Making Word documents accessible
Universal design is one of the phrases that stuck with me when I did a Masters module on accessibility in online learning. It struck a chord because I see in the physical day-to-day world, the problems that occur when something is designed or built and then access for wheelchairs is considered as an afterthought. That is when we (disabled people) become a frustration or an inconvenience. It is much easier to design and build something (a house, a shop, a piece of eLearning, even a Word document) that is accessible for all, if you think about access at the beginning. It would be transformational if everything that was ever designed was designed with all needs in mind. I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I hear that a piece of eLearning isn't AT (assistive technology) compliant and as a mitigation for this, the content is put into a Word document. In many cases, nobody thinks that the Word document isn't compliant either. And yet, it's really not difficult to make