Introduction to Accessibility

  • By: admin
  • June 6, 2017

As digital transformation is accelerating the pace of change within public sector organizations to move toward digitized services, the need to provide accessibility to digital content is a growing pressure. Plus, widespread content barriers still exist for those with disabilities.

Why You Should Care
What constitutes accessible content is not totally answered with legislation. As government organizations create more and more content, a lack of framework or standard will make it harder to comply with legal requirements and provide equal access to information for all constituents, as well as internal personnel.

Accessibility Is Often Misunderstood
One municipal government attempted to meet accessibility standards by adopting an agenda point-solution, but learned accessibility can mean different things to different organizations and solution providers, especially with varying regional or national legal requirements.* This makes accessibility a daunting mandate to undertake, and far from a technology quick-fix.

Not in Ontario? You’re not in the clear. Even though your province or jurisdiction has not yet passed specific accessibility legislation like Ontario did, it’s likely coming. The duty of responsibility is on government to ensure that discrimination against any segment of constituents is not happening. By being proactive about accessibility, government can be more open and transparent.

Accessibility Starts with Aligning People, Processes & Technology
Start off on the right foot and reach out to us. eScribe is a leading provider of cloud-based meeting management solutions, popular with public sector boards, committees and councils. Compliant with accessibility requirements, such as AODA and WCAG 2.0, we aim to improve organizational efficiency, transparency and citizen engagement so users can focus on other higher-value tasks and projects to better serve their stakeholders.

* Read our eBook “Accessibility to Digital Content” for more details.