President of GMR Transcription, which provides accurate transcription services to court reporting firms, researchers, businesses, etc.
The U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) safeguards the rights and dignity of individuals with disabilities globally. There are many benefits of subtitles/captions and transcripts, which are for more than just the hard of hearing. Harvard’s Digital Accessibility Policy recommends transcripts for pre-recorded audio content. The WHO’s findings suggest that by 2050, the number of people dealing with disabling hearing loss will surge to over 700 million, translating to approximately 1 in every 10 individuals worldwide.
Imagine a world where everyone can quickly join in conversations, regardless of their disabilities. Transcription is a tool that can help companies draw nearer to that reality, helping to make communication more accessible for those with various disabilities. Let’s explore how you can incorporate various transcription inclusive design best practices into your business to help open doors and bring people together.
Accessible And Inclusive Design Practices
When planning to make your audio and video content more accessible, here are seven practices that can help you get the best results.
1. Understand the needs of different disabilities.
Transcribing your content by understanding the needs of different disabilities can help ensure your content reaches a broader audience while fostering an inclusive digital space. For instance, providing accurate transcriptions of your audio or video content (either as text alongside your visual content or as subtitles within videos) can help individuals with hearing impairments to comprehend content effectively.
Optimizing your transcribed content with screen readers (a type of assistive technology that reads aloud the text) enables visually impaired individuals to independently understand the content as intended. Those with cognitive disabilities, such as dyslexia, may have some challenges in processing the written text. So, drafting well-structured transcriptions that include simple language, short and manageable chunks of text, bullet points for simplification, and audio descriptions in between can help dyslexic users access your content more easily.
2. Use multiple formats.
Providing accurate captions and transcripts for multimedia content can help hard-of-hearing individuals follow your content and efficiently enhance its searchability and indexability. I recommend providing transcribed content in multiple formats, such as text, braille and audio. This can not only benefit individuals with different disabilities but also improve the overall user experience.
For example, providing transcribed content with clear and concise descriptions can help those who are hard of hearing to grasp the information in a way that best suits them. Providing an audio version of the transcribed content can help people with cognitive and visual disabilities to listen to the content rather than relying on visual cues. Likewise, you can convert transcribed content into braille format using braille translation software, which will convert your original document into braille code that helps visually impaired people comprehend the information in the language they best understand.
3. Prioritize user-friendly website design.
Ensure your website has a user-friendly layout and structure and a logical hierarchy of labels to help individuals using screen readers or voice recognition software navigate easily. For example, incorporating alt text on pictures, customizing font size and color, and providing multiple formats can help hard-of-hearing readers and those with lower levels of vision more easily access your content.
4. Test for accessibility.
Test your content’s accessibility using assistive technologies like screen readers to detect issues, and make changes based on your findings. For example, screen readers are sometimes incompatible with certain software or devices, or they have improperly optimized HTML structure or coding that could make them unable to accurately interpret the content. Testing your content with a screen reader can help detect issues like missing text alternatives for images that describe the visual content; missing language tags that prevent screen readers from pronouncing words correctly; missing link text that could misguide the users or prevent them from accessing the content correctly; inaccurate HTML content structure that makes the content disorganized; and/or missing title tags and subheadings that make navigation difficult.
5. Stay updated on accessibility guidelines.
Another step in ensuring your content is accessible to individuals with disabilities is by staying up to date with the latest accessibility guidelines and standards. You can visit the official websites of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to know more about the latest accessibility standards and guidelines. These organizations provide comprehensive updates and insights into evolving accessibility practices.
You can also join accessibility-focused communities, such as online groups, forums and conferences, to gain valuable insights from experts. There are also numerous podcasts, educational websites and blogs available that provide a wealth of information concerning evolving accessibility standards.
6. Seek user feedback.
Ask your audience for feedback on your content’s accessibility. You can get valuable insights and suggestions from users with disabilities, which can help you improve your services accordingly. Getting feedback from online communities or forums dedicated to specific disabilities can also offer valuable perspectives. Consider conducting surveys, interviews and user tests. Asking users to complete feedback forms using accessible tools, such as screen readers or voice recognition software, can allow individuals with disabilities to participate freely.
7. Promote accessibility awareness.
Promote disability-friendly content within your company, encourage others to prioritize accessibility and train your content creators to ensure they understand the importance of inclusive design. When the people in your organization understand the value of these steps, they can more effectively create content in ways that allow everyone to access it, regardless of their abilities. Approaching this area conscientiously can also set a powerful example for other businesses and organizations and encourage them to do the same.
Final Thoughts
Conscientious transcription and inclusive design are helpful tools in bridging the gap between content and disabled consumers so they can fully engage and understand the information being conveyed. Not only can taking these steps help provide disabled individuals with equal access to your content, but it can also help foster a more inclusive society where accessibility is recognized as a fundamental right rather than an afterthought.
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