Tonight I watched a webinar on digital accessibility from the ALT YouTube channel. Stephen Taylor from the Reagent’s University London and ALT member was the presenter. The title of the session was “AmplifyFE Community Space Webinar – Universal Designs for Learning: Accessibility for Everyone.” Taylor explained the Reasonable Adjustments in The Equality Act 2020 from the UK. The Blackboard Ally tool was used as an example to identify accessibility issues that can be addressed. I had not seen the Ally “gauge” on Blackboard: it visually identifies accessibility challenges. Taylor then explained that graphics emphasis can be added using patterns instead of color. Taylor explained how labels help identify segments of a pie chart quickly. Taylor shared that the Web AIM app is a good tool for color contrast audits. For text emphasis, bold and italics can be used with color. Taylor spoke about capital letters, mentioning that screen readers will often read text that is all capitals one letter at a time. I did not think about this! Capital letters are also hard to read for all abilities. Document structure can be created using heading tools. Screen readers can request the document structure if headers are used. Taylor then spoke about the differences between legibility and readability. Legibility varies with font styles. Readability is related to font size. Taylor talked about the shapes of letters and readability. Taylor had a slide that suggested size 12 font for the majority of people. For slides, font size 18 is needed. For hyperlinks, Taylor shared three steps: embed links, keep them concise, and keep them descriptive. Emails and files should be clearly email (with @ sign). Files need to state type and size. I had not considered including the size. Users need to know how big the files are before downloading. Alt text includes charts and graphs. Taylor then provided examples of alt text. To conclude, Taylor explained that creating templates can be very helpful. Importantly, reflection and conversation with instructors and users are critical.
