Last week, we highlighted Fix Your Content Day, where staff were encouraged to take small steps towards improving the accessibility of their module sites. Today, we\u2019re excited to share a success story from Deborah Gardner, a Lecturer in Business Management, who took part in the initiative and saw significant improvements in her module\u2019s accessibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Deborah checked her module site\u2019s accessibility report, she found it at 88%. While this was a decent score, she knew there was room for improvement. \u201cI went through the steps the report suggested,\u201d she explained, starting with adding alternative text to diagrams in her PowerPoint slides and correcting low-visibility text. These changes quickly raised her score to 99%, and with a bit more effort, she soon reached the perfect 100%. \u201cSome of the corrections were a little time-consuming, but the effort paid off when my overall score hit 100%,\u201d she shared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Key Learnings<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Deborah\u2019s experience highlighted a few valuable takeaways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Custom ALT Text: <\/strong>One of Deborah\u2019s recommendations is to write your own ALT text descriptions for images, rather than relying on automatic suggestions. \u201cWhen I asked to use the suggested [ALT text], it didn\u2019t really describe the image that well,\u201d she noted. Crafting accurate and meaningful descriptions ensures that students using screen readers fully understand visual content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tackling PDFs:<\/strong> For Deborah, the most time-consuming task was correcting PDFs, but the improvements were well worth the time. Ensuring all content is accessible, even documents, can have a huge impact on student inclusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Habit of Accessibility<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Deborah encourages her colleagues to get into the habit of reviewing their accessibility reports regularly: \u201cThe first step is to check your report. Quite often, it will just involve a few tweaks, so it won\u2019t be too demanding on your time. Get into the habit of checking it once a week to ensure your site remains accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also suggests incorporating accessible practices from the very beginning: \u201cIt helps to get into the habit of providing descriptions for any images in your content right from the start\u2014they\u2019re less likely to flag up in the report that way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n