Chances are that you\u2019ve noticed a common thread throughout most of this textbook: the importance of audience. It\u2019s common sense that you\u2019d create content with your audience in mind to capture their attention, guide their understanding, and compel deeper levels of thought and action. However, it\u2019s often easier said than done, especially when the audience is unknown. You\u2019re not writing a text message to one of your friends, for instance, but you\u2019re posting a blog article on your website, and you\u2019re not really sure who exactly might read the article. It\u2019s also difficult to predict the needs, expectations, and perceptions of people in an audience who are unlike you in some way. You might easily reread and revise content for people whose background, experiences, and identities are similar to your own because you probably have a very similar way of engaging with and interpreting information. But what about people who are a different age, gender, race, nationality, religion, or sexual orientation than you? What about people with disabilities who can\u2019t engage with some forms of digital communication the way that other people do? These people are also part of your audience, and it\u2019s crucial that you create content with them in mind, prioritizing their needs and experiences so that your content is both accessible and inclusive.<\/p>\r\n
The goal in this chapter is to focus on marginalized identities: minority groups who are often overlooked or devalued in digital content, which not only creates a more negative user experience but limits their ability to have meaningful interactions online or even to complete basic tasks. It also reinforces their marginalized positions. To improve the quality of your digital content for these groups (and for everyone else, too), we\u2019ll be focusing on accessibility and inclusion.<\/p>\r\n
The accessibility of your content refers to users\u2019 ability to understand and interact with the material provided. The Bureau of Internet Accessibility<\/span><\/a><\/span> defines accessibility as \u201ca set of practices intended to remove barriers for people with disabilities.\u201d These disabilities might include physical impairments, such as limited vision or hearing, as well as cognitive limitations. Though more than a billion people worldwide<\/span><\/a><\/span> suffer from some sort of disability (World Health Organization), often affecting their ability to interact meaningfully online, WebAIM reports that 96.8% of home<\/span> pages aren\u2019t compliant<\/span><\/a><\/span> with accessibility standards. This includes things like poor color contrast, color usage as the only method of conveying information (on a pie chart for instance), lack of alt text information, lack of captions for videos and audio files\u2014all things that could limit a disabled person from understanding or navigating through digital content.<\/p>\r\n Similarly, inclusive web content is welcoming to all potential audiences. It\u2019s an umbrella term that includes the accessibility of a web page but also takes into account other factors that might cause someone to feel excluded in some way. Bianca Belman-Adams<\/span><\/a><\/span> from Elementor explains, \u201cIt is important to keep in mind when designing a website that not every user interacts with it the same way.\u2026Inclusive web design removes bias and assumptions from a website so that users won\u2019t feel excluded due to an impairment, demographics, or other temporary or permanent circumstances.\u201d Assumptions or biases about language, socioeconomic status, race, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality can all create feelings of exclusion.<\/p>\r\n This chapter focuses on how to create web content that is accessible and inclusive so that users can engage meaningfully with your content. In both instances, we will consider the experiences of users who are often marginalized from web content, and we\u2019ll identify best practices in the design and implementation of your content that will remove these barriers. In the end, developing inclusive content isn\u2019t just beneficial to those specific users. It\u2019s good for your brand, and it sends a positive message to all audiences about the importance of equality and social justice.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Learning Objectives<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n This section of the chapter focuses on accessibility of web content for people with disabilities, who are limited in their ability to understand or use various aspects of a web page. Yes, this includes people with visual or auditory impairments who will struggle to read the text, see the pictures, or hear sounds in a video or audio file, but it also includes people with neurological, cognitive, speech, and physical limitations. The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)<\/span><\/a><\/span> explains that true accessibility allows people with permanent or temporary disabilities to \u201cperceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the web\u201d as well as \u201ccontribute to the web\u201d with their own content. Providing tools and accommodations for various situations not only helps people with permanent disabilities but also people with temporary limitations\u2014maybe because they have a broken arm, they are in an environment with a bright glare on the screen, or they don\u2019t have their glasses (W3C). Explained that way, it\u2019s easy to see how most people would benefit at some point from improved accessibility.<\/p>\r\n Before we dive into accessibility standards and best practices, let\u2019s pause for a moment to consider why this is such an important concept. As stated above, the vast majority of websites don\u2019t meet accessibility standards, but there are several fundamental reasons why accessible web content should be a priority:<\/p>\r\n\r\n The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)<\/span><\/a><\/span> are the most comprehensive and widely accepted standards of accessibility. It\u2019s currently on its third revision with version 2.2 scheduled for completion in May 2023, which builds on existing versions but will enhance \u201caccessibility guidance for three major groups: users with cognitive or learning disabilities, users with low vision, and users with disabilities on mobile devices\u201d (Web Accessibility Initiative, \u201cWCAG 2 Overview\u201d). In essence, as new technologies, trends, and problems emerge, the guidelines are updated so they remain as relevant as possible. Because they are developed collaboratively with constituents in the \u201cglobal accessibility community\u201d and because they offer broad principles in conjunction with specific techniques and technical applications, the WCAG guidelines are widely used by web designers, content writers, software developers, and marketing professionals. According to Mark Shapiro, president of the Bureau of Internet Accessibility, \u201cRarely does a single document have such a direct impact on people\u2019s lives, but the guidance that WCAG provides allows developers and content creators to include people who have historically been excluded from digital experiences\u201d (qtd. in Bureau of Internet Accessibility<\/span><\/a><\/span>).<\/p>\r\n The WCAG has four fundamental principles of accessibility, and each one is further developed with guidelines and success criteria, which provides more specific strategies for how each principle can be applied. Each of those principles as well as the guidelines and some of the success criteria are identified below:<\/p>\r\n\r\n Obviously, the specific guidelines and strategies can get very technical, often requiring a deeper knowledge of HTML and other principles of web design. The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative<\/span><\/a><\/span> provides much more detailed information about practices that they consider \u201csufficient\u201d (necessary) for accessibility as well as \u201cadvisory\u201d (recommended but not required) (\u201cHow to Meet\u201d). While you may or may not become familiar with the more technical aspects of accessibility standards, it\u2019s important that digital writers, content strategists, and marketing professionals have a working understanding of the principles as well as the basic guidelines that can easily be incorporated into the design of a web page. Another helpful resource is provided by the U.S. Access Board<\/span><\/a><\/span>, which provides guidelines based on Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Activity 16.1<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n In addition to being accessible to people with disabilities, web content should also be inclusive, providing a space where people of all different backgrounds and demographics feel welcome. Obviously, making the website accessible is one very important step toward that larger goal because it provides very tangible and specific strategies\u2014color contrast, alt text, closed captioning\u2014that influence whether or not a person can engage with your content. Other aspects of inclusion are a little more subtle, pertaining to the assumptions that are made about the audience, about the kinds of identities that are \u201cnormal\u201d or acceptable. It has to do with the way that groups of people are portrayed in language and in photos. For a person to feel welcome on a website, they would see themselves reflected positively in the content, or they would at least get the sense that the text was written with a wide range of identities in mind. This type of content creation can be tricky because it requires you to identify your own assumptions and biases and to consider your text from the perspectives of people who are different from you. It\u2019s also just as much about what you don\u2019t<\/em><\/span> say or the types of identities that you don\u2019t<\/em><\/span> feature in the imagery as what you do. In other words, the inclusivity of a website exists on a spectrum, and the more positive steps you can take in the right direction, in a spirit of openness and humility, the better your content will be for all audiences.<\/p>\r\n Hopefully it\u2019s obvious why<\/em><\/span> inclusion is important. In fact, we can point to many of the same reasons that explain why accessibility is important. Similarly, inclusive content has financial, social, and ethical implications, many of them directly benefiting the individual or the organization sponsoring the content as well as the larger community. For the individual organization, the benefits are largely financial. A 2019 article by Adobe<\/span><\/a><\/span> reports that 61% of Americans said they find diversity important when it comes to marketing content, and \u201c38% of consumers are more inclined to trust brands that effectively embrace diversity in advertising\u201d (CMO.com Team). On the flip side, the article reports that LGBTQ+, Black, and Gen Z audiences were apt to boycott brands that they felt did not adequately represent their identities. This can have significant financial and social consequences. Just as importantly, efforts toward diversity and inclusion reinforce larger movements focused on equality and social justice. According to Crownpeak<\/span><\/a><\/span>, \u201cDiversity, equity, and inclusion matter because they help build a fairer society, strengthening the bonds between people and within organizations. Companies have a responsibility to act against the barriers and historical factors that have caused unfair conditions for underrepresented groups.\u201d<\/p>\r\n As a brief reminder from chapter 5, inclusion is part of a larger framework called DEI, which should guide many of the decisions within an organization, going far beyond the written digital content on a web page to also include things like employment practices, audience research, product development, and so on. It\u2019s an entire culture that seeks to include and understand a variety of identities. Let\u2019s take a brief look at the elements of DEI:<\/p>\r\n\r\n Before we look at specific best practices for inclusive digital content, it might be helpful to distinguish between being exclusive and crafting content for a target audience. As we\u2019ve discussed all along, identifying your target audience and the characteristics that define that audience is an important aspect of effective communication. For instance, a company that caters specifically to women\u2019s athletic gear\u2014shoes, sports bras, running shorts, and so on would obviously feature women more prominently in their advertising and create content that addresses the concerns and experiences of women. They\u2019d also probably target women in a certain age group, perhaps in a particular income bracket if the clothing is expensive. That company would rely heavily on market research to discover who is in its target market and to create content that those people would find compelling. However, using our same example of a company that sells women\u2019s athletic gear, it would be a mistake to exclude (either implicitly or explicitly) certain types of women who do<\/em><\/span> fit in the target audience\u2014women of color, women with disabilities, and women with all different body types. These are segments of the target audience that may very well be interested in purchasing workout gear, but because they don\u2019t feel fully welcomed on the site perhaps because of language that is used or a lack of diversity in the photos, they aren\u2019t likely to engage. Not only that, but their marginalized status is reinforced by their experience on the website.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Hopefully it\u2019s clear that DEI is more than checking off a box on a to-do list or \u201ctacking on\u201d language or pictures that will appease certain groups. It\u2019s an entire culture in which inclusivity is fostered at every level of decision-making and management. Crownpeak<\/span><\/a><\/span> also reminds us that DEI should go beyond tokenized representations of minorities during certain times of the year\u2014featuring a Black person on the front page of the website exclusively during Black History Month, for instance: \u201cIt\u2019s essential to lay the groundwork for year-round DEI with fair and thoughtful representation of underrepresented groups throughout your content\u2014both internally and externally.\u201d Many organizations struggle with creating inclusive web content because it requires that, at their core, they establish practices and policies that actually are inclusive. What\u2019s more, people with identities that are more mainstream often feel intimidated by the process of talking through inclusivity issues with other people or by writing text that is sensitive to the many different types of experiences and identities that exist. Fortunately, as discussed by Ann Gynn<\/span><\/a><\/span>, the key to writing inclusive content is to have an open mind and to be intentional at every step of the production process to include other voices. She identifies several strategies for making content more inclusive:<\/p>\r\n\r\n Activity 16.2<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n Writing content that is accessible and respectful of all audiences is crucial to effective communication and the success of your brand, but as you can see from this chapter, writing content that is truly inclusive is a complex process and requires a great deal of intentionality, planning, and critical thinking. It also requires both courage and humility. Taking steps toward social justice is always a risk. Not everyone will be on board for different reasons and may choose to disengage from your brand. It\u2019s also possible that despite your best efforts at being inclusive, you\u2019ll say something wrong or something that is taken the wrong way by someone in your audience. That\u2019s where humility comes in\u2014a genuine apology for the misunderstanding and an effort to better understand that person\u2019s perspective so you can address that concern in the future. There\u2019s always room to improve your inclusivity efforts and to better understand the people in your target audience if you are willing to listen.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Discussion Questions<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n Sources<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n ADA.gov \u201cThe Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Protects People with Disabilities from Discrimination.\u201d ADA.gov<\/em><\/span>, n.d., https:\/\/www.ada.gov\/<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\r\n American Institutes for Research. \u201cA Hidden Market: The Purchasing Power of Working-Age Adults with Disabilities.\u201d AIR.org<\/em><\/span>, Apr. 2018, https:\/\/cdn2.hubspot.net\/hubfs\/5057002\/GettingHired_November2019\/Pdfs\/Hidden-Market-Spending-Power-of-People-with-Disabilities-April-2018.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\r\n Belman-Adams, Bianca. \u201cWhat Is Inclusive Web Design?\u201d Elementor.com<\/em><\/span>, 28 Apr. 2022, \r\n \t
Accessibility<\/h1>\r\n
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WCAG Standards<\/h2>\r\n
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Inclusion<\/h1>\r\n
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DEI Best Practices for Digital Writing<\/h2>\r\n
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