Introduction to Disability Inclusion

Summary

Including people with disabilities includes making sure all of the following are accessible:

• Facilities (physical)
• Websites and other digital content (digital)
• Communications, and
• Events.

It also includes providing accommodations when requested. This can feel overwhelming when you first start but addressing each is important. Remember that accessibility is a journey. Celebrate every step!

Overview

There are many benefits in reaching out to and including people with disabilities as employees, customers, members, donors, and volunteers. Yet many organizations do not do so. Often, diversity efforts pass over people with disabilities (see Diversish) even though they are:

• the largest minority group, and
• the most egalitarian (anyone can join at any time).

Why does this happen? Organizations can find disability inclusion overwhelming. They may also have concerns about the legal ramifications of missing a detail.

Small organizations:

• don’t have the resources to hire experts,
• don’t have the time to learn about accessibility and accommodations, and
• don’t understand the benefits compared with other competing priorities.

Large organizations often meet the minimum requirements but:

• they don’t embrace accessibility and accommodations fully, so
• they don’t benefit as much from these as they could.

It is important to remember that disability inclusion is a journey. You will never be done, but each step yields benefits. Ta11y consolidates information about disability inclusion to help organizations start and progress on this journey.

Who is Helped

Disability inclusion practices help people with permanent, temporary, and situational disabilities. They also help your organization. Why? Because the practices that help people with disabilities also improve your organization’s:

• overall reach,
• marketing effectiveness,
• search engine optimization, and
• messaging.

Every step you take toward disability inclusion improves your organization’s ability to reach and support everyone.

Accommodations

Accommodations are adjustments that a person or organization makes to help include a single person with a disability. Accommodations are different from accessibility, which are broad fixes made to prepare an organization to support as many people with disabilities as possible. A person with a disability may request accommodations when the accessibility provided is not enough. Most accommodations are not expensive. Providing them typically requires a conversation between the individual and the organization. We recommend starting with the Job Accommodations Network to learn more about accommodations.

Physical Accessibility

Physical accessibility ensures that people with disabilities can successfully enter, navigate, and use your organization’s facilities. Considerations for physical accessibility include ramps, space to move around with wheelchairs or walkers, places to sit and rest, accessible parking, chemical-free spaces, lighting, etc. You should consider physical accessibility for workplaces, stores, and meeting or event locations.

You can evaluate your physical accessibility using ta11y’s facilities checklist.

Digital Accessibility

Digital accessibility ensures that people with disabilities can successfully use your digital content. Considerations for digital accessibility include text descriptions of images, captions, correct coding, color contrast, magnification, etc. You should consider the digital accessibility of your website and applications. Digital accessibility is also important to consider when purchasing or using software and digital services.

You can evaluate your digital accessibility using ta11y’s website and social media checklists.

Marketing and Communications

Accessibility in communications ensures that people with disabilities can perceive and understand the digital and physical content you provide. Considerations for communications include plain language principles, color contrast, text description of visual content, captions, audio description, alternative versions such as braille and large print, etc. Content should also use inclusive language and imagery. The content you create represents your organization’s brand, and it is important to reach everyone.

Events

Accessibility at events ensures that people with disabilities can attend and participate. The types of accessibility considerations that are needed depend on whether the event is virtual or in person. All content must be accessible and ideally available separately from the event. If the event is in person, the facilities must be accessible. Additional considerations such as accessible scheduling options, captioning, sign language interpreting, and alternative formats for handouts are also important during events.

Nothing About Us Without Us

It is essential to involve people with disabilities when planning accessibility and inclusion improvements. There are many ways to do this:

• Informal conversations - Talk with people who have different disabilities to better understand how you can support them.
• User groups and usability studies are more formal ways to gather information. While larger organizations may hire a group to conduct these, less formal outreach can be just as effective.
• User feedback options and surveys - Gathering feedback can be as simple as adding an email or form to your website to allow people to provide feedback or handing out cards at the end of an event. You can also be more proactive and reach out to your email list or follow up after events.

The key point is to establish an ongoing dialogue with the people with disabilities who engage with or want to engage with your organization. You will often find that the needed improvements are less difficult than expected.