This list of curated resources is designed to help you get started in digital accessibility. If you can’t find what you’re looking for or you still have questions, please get in touch with us!
Access Podcasts
I’ve created a playlist on Spotify that features podcast episodes related to access. I find it helpful to ground my practices and thinking within frameworks that are of and for disabled communities. So, this playlist includes a variety of conversations about frameworks such as Disability Justice, as well as practical approaches to accessibility in design, event planning, and online spaces. I intend to update and expand the playlist regularly, so please follow it on Spotify if you find it useful.
Digital Accessibility
- Accessible Social: a free resource hub for digital marketers, communication professionals, content creators, and everyday internet users who want to begin learning how to make their social media accessible for people with disabilities.
- Meryl.net: Meryl Evans is an advocate and educator for disability inclusion and accessibility. Her website offers a wealth of resources and information about captioning videos. Be sure to check out her Complete Guide to Captioned Videos.
- ta11y: A community-centered tool created by Accessible Community designed to help small-to-medium size organizations become more accessible while guiding novices through accessibility evaluations.
- Inclusive Design for Cognition (PDF – 837 KB): Part of the Inclusive Design Toolkit from Microsoft, this addition is a first step in addressing cognitive exclusion, which occurs when products don’t account for the different ways people perceive and understand the world around us.
- Dos and don’ts on designing for accessibility: The dos and don’ts of designing for accessibility are general guidelines, best design practices for making services accessible in government. Currently, there are six different posters in the series that cater to users from these areas: low vision, D/deaf and hard of hearing, dyslexia, motor disabilities, users on the autistic spectrum and users of screen readers.
- Color Contrast Checker: Websites and digital graphics with poor color contrast are one of the more common barriers people experience online. Use this free color contrast checker from WebAIM to ensure that your designs are accessible to everyone.
Langauge
Ableism/Language: This site contains a list of ableist words and alternatives. The notes about language included on the site are important — we always want to use the word that someone uses for themselves or identifies with when speaking to or about them.