have enough colour contrast.
• For those hard of hearing or deaf, use subtitles for videos and replace audio cues with visual indicators. In online presentations, people would also benefit from automated subtitles when watching a presentation (this can be arranged through PowerPoint). This allows everyone to get the full story.
• Consider the tech available and in use by those with impairments. People may need and be using alternative keyboards, eye control or adaptive hardware to help them type, navigate and interact with devices. Complex layouts and non-intuitive designs of websites is an obstacle and counterintuitive when it comes to compatibility with tech, so reviewing and improving these can help.
• Use clear language, an uncluttered screen and simple, refined design. This is an opportunity to get creative with meaningful, descriptive text too, so instead of using ‘click here to read more’ links, describing the detail in the link itself is more accessible, as well as capitalising hashtags such as #GlobalAccessibilityAwareness
• We can all utilise accessibility checkers. Digital suites such as Microsoft Office already feature built in accessibility checkers that are easy to use. When creating documents, PowerPoints, excel sheets or even emails, try using accessibility tools in digital programmes and make it a habit before sharing with others.

GAAD is an opportunity to reflect on how we can access better and also be better, so please join us in celebrating and raising awareness with the hopes of removing barriers to accessibility.

Contact the D&I Committee:

For enquiries or suggestion related to Diversity and Inclusion at Walnut, feel free to reach out to our DEI Committee here:

diversityandinclusionint@walnutunlimited.com

As an organisation, we continue to review and improve our practices and broaden our reach across all types of research. Together, we can unlock the full potential of DEI in market research and achieve inclusive, meaningful and impactful results.