Weaving in accessibility to DE&I

We've seen a shift in the business world in favour of diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), and many large and small organizations are working to embrace these concepts. However, although companies often boast about their latest DE&I initiatives, we often find that the content they share isn't accessible, which means their initiative is no longer inclusive. Of course, it's not their intent to share inaccessible content; it's more often than not a case of not knowing how to make it accessible, or it's not thought about in an accessible way at its inception.

To change this, we need to change how we think about DE&I, and the role accessibility plays in all three. Why focus solely on inclusion, diversity, and equity when accessibility is vital in ensuring we achieve all three concepts to their fullest extent?

Our IDE initiatives must incorporate accessibility standards to ensure that everybody can use them. In other words, we need to put the 'A' in DE&I.

But how? Sure, there are a bunch of acronyms floating around with ways of incorporating this, like:

I.D.E.A. =?Inclusion, Diversity, Equity/Equality and Accessibility

A.I.D.E =?Accessibility, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity/Equality

A.B.I.D.E. =?Accessibility, Belonging, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity/Equality

But an acronym is just a bunch of letters put together. And acronyms in their own right are, well, inaccessible.

So, how do we weave accessibility into what we do in our day-to-day lives? How can we work together to create more barrier-free content?

We need to be open to being uncomfortable. We don't know what we don't know, and when it comes to digital accessibility, it can seem daunting even to get started.

It's not about perfection; it's about progress. Setting small goals on simple actions you can take to start making your digital presence more accessible is what will lead to overall change.

Start with things like:

·????????Adding alt-text to images

·????????Making documents accessible (Word, Google Docs, PDFs, etc.)

·????????Checking colour contrast

·????????Writing in plain language

·????????Using Camel Case for hashtags on social media (for example, #SomethingLikeThis)

By incorporating accessibility into our daily practices, we remove obstacles and ensure a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable world. The more we incorporate accessibility into our daily lives, the more we will achieve.

Read more about accessibility at: https://adam-spencer.com/articles/