Best practice in digital accessibility

In the ever-evolving digital landscape, arts and culture organisations have an unparalleled opportunity to innovate and share their stories. Yet, as digital technology advances, ensuring content remains accessible to diverse audiences can be a challenge, especially in a sector where resources are often stretched thin.

At The Space, we believe inclusivity is fundamental to creating digital content. Accessibility should be woven into the very fabric of content creation, ensuring every story can reach and resonate with everyone, regardless of their abilities.

Building a roadmap for accessibility

Over the past year, we've partnered with an Accessibility Working Group made up of artists, activists, curators and industry experts. This collaboration has been instrumental in pinpointing barriers and understanding sector-specific needs.  

The group wrote a thought leadership article and identified best practice guidelines - drawing on existing documents from across the sector - for artists and organisations creating cultural digital content. 

We want to share these widely with cultural organisations, funders and Disabled-led groups, as follows. 

Strategies for a more accessible digital future

1.    Long-term accessibility planning 
Creating a sustainable action plan for digital accessibility is crucial. Our working group, together with artist and disability consultant Zoe Partington, confirmed a robust plan should:

• Be meaningful and contextual: Tailor your strategy to your organisation's unique context and challenges;
• Collaborate with experts: Engage with Disabled people and access consultants to establish solid practices;
• Focus to maximise impact: Prioritise areas where there are accessibility challenges and where your actions can add value;
• Be practical and set goals: Be ambitious about what you want to achieve, but try to develop specific, measurable, actionable, realistic and time-based objectives;
• Integrate accessibility across the organisation: Ensure that digital accessibility is part of your organisation's broader mission and daily activities.

2.    Identify and address barriers in your organisation
Understanding how societal barriers impact Disabled people is essential. Adopt the social model of disability which proposes that the lives of Disabled people are limited not by their impairment but by the barriers that are placed in front of them by society. 

This model enables us to identify barriers that non-Disabled people might not otherwise see. By consulting Disabled individuals, organisations can uncover both visible and invisible obstacles, leading to more inclusive practices.

3.    Make accessibility everyone’s responsibility
Making accessibility everyone’s responsibility in your organisation can foster a more inclusive environment. Train staff on disability issues and partner with Disabled-led organisations to gain valuable insights and expertise.

4.    Involve Disabled and neurodivergent people in decision-making 
Including Disabled people in the creative process and decision-making not only enriches the work but also ensures their needs are addressed and valued. It's crucial to recognise and pay for people’s expertise and time. 

Planning for accessibility

Success can hinge on important decision-making around budget allocation, stakeholder engagement and audience research so it’s essential accessibility is woven into the project at the planning stage.

• Allocate resources: Ensure there is a budget specifically for accessibility.
• Involve Disabled people’s voices: Include Disabled people in project management and decision-making roles.
• Accessible approach: Use tools like access riders to understand individual needs and ensure the creative process is inclusive.
• Identify barriers: Proactively identify and address potential barriers to ensure a smooth project workflow and creative freedom.

Ensuring accessibility in the production process

It’s important there’s a well-resourced team in place to support Disabled artists and ensure accessibility standards are met during the production process. Ideally, the team should be trained in accessibility or be working with a Disabled facilitator.

• Develop accessible platforms: Create websites and content that are compatible with assistive technologies.
• Provide alternatives: Offer text alternatives for visual content and audio descriptions.
• Ensure visibility and audibility: Make sure content is easy to see and hear.
• Time for engagement: Allow sufficient time for users to interact with content. All team members should be given enough time to type text, understand instructions, operate controls and complete other tasks on a website.
• Accessible documents: If providing documents as part of your project, they should be clearly presented and screen reader compatible.
• Inclusive events: Provide live captioning and British Sign Language interpreters for online events.

Marketing content

In your marketing efforts:

• Reflect accessibility: Create trailers and materials that showcase the accessible experience.
• Highlight options: Clearly and prominently display accessible options on your website.
• Follow best practices: Adhere to guidelines such as Unlimited’s Accessible Marketing Guide to ensure inclusivity.

Continuous improvement through evaluation

By consistently gathering feedback from Disabled users, we can refine our digital offerings. Share what you learn with other organisations to foster a more inclusive arts sector. As Zoe Partington and our working group highlight, the key to accessibility is to start and continually make improvements, even through small steps.

Further information and advice on these best practice guidelines can be found here.

Next steps

During the autumn, The Space will continue to build upon this work by supporting four organisations that want to develop one aspect of digital accessibility. This could be through their content production, marketing and distribution, building a long-term inclusion strategy or commissioning Disabled artists.

The organisations will be mentored over a 6-month period by Disabled producers, consultants and specialists to refine their objectives and achieve their goals. Please do contact us if you’d like to hear more.

Harmeet Chagger-Khan is Head of Innovation at The Space.
 thespace.org
@thespacearts | @LuciaAttica

*Find out more about The Space's collaboration on Look Mum, Let's Talk About Disability by Daryl & Co.

This article, sponsored and contributed by The Space, is part of a series spotlighting new ways of creating and distributing digital content, and exploring the wealth of new technologies and platforms coming online.