Fact Sheet 1. Carrying out an information access audit
An information accessibility audit can help an organisation to establish what it is doing, if information is reaching those who need it, where barriers exist and where there are gaps in your service. This is important as information accessibility is required under the 2005 Disability Act. It is good practice to carry out an audit as part of your approach to improving information accessibility.
How can you carry out an information access audit?
Staff can carry out the access audit but it is better to bring in experts to carry out the audit for you. You can also commission specialists to audit your website and electronic communications (see Fact Sheet 5).
The following are the main areas to cover in an information accessibility audit:
- policies on information accessibility;
- written information and the different formats you provide;
- website and electronic information;
- translation and interpretation services that you provide;
- systems in place to review who uses your services;
- methods for consulting with service users;
- accessibility of your information centre;
- staff training and awareness.
Once you have carried out the audit, draw up an action plan with timescales and responsibilities. Improving information accessibility is a gradual and continuous process.
A key outcome of the audit is to improve information accessibility. This can best be measured if the customer notices that the quality and accessibility of the service has improved. Consulting with customers will help you to measure this.
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The Revenue Commissioners' Central Revenue Information Office deals with over 300,000 customer visits each year. In 2007, following major renovations to its central information office, the Revenue Commissioners received an Excellence through Accessibility Award. After consulting with the National Disability Authority, the Revenue Commissioners organised disability awareness training for staff to improve the service to customers. They also placed Braille signs at eye level and used colour contrast with dark text on a white background to make signs easier to read. A spokesperson said this resulted in: "much greater awareness throughout the organisation both at management and staff level about people with disabilities and their needs and entitlements... What you have to do to make your buildings, systems and service accessible is not rocket science, it really just needs a bit of thought, a bit of learning and being creative in your solutions... When we learned what we had to do and when we had the right attitude towards doing it, it was amazing how easy it was to do." |
Further resources
National Disability Authority www.nda.ie
Institute for Design and Disability. www.idd.ie
National Council for the Blind of Ireland (NCBI) www.ncbi.ie
