Diwali and Accessibility

Diwali is a time when one goes to meet their loved ones and exchange gifts and sweets, burst firecrackers, have delicious traditional feasts and wear new clothes. It is also a time when  business is booming, and brands are looking to create awareness and increase their sales. Whether it’s an online business or offline, all these brands are giving discount and promotional offers on their products and services. But not all these businesses focus on accessibility and inclusion. Not all of them have their content made accessible. This is where you can edge out your competitor. This is where you can ensure that your promotional activities are accessible and appeals your audiences. And this is where we come in!

Our team at BarrierBreak believes a good marketing strategy and accessible content should always go hand in hand. They ensure your content is rendered accessible by applying inclusive design practices. 

Why Accessibility?

We have known Diwali being celebrated by everyone. But do we know what all difficulties are faced by people with disabilities while accessing promotional Diwali campaigns or offers?

Inclusive design and marketing strategy aim to create a positive and accessible user experience for all, including the people with disabilities. Rather than targeting a single user group or target market, integrative design principles seek to appeal to a wide range of users and understand the different ways in which people engage on your website. Inclusive design considers accessibility and inclusion from the outset of a promotional activity and helps you understand diversity and create products and services that are experienced by a large number of people.

Accessibility is an experience that meets the needs of your audience, including those with disabilities. Accessible design provides the foundation to ensure that the experience of your content is inclusive, but it also invites you to consider the content itself. When it comes to creating content, barrier-free design ensures that everyone has equal access so that no one is excluded.

Benefits of Accessible Advertising

Accessibility is just one of the many areas that need to be addressed to create inclusive content. Companies must create policies for internal and external content, including the creation of accessible promotional campaigns. There are many benefits in doing so:

• Accessible advertising campaigns help in reaching people with disabilities, such as people with impaired mobility, vision, hearing and learning.
• Using inclusive designs can not only help you reach potential customers and grow your business. It also shows your brand is committed to serving as many people as possible.
• Creating accessible content is a great way to promote an SEO strategy for brands.
• Creating inclusive content enables brands to forge stronger connections with customers. Consumers with disabilities and their family members are increasingly recognizing the value of the products and services which include them.
• Furthermore, applying universal design principles from the outset can help people with disabilities become potential customers of your brand. Being aware of accessibility increases inclusivity in your brand and improves the user experience.

Challenges Faced

One reason why more brands are not capitalizing on this opportunity is perceived difficulty in making their campaigns available to everyone. Festive marketing campaigns like the ones in Diwali tend to overlook people with disabilities because of the extra effort required to make ads accessible. In accessible advertising, brands fail to address a significant portion of the population because they overlook people with disabilities in their marketing plans.

As disabilities continue to increase, brands need to refine their marketing efforts to broaden their reach and communicate with this underserved population. One way for companies to avoid unintended barriers in this segment is to focus their marketing efforts on consumers with disabilities and their families. By focusing on accessibility in website design and content, you open your business to more people in more situations than you know.

Your content should be your first port of call to show that you care about making your brand inclusive and accessible to all.

How can we help?

Our highly specialized team at BarrierBreak not only helps you create accessible promotional content but also ensures that it is Section 508 and ADA compliant. We ensure the content is in conformance with WCAG 2.0 and 2.1

Get in touch with us at sales@barrierbreak.com for any support in making your content accessible.

The post Encouraging Accessible Advertising this Diwali appeared first on Leader in Offshore Accessibility Testing | Section 508 Compliance | WCAG Conformance | BarrierBreak.

Over the next few years, I realized that the Accessibility community largely focused on the US. Over the years, I have found my place & am part of the Accessibility community globally and in the US. The people have gone from being just names to friends and colleagues whether it is Lainey Feingold, Sharron Rush, Matt May, Jennison Asuncion, Axel Leblois, Mike Paciello and so many more.

But I think it is time to realize that Accessibility is a global issue. There are some amazing people around the world that are some of the most brilliant accessibility experts that I have met.

Australia — Andrew Arch

Andrew is the Principal Digital Accessibility and Inclusive Design Consultant at Intopia Digital. I met Andrew when he was a part of W3C and was focusing on increasing the accessibility of the Web for people with age-related accessibility needs as well as for people with disabilities. I think we have a lot to learn from him!

India — Yours Truly

I as in Shilpi , founded BarrierBreak & 247 Accessible Documents to deliver digital accessibility at scale and to prove a point that people with disabilities could be a part of the solution as we conduct accessibility testing and provide accessibility consulting services globally.

Japan — Makoto Ueki

Makoto is a Web Accessibility Consultant at Infoaxia (Tokyo, Japan) who provides a wide range of consulting services with full support for compliance with WCAG and JIS X 8341–3 (Japanese Industrial Standards). Makoto has been a part of formulating accessibility standards and that is where I first got to know of him.

Mexico — Mónica Duhem

Monica is the Founder of Hearcolors. She is an expert in access to telecommunications services and ICT. With HearColors, Monica created a unique model in Mexico to push for a more inclusive internet for persons with Disabilities.

Sweden — Susanna Laurin

Susanna is the Chief Research & Innovation Officer at Funka. She has more than 20 years of experience in working with disability-related issues. One of the key technical experts to EN 301 549 and a believer in harmonised standards. I met her through G3ICT and admire her wealth of knowledge.

So, broaden your network of the amazing accessibility people & the fantastic organizations globally focusing on accessibility.

The post Accessibility is Global — Accessibility Champions beyond the US appeared first on Leader in Offshore Accessibility Testing | Section 508 Compliance | WCAG Conformance | BarrierBreak.