You've just learned that due to new laws or your organization's desire to be inclusive, all your training content needs to be Section 508 or WCAG compliant—in other words, accessible to all. Your first idea, providing a PDF of the course, was shot down. Separate but unequal won't cut it. Later you were reminded that "adding narration" to the course doesn’t make it accessible; it just adds unnecessary work and may conflict with screen readers. Hiring an accessibility expert just isn’t in the budget, so what is an instructional designer to do?

Accessibility is no longer reserved for government entities. Creation of content that is supportive and inclusive of all people—no matter the method they use to interact with content—requires a new perspective and skillset. Fortunately, technology has improved significantly and can provide a big assist. This session will provide participants with a working knowledge of what exactly is accessible content, factors that need to be taken into consideration when developing content, how to test content, and ultimately how to successfully launch programs using an inclusive approach and design.  

In this session you will learn:

• What the various accessibility standards are, and their differences 
• How accessibility plays a role in different organizations
• What it’s like to experience accessible content
• What it means to have an accessibility strategy
• How to go about designing and developing accessible content
• How to test accessible content
• Problems to avoid when making your content accessible
• What you should consider adding to your accessibility development checklist

Target audience:

Designers, developers, managers