Why everyone should write inclusive and accessible content

“When we design for disability first, we often stumble upon solutions that are not only inclusive but also are often better than when we design for the norm.” Elise Roy, TedTalk

Today I’m going to write about a passion of mine. It’s the thing that I’m muttering about in my sleep and will rant about at anyone who will listen. It is the main contribution I want to make to the disabled community. If I manage to make a small difference in how some organisations approach digital content in the coming years, I will consider my career a success.

I’m going to talk about writing accessible content.

You can have the most accessible website, platform, app from the technical side. But if the content inside it is not, the rest does not matter. Why? Because people will still not be able to find what they’re looking for or understand the information they need.

And yet accessibility is often forgotten when it comes to content. We tend to overlook the words on the page, paragraphs, headings, information architecture as things that need to be accessible. But there are so many people who are disabled by inaccessible content.

People have to find adjustments so they can access information or services. And so many organisations are unaware they’re creating these barriers.

Make your content inclusive not just accessible

As a society, we tend to segment disabled people as ‘people out there’. A separate audience that does not overlap with other audiences or people we work with.

But disabled people are account managers, designers, journalists, MPs, and often forgotten, colleagues. I always encourage people to think of disabled people as everywhere and everyone. There are nearly 14 million disabled people in the UK after all.

We also need to stop thinking about accessibility as something you need to do to change your existing content. But instead designing your content for everyone before you begin.

It’s changing your way of working so you’re inclusive without a second thought. From using plain English to describing your links. This way you’re always writing accessible and inclusive content. Regardless of who you’re writing it for and what format it’s in. This includes:

• emails
• webpages
• press releases
• marketing campaigns
• reports, inside and outside your organisation
• PowerPoint presentations
• any type of content

But I can’t write inclusive content because….

There are so many reasons why people struggle to make their content accessible, and often resist making changes. It’s…

• “dumbing down”
• “over-simplifying”
• “my audience needs every bit of detail”
• “the audience wants complex language”
• “we’re writing marketing content, we cannot avoid metaphorical language”
• “we have a specific audience so we need to write this way”

In my previous job I worked with parliamentary departments to help improve accessibility. The main reason I got against writing accessible content was:

“We’re writing for MPs. They need comprehensive documents written in this academic style.”

MPs have little time. They are representatives voted in by the public and have varying:

• education
• knowledge of different topics
• understanding of parliamentary language

Accessible writing makes content more inclusive for people with and without access needs. And the people writing for MPs made one big assumption: that none of the MPs have:

• dyslexia
• a visual impairment
• ADHD
• any other conditions affected by inaccessible content

Finding a balance

It’s not writing for your audience versus writing accessible content. You do not have to choose one. You can still

• explain something complex in plain English, while keeping an academic or authoritative tone
• use jargon but explain what it means
• cut detail and give people the information they need
• sell products using language that includes people rather than excludes them

Disabled people have a collective spending power of around £249 billion a year. They should be able to access your products.

Writing inclusive content

A big challenge many organisations have is that everyone needs to know how to write accessible content. From senior management to interns. Even if you’re not a writer, everyone needs to be confident with writing inclusive content.

This includes both customers and colleagues. You might ‘know’ the person you’re writing to is not disabled. But you cannot guarantee your email will not be sent on to someone who is. Being inclusive from the start removes the risk.

So how do you make content more inclusive? There are loads of places you can get help with writing inclusive and accessible content. To get you started, take a look at:

Hemingway app. Aim for a readability grade of 7 or below

Readability test tool (WebFX)

Plain English Campaign

Scope’s Big Hack accessibility resources

Dos and don’ts on designing for accessibility (Home Office posters)

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

Understanding WCAG 2.1 (GOV.UK)

Writing for web accessibility tips (WCAG)