4 November 2020
How to provide electronic accessible documents to your customers
Many offices are shut during the pandemic, and the way organisations are sending out information is changing rapidly for many, but remember that the Equality Act 2010 still applies and your documents need to be accessible.
Commercial and private organisations who supply documents such as bills and magazines/journals that customers have subscribed to, need to continue to give their customers equal access to that information.
Public service providers still have a legal obligation to be proactive in providing accessible information.
You can make accessible electronic documents available on your website or via email. Formats you should consider include E-text and Accessible PDF’s, Audio, Large Print, Easy Read and BSL videos.
What is E-text? Watch our video!
E-text and Accessible PDF’s
E-text means digital documents, such as PDFs, ePubs and Word documents, made accessible for use with software such as screen readers, screen magnifiers and refreshable Braille displays. Many people assume that word and PDF documents are automatically accessible, but that’s not true unfortunately.
Watch our video (above) or read our blog Accessible PDF’s -what are they? for more information about this format and the benefits.
You can also read our case study about our work for Public Health Scotland (previously NHS Health Scotland) for more about what A2i can offer.
Audio
You can put mp3 files on your website so that they can be accessed by everyone. Audio is an increasingly popular online format. It’s not just visually impaired people that use it – many sighted people who want to access information ‘on-the-go’ listen too. And for documents for specific individuals – you just need to email them a link or send documents securely online.
Although you might be tempted to record some documents yourself, you need to consider the quality of audio you can produce. It isn’t good to have car horns beeping in the background, or a nasty hissing noise across your tracks. A commercial company will offer professional transcription using experienced recording specialists, and will produce high quality recordings, navigation, and transcription of visual information too, such as tables, graphs, images and diagrams.
More information about online audio can be found in our blog ‘Online audio: how to make your website information accessible’
Read our case studies about the audio work we’ve done for Arts Council England, Curo Housing Group and Norwich Theatre for more ideas about what A2i offers.
Large Print
Large Print is used by many people with different forms of sight loss and dyslexia. You can make it generic, or adapt it with colour and font-size combinations appropriate for individual requirements. You can put Large Print versions of your documents online, or email to individual customers upon request. Accessible PDF versions of Large Print are also a useful option for your website, to reach maximum readers. If your document contains more complex items such as forms, tables and diagrams you might be best approaching a commercial transcription company for help .
Go to our free Resource ‘How to produce Large Print that is accessible to as many people as possible’ for some tips on how to produce your own Large Print, You can also read our blog ‘How to convert documents into Large Print’ for details about the steps taken to make documents accessible.
Our case studies, featuring work completed for Girlguiding UK and The Postal Museum in London, amongst others, show the numerous Large Print options available from A2i.
Easy Read
Make your Easy Read documents accessible online with accessible and editable PDF’s for your website,. These can then easily be used by people with a learning disability and their families and carers. An Accessible PDF means one that has been adapted for people with sight loss so that it would be read aloud correctly by a screen reader, including descriptions of the images used. If your documents also contain forms you can make the Easy Read version editable, so it can be completed online. Easy Read online surveys and Easy Read videos are also available.
For more information about Easy Read, go to our blog ‘Easy Read – Top 10 FAQ’s’
See our Easy Read portfolio page for case studies and example Easy Read documents (including a leaflet for Sense), online surveys and videos.
BSL videos
Sign Language videos can be put onto your website, and you can add Sign Language or closed captions/subtitling for increased accessibility. It is important to use professional qualified British Sign Language interpreters who have experience signing for videos.
See A2i’s website for a sample video with subtitling.
For more information about any of the above formats, or a quote just get in touch with A2i’s friendly team at
Email: info@a2i.co.uk
Web: www.a2i.co.uk
Telephone: 01179 44 00 44
Or use our quick quote form
