Digital Accessibility

In this article, we’ll discuss the digital accessibility of cultural institutions, venues, and events. It is important that an institution, venue, or event be accessible to people with physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory disabilities. They represent an important target audience for organizers. These individuals may sometimes need a little more assistance, or special accommodations may need to be made for them. This applies not only at the venue itself but also in communications leading up to the event.

What is digital accessibility?

It’s important that your website, app, newsletter, and other digital communication channels are accessible to as many people as possible. This often means making a few adjustments to the text, images, or functionality of the communication tool. Not everyone has the necessary knowledge to handle this effectively. That’s why we’ve put together a few tips related to digital accessibility. We found a workshop by the Accessibility Foundation to be very helpful. They have a wealth of knowledge in this area.

How do you ensure digital accessibility for specific target groups?

You can make digital communication tools accessible in various ways. This makes it easier for different types of people:

Blind, visually impaired, and colorblind people

They may benefit from support for text-to-speech software, adjusting text size, and customizing colors and contrast.

Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing People

For them, you can, for example, have a video subtitled.

Motor impairment

It's a good idea to make a website keyboard-accessible and ensure that there are no elements that can only be viewed or controlled with a mouse.

Cognitive impairment

Also, make sure the layout is uncluttered, the text is clear, and the website and other content are organized logically.

Specific Tips for Websites

In addition to the above, there are many other ways to improve digital accessibility. This is certainly true for the website. Below are a few more tips:

Meaningful links

When you include a hyperlink, always make sure the underlined word or phrase has intelligible content. A link that reads "click here" does not. Underline a part of the sentence that mentions the content of the link.

Alternative text

It’s very easy to use what’s called “alt text” for images. This way, website users see a short piece of text on the screen when they hover over the image with their mouse. This text can also be used for audio descriptions.

Understanding

Always make sure the website is written entirely in easy-to-understand language. This also applies, for example, to forms that people can fill out. If they forget something, make sure it’s clear what was filled out incorrectly or what’s missing.

Use of cups

When building Web sites, you can designate the headers you use in the texts as headers or sub-headers. These so-called headers can be easily found by, for example, voice support. Anyway, using paragraphs and headers quickly makes a text easier to read.

Information Resource

In addition to the adjustments you make to your digital communication channels, you can also use this as a useful resource for providing information about the accessibility of your event or venue. For example, create a separate page on your website with all the information regarding accessibility. Be sure to describe the following very clearly:

• Which parts of the program are suitable for whom.
• What facilities or accessible options are available for the various target groups.

Accessibility Checklist

A very useful checklist has been created for organizers and venues that provides a comprehensive overview of the various forms of accessibility. The checklist includes an explanatory note that refers to specific appendices. You can find all of this in a single document available for download on this website.

Helpful Tips

• We have another website for you that contains a wealth of information on this topic. Through MKB Toegankelijk, you’ll find very practical tips on various aspects of digital accessibility. We highly recommend taking a look at this website.
• The Accessibility Foundation is offering a free webinar as an introduction to digital accessibility. For more information and to register, click this link.

Disclaimer

For this article, we drew on the knowledge and expertise of the Accessibility Foundation, the Arnhem Platform for the Chronically Ill and Disabled (Apcg), the 5D Foundation, Wolfpack, and the City of Arnhem.

If, from your expertise, you yourself have knowledge that would fit this topic, or if you see opportunities to improve this text, we look forward to receiving your message at info@cultuuracademy.nl.