Accessible formats

The importance of accessible formats

It is extremely important for equality, inclusion, personal security and independence that accessible format are easily and readily available to people who require them. 

In order to comply with the Equality Act 2010, it is essential that public, private and voluntary sector organisations are able to produce information, if requested, in alternative formats.

For example, if a visually impaired person’s bank account statements are sent to them in standard print, this would make it impossible or as at the very least unreasonably difficult for them to access that service. The bank should be able to provide statements in a format that they can access, which might be large print, audio or braille, depending on the person’s individual need.

Audio

Audio is a particularly important accessible format for many blind and visually impaired people who do not use braille. In addition, people with learning difficulties or dyslexia can often find it easier to listen to information rather than read it. Audio is a wide-spread accessible format and offers independence and speedy access to information in many situations.

Audio formats are an option that provide access to many written materials. Examples include audio books (available to download or receive on a USB stick) and talking newspaper services. Audio transcription of written materials – from bank statements and bills to entire documents and publications, is offered by transcription services such as the Scottish Braille Press.

Audio also enables blind and visually impaired people to access the digital world. Screen reader software such as Dolphin or JAWS converts text on a screen into audio. Synapptic software has voice recognition and audio functions in addition to colour contrast and magnification functions, allowing visually impaired people to navigate devices such as tablets and Smartphones using voice command and listening to the voiceover. They can write emails and texts with speech-to-text functions. There are also mobile apps that can quickly convert text to speech.

Audio description (AD) can make also make film, TV and theatre more accessible to people with a visual impairment. Audio described television programmes are available through digital televisions – either as a built-in option or a set-top box that connects to your television. An audio description service is currently offered for selected films in cinemas and in some theatres: narration for the film or performance, which fills gaps in the dialogue, is provided through personal headphones.

Tactile graphs, images, diagrams and maps

Tactile graphics have raised surfaces to convey non-textual information. Blind and visually impaired people can access the information they convey by feeling these raised surfaces.

A diagram can be adapted to be tactile. The aim would be to avoid clutter but retain essential information. Line thickness, space between features and clear labelling are important. It is often useful to use alphabetic labels and a key to reduce crowding.

A diagram can be made as usual using Word and the braille font. It is then printed onto ‘swell’ paper, this is put through a fuser – a heat machine – which causes the black ink to rise making the diagram tactile. In making graphs, the grid might be dotted to allow the graph line to be distinguished more easily. In a bar graph the bars might be unfilled to allow grid lines to be identified. Older students become skilled at interpreting diagrams but it can be confusing at first.