Using overlaying assistive technology alone is not the answer to accessibility. Assistive technologies can be fantastic tools for end users but embedding them in your site will not make your website compliant. These technologies are additive, not the solution.
To have an accessible site, it must be built with accessible code such as ARIA labels, the structure must be semantically correct, plus much more. The largest part of ensuring a site is accessible is the content used on the site. There are a whole host of things that contribute to this that our training addresses. Here are some examples:
- A link like “find out more” for a Headteacher welcome link on the homepage is not accessible. It should state the purpose of the link. A best practice example is “Read our Headteacher welcome”.
- Another common mistake is having more than one page in the navigation that has the same name. For example, an “About us” navigation heading that contains a page also called “About us” - screen readers cannot understand this.
- Using the correct heading tags in content is important so the end user can determine the structural order of the content.
The examples above are not the full list, but this shows why overlaying assistive technology is not the solution. It starts with inclusive design choices, supported by optimising front-end code and it all comes together when your school adds and formats your content in an accessible way.
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