by | March 15, 2010 · 12:30 pm

Accessible information is timely

This post is part of a series, Ten points to accessible information.

Information should be timely, that is, available to everyone at the same time, no matter what the format. It should not appear in other formats later. It should also be available for disabled and other print disabled people in time to be useful.

In the last post Accessible information is relevant I indicated the particular costs in time, effort and resources to disabled people when accessing information. It is therefore critical that information is available at the time it is needed, and gives people who need it the opportunity to make the best use of it. It is no use having to wait for information about an event until it is too late to register your attendance, to find out about election candidates when there is little time left to make your decision, or to learn about the closing date for a submission when it is too late for you, or too late to organise your group to submit. Accessing an using information will take longer for some disabled people and their organisations. This might seen to be stating the obvious perhaps, but in my experience it happens.

To make sure this happens smoothly good planning is essential, working back from the end date so that everyone is included.

Accessibility and the range of formats offered should be planned in from the start of any information or communications project. A last-minute addition will be more expensive and reach a smaller audience. Planning will prevent mistakes such as sending out print covering letters with non-print alternative format material.

Planning and budgeting for the time and resources necessary for a variety of formats and channels will ensure best practice processes are followed. Ultimately the best value for resources will be gained with careful planning and decision-making about who needs what and when.

A significant spin off from timely information is that disabled people will know they are as important as everyone else, critical if the message is to be communicated successfully.

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by | March 10, 2010 · 8:50 am

Accessible information is Relevant

This is the third in a series, Ten points to accessible information.

Focusing on the user is an important part of accessible information. The user also wants to be able to find relevant information. The two are, of course, closely related

Information providers must cut to the chase, and make sure they understand and provide what people really want. Give people the information they want most, rather than welcoming them to the web site, describing your policies and processes,  your vision, everything you do, your strategic direction, or how to use the site, (which should be obvious anyway,) or other wordy, jargon filled padding. The same goes for print information.

On the automated phone system don’t ask me to take even a short survey when I have to select from a raft of options. I want one piece of information about my account and I want it now, not later.
Don’t survey me about your service – just give it to me!

If your function is a complaints or claims body, for example, make sure people can find where and how to complain quickly and easily. ACC has changed its web site to do just that. It works.

The process of finding and using information has costs for disabled people, often more than for other people. These costs can be in terms of sheer effort, time as well as material resources. Costs are different for different people and impact on their use of information in different ways. Disabled people may also have fewer choices in the sources they use to access information.  They need to be able to quickly access relevant information with minimal effort.

If I can’t find the information I want quickly and easily on a web site I will pick up the phone and waste someone’s time until I get it.

And yes – if it works well for disabled people it will work well for everyone.

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by | February 22, 2010 · 7:50 am

Accessible information is User Focused.

This post is the second of a series entitled “Ten points to accessible Information”.

Knowledge about your audience is communications 101 so focusing on the intended audience for information may seem like stating the obvious.  Yet web sites in particular often seem to be more “about us” than about the user’s experience.

Who is this information for? How will they use it? One size no longer fits all. Identifying different audiences may seem relatively straightforward, but there are some audiences who may not routinely spring to mind. Disabled people, older people, people who have difficulty with reading and people who have English as a second language may have particular information and communication needs.

To help you decide you need to ask: Is your audience large and general or small and specialist? Try to avoid making assumptions about who will be interested in your information. Disabled people may be present in all sections of the population. Accessible information is therefore best thought of as business as usual to reach a general audience.

As a rough guide, some examples of the kinds of information intended for the general public which should be accessible are; weather or travel information, information about health, disaster preparedness, event booking services, supermarket specials, jobs, road safety and community campaigns such as quitting smoking or family violence programmes. In short, pretty much the same information as everyone else.

Disabled people may also be within a particular audience, such as young people, who will want to know about the same topics young people generally are interested in, such as sexual health, forming healthy relationships, fashion and gossip, sport, or the latest music gigs.

Where information may have a significant impact on disabled people or on a particular group of disabled people, extra attention should be paid to accessibility. A variety of formats may be necessary to reach the whole disability community, or particular formats for a particular group.

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by | January 29, 2010 · 1:48 pm

Ten points to accessible information

When I look back over my posts I realise that I have written quite a lot about accessible information, but never described what I mean by the term or expanded on the people who need it. So here goes.

Of course everyone needs accessible information.  But there are groups of people who encounter particular barriers when accessing information.

Information is accessible when it is readily available to diverse audiences in ways which they can understand and use. It is presented in a range of formats and styles to people who are print-disabled. They may or may not use a range of specialist technologies.

Print-disabled people are those who are; blind, or have low vision, or who have dyslexia or other related impairments. They may be hearing impaired or Deaf. People who physically can’t hold a book or paper, or who have difficulties processing the written word are also print-disabled.

Others may have poor education for a variety of reasons. They may have learning disabilities, brain injury, dementia or short attention span and/or memory or other mental health problems. People on particular medication may find concentrating on print difficult. They may have one or a combination of several impairments.

People with poor literacy or people who do not have English as their first language may also welcome many aspects of accessible information, as long as it is not stigmatised,

Now that I have given some context to accessible information, I will focus on some of the basics in future blogs.

Making your organisation’s information accessible to everyone needs thought and planning. An accessible web site is always a great start, but that could be part of a more effective wider communications strategy relating closely to organisational goals and purpose.

Accessible information needs to be:

Each of these points will be developed and explored in future posts.

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