At a time when digital inclusion is more essential than ever, we asked disabled members of our community of participants to share their opinion on the level of accessibility of online news platforms and official sources of updates like the Government’s daily briefs during the pandemic.

According to the data, over 35% of our sample doesn’t think that official updates about COVID-19 are accessible to them, and over 41% share the same opinion regarding online news websites or apps. To better understand how this is affecting them, we asked four of our Accessibility Collective members to tell us more.

👉 Norin, who has a visual impairment, thinks it’s a “mixed experience” overall. “There are some information available online, but I’m not really good with technology, so I’m finding hard using some of the websites. For me, it’s a very limited experience. As a blind person, I would prefer a more accessible experience,” he told us.

Regarding the official updates about COVID-19, Norin said: “as a blind person [listening to the updates] on TV, it’s very difficult because I need audio description, but very few programs have audio description. And none of the news channels are providing services for blind people, so I have to ask people what’s being shown on the screen.”

He added that “finding information on social media is a challenge, especially to decide which information is genuine and which is fake, so I only click on trustworthy social media links.” With so many people now working remotely, we also wanted to know how Norin is handling this: “as a blind person, using online platforms is the biggest challenge. In short, I’m struggling to work remotely.”

👉 Martine, who has a hearing impairment, doesn’t feel that information about COVID-19 has been made accessible. “There is currently a #WhereIsTheInterpreter campaign for BSL interpreters to be made available during all Government’s broadcasts and briefings. Currently, the onus is on broadcasters (BBC, etc.) and only the BBC show it on a specialised news channel that not everyone has access to.” Adding to this, “a large number of content online is not subtitled.”

Martine has found it challenging to work from home, mainly because “not all video platforms accessible for deaf BSL people like me.”

👉 Thomas, who is also hearing impaired, said: “I have found it extremely difficult looking at government information about COVID-19 and I’m extremely unsure where I stand with many things. [The instruction] about keeping two meters apart has been clear, but apart from that, extra information has not been made accessible and is extremely difficult using public transportation in London to be able to get around.”

He feels that “we are all a little confused due to the mixed messages being given.”

👉 Joseph – who is visually impaired – thinks the Government website “is good for finding out answers to questions that are not answered on the news media, but it would be nice to have access to data of COVID-19 cases in an accessible way, like a chart or graph.”

For Joseph, “using the news apps on my phone is the most accessible option for me, but sometimes it can feel like it’s too much information.”

Tech to the rescue

“Some might argue that audio description is good to have, but for people with visual disabilities like myself, it is a deal-breaker for consuming video content,” writes Shriram Parthasarathy, accessibility evangelist and social media marketer at Microsoft India.

With all the technological innovations and knowledge sharing out there, there is no excuse to not make an effort towards accessibility. “Unlike a decade ago when making content accessible could be a time consuming and often an expensive proposition, today artificial intelligence plays a critical role as it brings a multi-sense opportunity with a range of cognitive services, which can be integrated in any application to make it accessible.”

Some tips to help you apply this to your products and services:

+ Make the most of speech-to-test and automated captioning technologies to ensure your videos are accessible for people with visual and hearing disabilities.

+ Some APIs can help generate automatic alt-text for images, essential for people using screen readers.

+ Ensure all relevant banners and buttons have labels.

+ When using relevant hashtags on social media, ensure you capitalise the first alphabet of every word for screen readers to be able to relay them properly.

+ Ensure your website or app has proper colour contrast.

+ Check for keyboard-only navigation on your website.

+ If you are designing a presentation, make it accessible by checking it against this checklist. Powerpoint, for example, enables live captioning to ensure your slides are accessible for people with hearing impairments.

+ “Think accessibility at the time of building a website or an app, rather than it being an afterthought.” If you can, test your product or service with real users. “Do not assume your audience – in the way they consume your content. They range across people using screen readers, captions, pictures, simple language, lipreading to consume content optimally,” Shriram says.

+ Audit your website based on WCAG 2.1 guidelines.

If you are running user research or testing sessions, here are some resources on how to make your research more inclusive:

+ Designing for accessibility: the challenges according to the experts
+ A guide to inclusive unmoderated tasks
+ An agile approach to accessibility recruitment
+ Designing accessible research

You can find out more about the research we are running with our online community on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic here.

Leona Taylor, Digital Marketing Coordinator

If you would like to find out more about our in-house participant recruitment service for user testing or market research get in touch on 0117 921 0008 or info@peopleforresearch.co.uk.

At People for Research, we recruit participants for UX and usability testing and market research. We work with award winning UX agencies across the UK and partner up with a number of end clients who are leading the way with in-house user experience and insight.