Introduction
These practical guidelines, based on existing best practice, tell you what you should do as a public body to improve the accessibility of your information and meet the requirements of the Disability Act 2005.
In particular, they offer advice on how to improve your information for people who experience information barriers. These include older people and those with:
- physical disabilities,
- sensory disabilities (for example sight or hearing loss), and
- learning disabilities.
They also include:
- people from new migrant communities,
- people with literacy difficulties, and
- others who may experience social exclusion, such as homeless people, Travellers and people who are isolated or in institutions.
Why is accessible information important?
Information is an important tool in our lives, enabling us to access services and entitlements and exercise our rights. All people need access to accurate information that allows them to deal with everyday issues. Some people, however, may need additional support to access the information they need.
Many agencies and organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors have a key role to play in providing accessible information and making a real difference to people's lives.
Providing accessible information can help you to reach a larger audience and can enhance the quality and efficiency of your customer services.
What it means to make information accessible
Making information accessible, however it is given – face to face, on a website, in print, on the phone or on DVD - means making sure that the language and format used as well as the images and design are clear, appropriate and understandable.
Different media and formats for different audiences
It is best to see information as something you provide in a range of formats for different:
- audiences,
- uses, and
- delivery channels, (such as telephone, face to face, printed pages or websites)
We use information in different ways today and access it through different media. For example, we access:
- written information from books, leaflets, text messages and websites,
- audio information over the phone or from the radio, the Internet, podcasts and CDs, and
- visual information from television, the Internet and DVDs.
Making information available in as many formats as possible means that we give everyone a choice of how they want to access information. Knowing our clients and asking them about their needs will tell us what formats we need to provide.
Making information accessible to people with disabilities
Finding practical ways to reasonably accommodate the needs of people with physical and sensory disabilities is now required by law, under the Disability Act 2005. As you provide information and consult with those you work with, it will be important to consider the needs of all people with disabilities, for example those:
- who are deaf or hard of hearing,
- with mental health difficulties,
- with a vision impairment,
- with learning disabilities, and
- with illnesses that limit their understanding and decision making
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The Disability Act requires organisations providing services and information to accommodate the needs of people with disabilities. You can find further information on the Disability Act from the National Disability Authority website, www.nda.ie. The Equal Status Acts 2000 and 2004 require providers of goods and services to reasonably accommodate people with disabilities. Under the Acts service providers must make changes, at reasonable costs, to enable people with disabilities to use their services. You can find further information on the Equal Status Acts from the Equality Authority's website, www.equality.ie. |
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New European standards on accessible information! A European project called Pathways focused on making information easy-to-read and understandable for people with disabilities. The main aim of Pathways was to make lifelong learning programmes more accessible for adults with intellectual disabilities. The project produced new European standards on how to make information easy-to-read. The project has developed instruments and materials that can be easily used by staff and trainers working in the field of lifelong learning in order to guarantee that their programmes are accessible. More information is available at www.inclusionireland.ie/PathwaysProject2009.asp . |
