Writing with

Accessibility in Mind

OIT Technology Accessibility Program (TAP)

March 30, 2023

Why is Accessible Content and Writing Important?

Why is Accessible Content and Writing Important?

Accessible content and writing reaches the broadest audience. It has two primary components: inclusive language and plain language.

• Inclusive language promotes more inclusion and equity for your audience.
• Plain language makes your content easy to understand:
• Reaches audiences with a variety of reading levels and cognitive abilities
• Provides simple and clear instructions that converts to action
• Breaks things down to help organize the content
• Translates into other languages more easily.

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Inclusive Language

Start with a Global Audience

Write using a ‘global-first’ perspective where you assume every person on earth will eventually read your content.

• Create content that can be easily translated.
• When creating content for the web, be sure to use the language tag to indicate the language the content was originally written in (en = English and es = Español [Spanish]).
• Avoid using metaphors or phrases that are specific to just one culture or demographic group.
• Examples include uniquely American sports references, pop culture, etc.
• Don’t make assumptions about your audience (e.g., don’t assume prior knowledge of the topic).

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Use “Person-First” Language

Write content from a “person-first” perspective. This will allow you to focus the conversation on the reader, no matter who they are.

Always keep in mind that how someone speaks, understands, reads, functions or lives may change how they experience the world, but it is not their defining characteristic.

An example of “person-first” language would be to use “people with disabilities” instead of “disabled people” or “the disabled.”

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Inclusive Language Best Practices

• Be mindful of how you use language.
• Speak about audience member characteristics only when they are relevant to the content – otherwise, leave it out.
• Be cautious when using words like “disorder,” “impairment,” “abnormality” and “special” to describe health conditions or people. Unless it is a direct quote or proper name, it is best to leave them out of your content.
• Avoid terms like “diversability” and “handicapable.”
• Perceptions and social norms change rapidly, so keep up to date on inclusive language best practices.
• For example, the term “handicapped” is not appropriate to use, but has been used by government entities in the past.

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Tone

Ableism is a bias or discrimination in favor of able-bodied people. Be aware of the meaning or connotations of certain terms. Keep your content free of terms or phrases that might imply bias, and isolate or alienate your audience.

• Some words have a history of discrimination toward people with disabilities, such as “duh,” “dumb,” “crazy” and “insane.”
• Be aware of and avoid language that may mock people with disabilities.
• Avoid words or language in your content that normalizes able-bodiedness.
• Don’t assume people’s ability to see, hear, read, move or function in a particular way.
• Focus on the person, not the ability or disability.

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Avoiding Ableist Language When Speaking About Someone

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Plain Language Best Practices

Plain Language is Useful for All Reading Abilities

Plain language is a way of writing so that more people can easily read and understand your content.

• Typically it is written at a 6^th-8^th grade reading level.
• It helps with language translation and especially auto-translations from Google.

It not only means changing terms to simpler ones, but also simplifying and organizing your content so that it prioritizes the meaning and any instructions for your audience.

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Get Organized!

Organizing your content is important in breaking down ideas into well-structured, digestible information.

• Organize for your audience
• Draft your ideas in an outline
• Tell your audience in sections of 3-5 sentences or less
• Use steps to guide the reader
• Break up content into digestible sections
• Use images to convey meaning and visually break up walls of text

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Headings

Create your headings so that they provide scannable information that readers can easily understand.

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There are 3 types of headings that can help with this:

• Question headings: If you know what questions your audience is asking you can use the question-and-answer format to help your audience scan the document and find specific information.
• Action headings: Guides the user to take an action or perform a specific task.
• Topic headings: Topic headings are generally the least useful type of heading because they are often generalized or vague. Try and be specific if using this type of heading.

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Headings

Create your headings so that they provide scannable information that readers can easily understand.

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Be sure to use headings in sequential order:

• Begin with Heading 1 for the title of the page or document.
• Use Heading 2 for main topic headings.
• Then use Heading 3 for primary subtopics.
• Use Heading 4 for secondary subtopics.
• You can use Heading 5 to further organize detailed info.
• Don’t use headings beyond the level of Heading 6.

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Topic-Based Introductions

Topic-based introductions can help give your readers context before providing details. Include 1 or 2 topic-based introductory sentences after each heading.

• Move the most important information up front and let users know where you are going.
• Do not make readers hold a lot of information in their heads before getting to the point.
• Give each paragraph a good introduction to help readers easily scan for what they are looking for.
• A side benefit of good topic sentences (and headings) is that they help you see if your document is well-organized. If it is not, topic sentences make it easier for you to rearrange your material.

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Lists

Lists highlight a series of steps, requirements or pieces of information in a visually clear way. Use lists to help users focus on important material.

Outline necessary steps or processes in a step-by-step manner using a list format.

Lists are useful because they:

• Highlight levels of importance
• Help readers understand the order in which things happen
• Help readers skim and scan
• Make it easy to identify all steps in a process
• Add white space for easy reading
• Are an ideal way to present items, conditions and exceptions

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Use Guiding Language

Guide your users through the content by using transition words or phrases.

• Use a transition word or phrase (usually in the topic sentence) to clearly tell the audience whether the paragraph expands on the paragraph before, contrasts with it or takes a completely different direction.
• Types of transitions include:
• Pointing Words: Words that include this, that, these, those and the – referring directly to something already mentioned.
• Echo Links: Words or phrases that echo a previously mentioned idea. They often work together with pointing words.
• Explicit Connectives: Words such as further, also, however and therefore — supply transitions.

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Create a Conversation

Speak directly to your audience when you can. However, know when a little formality is appropriate.

• Use the first person, not second or third person.
• e.g., “We advise that you do this.”
• Use an active voice and avoid a passive voice.
• Passive voice obscures who is responsible for which action.
• An exception to this rule is when you are quoting a statute, rule or regulation.
• Use the word “must” (not shall) when indicating a requirement.
• Use verbs to help create power and direction in your content. Verbs tell your audience what to do. Make sure it’s clear who does what.

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Choose Words Carefully

Words are the most basic building blocks of written communication. Don’t complicate your written content.

Leave literary flair to novels and stories. Keep copy that is designed to guide or instruct simple and to the point.

• Use a familiar word over a complex or unusual word.
• Do not use legalese, technical terms and jargon.
• Limit use of acronyms and abbreviations.
• If you use acronyms, be sure to spell out what it stands for when you first use the word and list the acronym after it, e.g., Governor’s Office of Information Technology (OIT)
• Use contractions where appropriate.
• This is a departure from traditional legal writing, but it helps your writing sound more natural and approachable.

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Design For Reading

Dense, cluttered writing deters people from taking the time to read your content.

• Use simple typography (font).
• Highlight key elements using boldface font only (no caps or underlining).
• Avoid complex punctuation and slashes except when writing a fraction. It creates ambiguity and confusion.
• Minimize cross-references. This can cause confusion if readers bounce around your content too much.
• Use tables to organize data, not to format written content.
• Break up information into manageable chunks. Keep your sentences and paragraphs short and concise.

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Design For Reading

Supplemental content, as well as imagery and graphic elements, can help organize and emphasize your content.

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• Use supplemental content to help convey meaning.
• Use non-text-based icons to help convey meaning.
• Use imagery and graphic elements to help with breaking up longer sections of text.
• Images should help add context and be relevant to the information.
• Try and find alternatives to screenshots in order to convey meaning.
• Be sure to use alternative text whenever you use an image to ensure screen reader users also understand why the image is being used.

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Test Assumptions

You can test your assumptions about how you are conveying meaning and speaking inclusively.

• Read your writing out loud to determine if it flows in the same way that you speak.
• Have colleagues from a diverse group review content for inclusion and equity.
• Take a long look at the appearance of the content for visual appeal. Be sure it doesn’t look visually confusing.
• Don’t overuse layout and typographical devices.

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Questions & Answers

Thank you!

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More Information:

• OIT.Colorado.gov/Accessibility/Inclusive-Language
• OIT.Colorado.gov/Accessibility/Plain-Language

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Contact Information:

oit_accessibility@state.co.us

“One should aim not at being possible to understand, but at being impossible to misunderstand.”

• Quintilian, Roman educator and rhetorician

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