Cognition is our ability to interpret and understand information. Cognitive impairment can effect us all. People with cognitive impairment may have difficultly with communication, speech, language, memory, attention, thinking or judgment.

When it comes to digital technology, there is no "one rule fits all" for people living with cognitive impairments. Some people may use text to speech programs or others may prefer to utilise Easy Read when it is available.

People with disabilities have a variety of requirements when it comes to digital technology. Some of these may include;

In Australia one in five people have a disability and data indicates that the majority of people with a disabilityuse the internet and online services to purchase goods and services, interact and engage online, pay bills and more.

With so many people using the internet to engage with businesses, it makes sense to ensure your digital spaces are accessible to everyone. Inaccessible digital spaces can prevent people buying from or engaging with your business or organisation and the short and long-term costs can be significant.

This resource has been developed to assist businesses and organisations to create digital spaces that are inclusive and accessible to all. The resource outlines simple strategies you can use to create accessible websites, social media posts, documents and more. Making your digital spaces accessible will ensure that everyone can access your products and services.

Creating Inclusive Digital Spaces

About this Resource

Digital media relies heavily on visuals so providing options for people with vision impairment is important.

Some people may use programs that read the text for them. These are often referred to as screen readers and they allow for navigation of digital content using the keyboard instead of a mouse.

Other people may use devices such as screen magnifiers or prescription glasses.

Our hearing can be affected throughout our lifetime from a variety of factors. Devices such as hearing aids can assist in reducing background noise and sound levels.

Some people may use sign language as their communication method whilst others may utilise lip reading which involves using vision to assist with listening. Others may have a cochlear implant - a surgically implanted device that helps them to hear better.

Our bodies use Gross Motor skills for large body movements such as walking or catching and Fine Motor skills for movements such as typing or holding objects.

A range of adaptive hardware is available to people whose gross or fine motor skills are impacted. These include devices such as keyboards, text to speech devices and mouth sticks (for typing).

Visual Hearing Physical Cognition

The below table outlines simple strategies that will assist to improve the accessibility of your business or organisations various digital spaces and platforms. It will also help you to understand why you should consider improvements. Links to other relevant resources that will assist you to implement improvements are provided throughout the table.

Accessible Website Content

When you create easy to use and accessible websites and content, you are ensuring that you are reaching the widest audience possible. This can help to maximize business revenue and/or patronage.

Additionally, we are governed by Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. These are published by the World Wide Web Consortium (WC3) under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.

Content Management Systems (CMS) is a tool or set of tools designed to help create, edit, organize and present information on your website. Some CMS offer increased accessibility. CMS's that support accessibility include "Wordpress" or "Drupal." Consider talking to your website developer about using a CMS that supports accessibility.

Find out more about accessible website content;

Web Accessibility Initiative - https://www.w3.org/WAI/fundamentals/acces-sibility-intro/#important

Wave Webaim Accessibility Checker - https://wave.webaim.org/

WCAG 2.0 - https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

WCAG 2.1 - https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/

Accessible CMS - https://webaccess.berkeley.edu/resources/tips/web-ac-cessibility#accessible-CMS

The What, Why and How of Digital Accessibility

What to consider Why is it important How to do it

Page arrangement, layout and navigation

If content is cluttered it can be hard to decipher or read. Clear page layout is key to someone staying on your page longer or leaving because it's too busy and confusing.

In addition, ensuring your website can be navigated without the use of a mouse ensures people who rely on keyboard navigation can access your content

Consider breaking up text into paragraphs or starting a new line. Add images, graphs or other illustrations to highlight the content. Leaving blank spaces can also help with clarity. This should be applied to all written content that you produce including webpages, social media posts, blogs, documents or forms.

Check your website or content can be navigated through using "Tab", "Shift+Tab" and "Enter" keys on the keyboard.

Find out more about keyboard navigation;

Keyboard Accessibility - https://webaim.org/techniques/keyboard/

What to consider Why is it important How to do it

Fonts and formatting

Your choice of font can impact on a persons ability to read your printed or digital communications

Some fonts are not legible for people with vision or cognition impairment.

Choose Sans Serif fonts such as Arial, Calibri, Tahoma, Verdana, Trebuchet MS and Segoe UI to ensure your written content is accessible to the widest audience possible.

Reduce use of bold, underlines and italics to assist with readability.

Text Some people may need to increase the size of text in order to read or view the information.

People with learning disabilities may also have difficulty reading or understanding information. It is important to ensure everyone can access written text.

Check that your text can be made larger and smaller without affecting the content or function of the page. Avoid using images of text. You can perform a check of this by using the zoom function in your browser display settings.

Check over written content to ensure it is clear, to the point and avoids jargon. Adding images or diagrams can help to tell the story. You may also consider producing forms or documents in EasyRead Format. EasyRead documents simplify content, remove jargon and use visual images to describe content.

Find out more about producing Easy Read documents;

Council for Intellectual Disability - https://cid.org.au/inclusion-services/

Images People living with vision impairments may not be able to see the images on your website and therefore may not understand the content you are providing.

Ensure your images have alternative (Alt) text. Also called “Alt tags” or “Alt descriptions”, alternative text is a written description of an image. For images that are purely decoration, such as a border or bullet point, the Alt text should be empty.

Find out more about how to add alternative (Alt) text to your images;

Alt Text - https://accessibili-ty.umn.edu/what-you-can-do/start-7-core-skills/alternative-text

What to consider Why is it important How to do it

Secure verifications

Having to decipher a reCAPTCHA Í’m Not A Robot’ check box can be a barrier to some users. In older versions the users are asked to translate unclear letters in a word or selecting repeated items in an obscure and often blurry image, these can be a visual barrier and are not accessible.

Ensure you are using the latest version, reCAPTCHA v3, it is automatic, secure and inclusive.

Below is a link to assist with accessible secure verifications;

reCAPTCHA v3 - https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/docs/ver-sions#recaptcha_v3

Page time limits and flashing

Everyone requires a time frame to read content on web pages. Some people may require more time than others.

In addition, content that is displayed in a flashing mode (more than 3 times per second) could potentially cause seizures

If you have page time limits or scrolling pictures, ensure enough time is provided for users to the read or see the content. You may also consider ensuring that pages have an adjustable time limit or that the time limit can be turned off.

Find out more about flashing guidelines;

Photosensitive Trigger - https://www.epilepsysociety.org.uk/photosensi-tive-epilepsy

Colour contrast The contrast ratio helps to determine if the contrast between two colours is defined. Low contrast (eg. a yellow background with white writing) can be difficult to read.

Using colour to convey information can also be unsuitable for people who experience colour blindness

Review the text and images to ensure they include sufficient contrast between foreground and background colour combinations.

Use the links below to check colour contrast;

Web AIM - https://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/

Vision Australia Contrast Analyser - https://www.visionaustralia.org/ser-vices/digital-access/resources/colour-contrast-analyser

Contrast Checker - https://contrastchecker.com/

What to consider Why is it important How to do it

Methods of contact Everyone uses different ways to communicate so it is important to give options of contacting your service, program, or business.

Have a clear tab or link on your homepage such as "Contact Us" or Get in Contact." Provide a variety of ways to contact including phone and email. Including a mobile number also allows people to text. This may be more suitable for someone with a hearing impairment.

Links Links or hyperlinks are the main navigational features of most websites. It is important to ensure that your links or hyperlinks are included in a way that everyone can use and understand

Use hyperlinks that are descriptive and clear. For example, do not write "click here," instead ensure the hyperlink describes what action the link will perform. e.g. use Vinnies instead of www.vinnies.org.au and never Click here

You may choose to provide an Anchor Link. An anchor link brings you to a specific place on that page or on your website. They can be useful to prevent people from having to scroll through long passages of text to find what they need.

Find out more about accessible links and hyperlinks; Anchor Link - https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/arti-cles/207135178-Creating-anchor-linksAccessible Hyperlinks - https://accessibili-ty.umn.edu/what-you-can-do/start-7-core-skills/links

Hyperlinks- https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-or-ed-it-a-hyperlink-5d8c0804-f998-4143-86b1-1199735e07bf?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us Creating Accessible Links in Word - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/of-fice/video-create-acces-sible-links-in-word-28305cc8-3be2-417c-a313-dc22082d1ee0?ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us

Screen reader compatibility

Making your website compatible for screen readers ensures people who rely on this technology can access your content

People using screen readers need to be able to identify what is to be put into a text entry field in order to be able to complete it.

Complete checks to ensure there is not restrictions in place for screen readers. Check that fields that prompt for an input (e.g. email, name) have a label next to it which explains what data is to be put in.

Below are links to further information on testing screen reader compatibility;

Screen Reader Testing - https://soap.stanford.edu/tips/screen-reader-test-ing

Vision Australia Accessibility Toolkit - https://www.visionaustralia.org/ser-vices/digital-access/services/accessibility-toolkit

Audio and Video Our hearing can be affected throughout our lifetime from a variety of factors. If our hearing is impaired, video and audio content can be inaccessible.

Ensure you provide captions or at the very least, written transcripts of video and audio content. Ideally you want to provide Open Captions (OC) which are captions that are available all the time rather than Closed Captions (CC) which are selected by the user when they want to see them. Many video editing platforms may not allow for Closed Caption selections.

Find out more about adding captions;

Zoom Captions - https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/arti-cles/115003498783-Viewing-

YouTube Captions - https://mediaaccess.org.au/web/how-to-cap-tion-a-youtube-video

In addition, you may wish to consider adding Auslan interpretation to your video content. For some people, Auslan is their first or primary language.

Find out more about adding interpreted content to your videos;

Auslan Services - https://www.auslanservices.com/

Expression - https://www.expression.com.au/

Accessibility policy and statements

Having an accessibility policy or statement on your website can assist you to promote your organisation's inclusive and accessible practices and also allows your team or volunteers to have clear guidelines in place for creating accessible digital content.

Create your accessibility policy together as a team. Maintain adhering to these checks on an ongoing basis to keep your information and online space inclusive and accessible. In the statement that you display on your website include the accessible features you have enabled and list the compatible browsers that you use.

Below is a link to assist with creating an accessible policy or statement;

Accessibility Policy - https://dynomapper.com/blog/27-accessibility-test-ing/574-how-to-develop-organizational-policies-on-web-accessibility

What to consider Why is it important How to do it

At Vinnies we strive for a society built on inclusion for everyone. This resource was created by the Access and Inclusion Team in NSW. Access and Inclusion forms part of the Community Inclusion division at St Vincent de Paul Society NSW and aims to increase inclusion and accessibility for people with disability. The team aims to build capacity of local communities to assist people with disability, their families and carers to be valued and active members of their community.

What to consider Why is it important How to do itGathering feedback Seeking feedback on your digital accessibility shows you

are committed to ensuring all customers can access your content and digital spaces. Feedback will also help you to identify where improvements may be needed.

List feedback options on your website that are easy to find and simple to use, for example a link to your email. Also consider adding feedback forms or live polls as options to ensure your online space remains accessible and inclusive.

Social Media Content

Social media is now heavily relied on by businesses for marketing and interacting with customers or clients. It is important to ensure your social media content is accessible so you can engage with the widest audience possible.

Many of the things we have already discussed in this document such as using Alt text for images, ensuring clear layout and using Sans Serif fonts apply when it comes to social media content.

Hashtags with multiple words can be difficult for people who use screen readers to understand. Use capital letters at the start of each word e.g. #AccessibleHashtag. This is called CamelCase.

Find out more about accessible hastags and other ways to make your social media more accessible;

Accessible Social-Media - https://accessibili-ty.umn.edu/what-you-can-do/create-accessible-content/social-media

Accessible Hashtags - https://www.boia.org/blog/make-your-hashtags-ac-cessible

Virtual meetings, presentations and activities

We are using the Internet more than ever before to hold meetings, run activities and more. It is important to ensure that everyone can access these virtual activities.

Ensure you ask your audience about their accessibility needs before starting any virtual meetings or activities so you can plan and adapt for those who may have additional requirements.

If you are sharing your screen always ensure you read or explain the content so everyone can understand.

If required by your audience, consider adding captions or even having an interpreter (find out more about Auslan Interpretation in the Video and Audio section)

Find out more about running inclusive meetings and virtual activities;

Tips for Accessible Online Meetings - https://unimelb.edu.au/accessibility/video-conferenc-ing-for-hearing-impaired-staff/tips-for-accessible-online-meetings