{"id":19817,"date":"2017-06-08T11:27:44","date_gmt":"2017-06-08T10:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/digileaders.com\/?p=19817"},"modified":"2018-02-14T12:33:16","modified_gmt":"2018-02-14T12:33:16","slug":"make-services-accessible-texthelps-top-five-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/make-services-accessible-texthelps-top-five-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Make your services more accessible &#8211; Texthelp\u2019s Top Five Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">We\u2019ve pulled together our top five recommendations for making your digital services more accessible to all.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The internet is changing the way we live &#8211; we pay our taxes online, apply for jobs, book travel and search the web for offers and information.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s changing the way government delivers services and information too &#8211; driving customers to \u2018self serve\u2019 online offers 24-7 access to services and information, whilst delivering considerable cost and efficiency savings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">But for millions, the internet is inaccessible.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>There are 12 million people in the UK who lack the basic digital skills required to go online.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\">By law, your website must be accessible to all<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The 12 million people who lack basic digital skills are protected by the Equality Act and the Accessible Information Standard which state that service providers must not discriminate against disabled people.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Websites are considered services too so by law, they should be accessible to everyone.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Afterall, if you want citizens to use your online services it makes sense to make them as accessible as possible, right?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Making online services more accessible benefits everyone, not just those with disabilities. For example, there are 4 million people in the UK who don&#8217;t speak English as their first language &#8211; using online services can be just as challenging for them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p4\"><span class=\"s1\">Top Five<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">So, we\u2019ve pulled together our top five recommendations for making your services more accessible to all.<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Appoint an <b>accessibility champion<\/b> at a senior level to establish a culture where accessibility thinking becomes part of everything you do<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Educate staff<\/b> about assistive technology and how it can help your customers<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Ensure your website design adheres to <b>WCAG 2.0 standards<\/b><\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Use Plain English<\/b> to describe your products and services<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Consider implementing <b>digital inclusion software<\/b> to provide your content in alternative formats such as reading it out loud, translating it, converting it to an audio file and magnifying it<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Are you confident that your organisation\u2019s website and other customer communications measure up? <a href=\"mailto:k.mcwilliams@texthelp.com?subject=Accessibility%2520Healthcheck\"><span class=\"s3\">Get in touch and we\u2019ll be glad to help with a no-obligation accessibility healthcheck<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s3\"><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/a\/texthelp.com\/forms\/d\/e\/1FAIpQLSfFKByfxhB53Htf9_YdHj6WrbtYCqy57VWqqJ5m8AQzKz45gg\/viewform\">Subscribe to the Texthelp blog<\/a><\/span><span class=\"s1\"> to stay up to date with the latest trends including best practice for technology use as well as opinion pieces from industry experts.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019ve pulled together our top five recommendations for making your digital services more accessible to all. The internet is changing the way we live &#8211; we pay our taxes online, apply for jobs, book travel and search the web for offers and information.\u00a0 It\u2019s changing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":19818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-19817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","region-northern-ireland","topic-digital-inclusion","topic-digital-skills"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Make your services more accessible - Texthelp\u2019s Top Five Tips | Digital Leaders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/make-services-accessible-texthelps-top-five-tips\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Make your services more accessible - Texthelp\u2019s Top Five Tips | Digital Leaders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019ve pulled together our top five recommendations for making your digital services more accessible to all. The internet is changing the way we live &#8211; we pay our taxes online, apply for jobs, book travel and search the web for offers and information.\u00a0 It\u2019s changing [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/make-services-accessible-texthelps-top-five-tips\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Digital Leaders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/digitalleadersprogramme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-06-08T10:27:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-14T12:33:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Jacqui-Burns-Texthelp-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"helena.larsen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@DigiLeaders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@DigiLeaders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"helena.larsen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/make-services-accessible-texthelps-top-five-tips\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/make-services-accessible-texthelps-top-five-tips\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"helena.larsen\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2da837c2b8c9912d5c8e0c6ba7458c1e\"},\"headline\":\"Make your services more accessible &#8211; 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