Making the world of work more accessible

by Leandro Camilo, Denise Wood and Lisette Arocha

Last year for Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), I wrote an article discussing PwC’s global digital accessibility journey along with perspectives of what digital accessibility means for our people. Since my appointment as PwC’s Global Disability Inclusion Leader, I have been on a personal learning journey and I firmly believe that digital accessibility and inclusion are something everybody should be thinking and talking about. So for this year’s GAAD, we’re exploring the role each and every one of us can play to make the world of work and how we communicate more digitally accessible for all.

To do this, I’ve asked two of PwC’s leading accessibility specialists - Denise Wood and Lisette Arocha - to provide some actionable, practical recommendations for how we can all enhance digital accessibility through our day-to-day work. You’ll be surprised by how some small tweaks to how you work and communicate can have such a powerful impact on accessibility and inclusion.

1. Embrace visual descriptions

You can reinforce a culture of inclusion by providing a visual description of yourself and your background during meeting introductions. Visual descriptions are also an opportunity for the speaker to introduce points about themselves, which can include physical characteristics and how they identify (for example race and gender amongst many other aspects of themselves).

Visual descriptions help include people who are blind or have low vision, as well as those participating in a meeting without a screen, for example, people driving. When a presenter or meeting participant chooses to offer a visual description of themselves, it not only paints a picture for the audience, but also offers an additional way to connect, relate, and understand their perspectives. 

Here’s examples of how we would visually describe ourselves:

My name is Lisette Arocha and I go by she/her. I'm a latina woman in my mid forties with dark brown hair and red lipstick. I'm sitting in my home office in Miami.

My name is Denise Wood, my pro nouns are she/her/hers, I am a white woman with shoulder length light brown highlighted hair, wearing a blue jumper, sitting in a PwC office with my background blurred.

2. Make alt text part of your everyday

Here’s something you may not be aware of: alternative text (or “alt text”) can be used to describe all visual items such as images, charts, tables, banners or logos on websites, apps, social media and within the documents that we produce. Without it, people who use screen readers miss out on visual content.

3. Be intentional with your hashtags

With over five billion active users globally, social media platforms have become powerful tools for communication and commerce. One of the easiest ways to make social media more accessible is to amend the style of hashtag you use or proper grammar and capitalization, which makes them easier to read.

Let’s take an example, to make #globalaccessibilityawarenessday more accessible write it as as #GlobalAccessibilityAwarenessDay.

With the letters of all words running together, the hashtag typically can’t be read out by a screen reader. It’ll also be difficult to read for people with dyslexia and people for whom their first language is not the same as the hashtag. Simply capitalising the first letters of each word makes the text of a hashtag much easier to read.

4. Consider colour contrast

How often have you colour-coded or applied a RAG (Red, Amber, Green traffic light system) in your work? Have you considered whether people who have colour vision deficiencies, such as red/green colour blindness can interpret the data?

Did you know colour blindness affects 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women globally? So, to be accessible, it’s best to avoid conveying meaning solely through colours – for example, by adding text labels or shapes to colour-coded charts. 

It’s also wise to make sure that specific colours – such as red and green – don’t appear next to each other, because they’re harder to distinguish. Considerate use of colour can make a big difference.

5. Make the right link with hyperlinks

When adding hyperlinks, use descriptive text that provides context about the destination URL. Avoid using generic phrases like “click here” or “read more”. This helps people using screen readers understand which page they are being prompted to visit.

What not to do: To learn more about PwC’s Disability Inclusion strategy click here. 

What to do: Learn more about PwC’s Disability Inclusion strategy.

6. Think about the accessibility of what you create

When creating documents, reports, or emails organise content with headings so it is structured. This benefits everyone by making the content easier to navigate, but particularly those using screen readers or who prefer to skim content quickly. 

Lots of the technology products we work with today have inbuilt accessibility checkers. Leverage them to evaluate the accessibility of the documents and presentations you create so that you can learn and identify potential issues and make necessary reactive improvements and proactive changes to how you work going forward.

7. Make videos that are accessible for all

Next time you’re involved in a video creation project, ask for closed captions, transcripts and audio description to be included as a non-negotiable. Without these, people with hearing and visual impairments, along with potentially many others, will be unable to fully absorb the content or even access it at all. 

Consider also publishing the content in an alternative format – such as a podcast or a downloadable PDF – to give people a different option for consuming the information.

8. Focus on accessible and inclusive meetings

In meetings, it’s worthwhile taking a moment to think about your audience, recognising that people don’t all experience the world in the same way. Digital accessibility and broader inclusion can be dramatically improved through small steps. 

For example, not making an assumption that everyone can see the screen or slides clearly if you’re sharing information that way. Where possible, share presentations or decks ahead of a meeting. This benefits people with visual impairments, those who are neurodivergent and may want time to focus on the slides prior to the meeting, as well as anyone joining a meeting via their phone. But it can also benefit everyone and lead to more productive conversations generally. 

When sharing key information, or a code or number that attendees may need to use, in addition to displaying it on the screen, post it in the meeting chat and say it out loud. This makes sure everyone has an opportunity to access and document it. 

Schedule meetings using meeting software that allows the use of captions. This goes beyond helping those with hearing impairments, to supporting many neurodiverse conditions and people for whom the spoken language is not their first language.

9. Large virtual events

Are you involved in a big company webcast or virtual event, as an organiser, producer, panellist, or sponsor? Be an advocate for accessibility. Make sure accessible registration is available, and consider featuring relevant sign-language specialists and providing real-time human-generated captioning so the content is fully accessible and inclusive. AI-generated captions work too, and as AI develops and becomes stronger this will also become a more affordable and attainable means of providing intime captioning.  

In general, recognise that disabilities can be visible or non-visible. While it might not be immediately clear or even brought to your attention that an accessibility adjustment is required for an event attendee, this does not mean one is not needed. Play your part in creating a culture where it’s normal to ask participants about accessibility needs in advance of events and meetings.

10. Be a Disability Inclusion ally by advocating for accessibility

There are lots of ways you might find opportunities to raise your voice to advocate for accessibility. 

For example, when working with a web designer, a software engineer, a creative designer, or an event organiser, you can put digital accessibility and inclusion on the agenda, and if you face accessibility issues when using digital products, websites, or reading communications we encourage you to raise awareness of them.

If you know someone with a disability, talk to them to learn more about how they can be more empowered in this digital world. Consider asking them how they prefer to work, or if they’ve faced any accessibility-related barriers recently and if there is anything you can do to help.

Share this article with your network to raise broader awareness. Collective action can drive meaningful change. If everyone learns just one thing about improving digital accessibility, and then passes on that knowledge, progress will accelerate exponentially.

If you can put just two or three of the tips in this blog into action through how you work and communicate, you’ll be playing your part in creating a more accessible world. And you’ll be on your way to becoming an ally and advocate for disability inclusion and accessibility.

What step will you take to become a Disability Inclusion ally?

Learn more about PwC’s Global Disability Inclusion strategy.