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How to make content accessible

A practical guide to making your content accessible.

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Checklist for best practice

Explaining accessibility

Content can be difficult for users with disabilities and impairments to navigate and process. Accessibility ensures people with disabilities have the same access to information and services as others in the community.

There are over 1 million people living with a disability in Victoria: that’s around 20% of the population.

People can have a disability from birth, disease, illness or accident. Disabilities can also be temporary.

You should consider the communication needs of people:

Many of us will develop impairments as we age, which may be one or more of the following:

Relevant legislation

In addition to being a human right for people with disabilities to be able to access information, services and opportunities offered through government programs, it is also a legal obligation.

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The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 requires us to ensure people with disability have the same access to information and services as others in the community. Under the Act, you can’t discriminate against a person with disability by excluding access to information and services.

The Disability Act 2006 (Vic) states under the objectives and principles that people with disability have the same right as other members of the community to access information and communicate in ways that are appropriate to their communication and cultural needs.

TheEqual Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) makes it against the law to discriminate against someone because of specific personal characteristics.

The Public Administration Act 2004 (Vic)sets the standards for public sector communication and government advertising on television.

The Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) states in section 18.2.b “Every eligible person has the right, and is to have the opportunity, without discrimination to have access, on general terms of equality, to the Victorian public service and public office.”

Australian Human Rights Commission: World Wide Web Access, Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Notes, 2.2 states: ‘equal access is required by law’.

The Commonwealth Government, through the 2010 Web Accessibility National Transition Strategy, (opens in a new window) implemented a policy of web accessibility for federal, state and local governments.

The Commonwealth Government also approved the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) . Article 9 and Article 21 state: ‘access to information, communications and services (including the internet) is a human right’.

Making content accessible

All Victorian Public Service staff and Special bodies are responsible for making their content accessible.

Making content accessible means all Victorians – no matter their ability – have equal access to Victorian Government information.

To do this well, you need to be aware of the diverse range of needs in the community and how to plan and create your content with accessibility in mind.

For guidance on creating accessible print documents, hosting accessible events and communicating in person with various disability groups, read the Victorian Government accessible communications policy

Victorian Government mandatory standards

These standards apply to all internal and external communication and information sharing activities.

Read the Victorian government accessible communication policy for more information on standards for accessible content.

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All Victorian Government communication and advertising must follow the guidelines set out in Brand Victoria.

By following the Brand Victoria guidelines and picking colours from the approved palette and themes you can ensure content will be ‘accessible by design’.

Plain language and easy to read are different.

Plain language is a system of writing that is clear, direct and easy to understand. It has no ambiguity or unnecessarily difficult words.

Easy Read uses further simplified language and layout, in combination with images or symbols.

To learn more about this difference, read about the standards for accessible content as part of the Victorian Government accessible communications policy.

The WCAG guidelines are designed to make websites universally accessible. They also improve the experience for users without disabilities.

There are three levels of WCAG:

Refer to the Victorian Government accessible communications policy for further guidance, including tools to help meet Level AA.

Practical tools for self-assessment online

Your images must have alternative text (alt-text) if it conveys information or meaning. Alt-text is announced by screen readers and helps users understand the content and function of an image. Alt-text is also displayed by the browser when an image can’t be loaded'.

Alt-text must be descriptive but remain concise. For example, don’t say ‘Photo of a tree’, instead, express what the message of the image is, ‘Maple tree provides welcome shade over a park bench and bus stop’. Good alternative text also helps search engines make better sense of the page.

Good alternative text also helps search engines make better sense of the page.

Colours for graphics or text need to align with the Brand Victoria colour palette, and there must be enough contrast between colour of the text and the colour of the background.

Use free products like the WebAIM colour contrast checker to make sure you have the required colour contrast.

All new videos produced by Victorian Public Service bodies and Special bodies must include closed captions. If you use auto-generated closed captions, make sure to check they are correct before publishing your video. It is good practice to also provide a transcript of your video.

Refer to the Victorian Government accessible communications policy for further guidance.

It is best to try to avoid using PDFs, or Microsoft Word, PowerPoint or Excel documents online. These file types are not mobile-friendly, as they take longer to download than HTML, and cannot be made responsive.

All documents must have a web page equivalent

To ensure you’re compliant, always start developing content with a webpage in mind. Only use a document as a secondary source of information that’s already on your webpage. Exceptions here are documents being provided for printing, like posters.

Refer to the Victorian Government accessible communications policy for further guidance.

Practical tips to meet accessibility basics

For you or your team, we strongly recommend:

To get you started, below are the basics for improving accessibility.

Victorian public servants can find further resources and training in the Innovation Network, including joining our Plain Language Community of Practice.

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Headings need to be identified (that is, as an H1 etc.) and structured correctly (that is, H1 then H2 – not H1 then H3.) This helps readers navigate content and provides important information on page structure.

Also, headings should only be used to label sections of content and not for visual styling.

Read more about accessible headings(opens in a new window).

Links need to describe where you’re taking the user. Make sure they make sense when read in isolation – don’t use ‘click here’ and ‘read more’. This applies to in-text and standalone links.

Tip: Don’t write ‘For the WCAG guidelines click here.’

Do write: ‘For more information, read the WCAG guidelines.’

Read more about accessible links(opens in a new window).

Tables need extra markup. This means, for example, using tags like the table header (), caption (), and table data () tags. Refer to Webaim’s techniques for building accessible tables(opens in a new window).

This online accessible table builder(opens in a new window) allows you to build a table quickly without knowing HTML.

W3’s article on accessible maps(opens in a new window) will help you to understand and provide accessible equivalents for maps.

An accessibility statement provides standard and consistent wording to inform those with a disability that accessible or alternative formats, support and aids are available upon request. Documents, publications, event invitations and web content should include an accessibility statement offering support.

Avoid naming an individual as a contact point. Instead try to use URLs, email addresses and phone numbers that will remain current for the life of the document or website.

Here is an example of an accessibility statement for publications or documents:

Contact us if you need this information in an accessible format, such as large print or audio. Please call [insert phone] or email [insert email]. This document can also be found in HTML or PDF formats on our website [insert link].

Contact us if you need this information in an accessible format, such as large print or audio. Please call [insert phone] or email [insert email]. This document can also be found in HTML or PDF formats on our website [insert link].

Here is an example of an accessibility statement for event invitations:

We aim to ensure that people have equal access to public events. If you need alternative formats or other reasonable adjustments, please contact [name] on [phone number] or via email [email address] with your request by close of business on [deadline] so that arrangements, where possible, can be made.

Complying with internal ICT policy and procedures

Your agency should already be embedding web accessibility into your IT and communication policies and practices. This covers:

Your agency is encouraged to develop, maintain, and provide:

Include agency intranets, third-party (external) sites and social media in your ICT policies.

Updating your procurement processes

Agencies should update their ICT procurement processes, especially those relating to websites and web-based service delivery, to include specific web accessibility criteria. Updating your procurement processes will help your agency achieve value for money by reducing the need for re-work or customisation to meet the mandatory accessibility standards. The federal Department of Finance website has more advice and information.

Accessibility organisations and resources

Here are some contact details for organisations that can provide services and information to assist you to provide accessible communications.

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Able Australia

A not-for-profit organisation supporting people with multiple disabilities, including deafblindness.

Amaze (Autism Victoria)

Body supporting people on the autism spectrum and their supporters in Victoria.

Association for Children with a Disability

Works to improve the lives of children with a disability and their families.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Australia

Supports children, adolescents and adults with ADHD and co-existing disorders.

Blind Citizens Australia

National body that can provide advice and assistance in preparing material for people with a vision impairment.

Victorian-based service that provides resources and services to improve the quality of life for people affected by an acquired brain disorder.

Cerebral Palsy Support Network

National not-for-profit organisation providing information and support services to people living with cerebral palsy and their families

Communication Rights Australia

Body providing specialised support and information for people with communication difficulties, and/or little or no speech.

Cystic Fibrosis Community Care (Victoria & NSW)

Not-for-profit body providing advocacy, support and information services to people living with cystic fibrosis and their families.

Deafblind Australia

Provides support and advocacy services for people with deafblindness.

Disability Advocacy Resource Unit (DARU)

A dedicated resource unit funded to work with disability advocacy organisations to promote and protect the rights of people with disability.

Down Syndrome Victoria

Organisation providing information, support and advocacy services for people with Down syndrome.

Epilepsy Foundation

Not-for-profit organisation providing people living with epilepsy, and their families, with support, resources and advocacy services.

Expression Australia

Can provide more information on resources and assistance for people who are deaf or hearing impaired.

Independence Australia

Social enterprise that supports people living with a disability or other physical need.

Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disability (VALID)

Peak organisation in the Victorian disability sector representing adults with an intellectual disability and their families.

Vision Australia

National provider of blindness and low vision services.

Hearing loops

Interpreters and notetakers

Live captioning

The following Australian companies provide live captioning services:

Telephone relay services

National Relay Service(opens in a new window) is an Australia-wide telephone access service that relays calls. People with speech and hearing impairment can contact anyone through the National Relay Service. They can use a Teletypewriter (TTY) or a computer with internet access.

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