The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is moving into its full operational rollout during 2016. The overarching message is that people with disabilities are at the centre of the system and have control over the services that they use and providers that they choose to deliver those services. For service providers it is a game-changer and one that many need help with managing.
At the NDIS conference that launched the operational rollout, Media Access Australia’s Director, Digital Accessibility, Dr Scott Hollier outlined the steps and approaches that service providers need to take. His session included the launch of an updated version of the Service Providers Accessibility Guide.
Dr Hollier identified two key questions that service providers need to address:
- How can I make sure that the information provided and communications to people with disabilities are accessible?
- How can I make sure that our staff and clients with disabilities can use their computers and mobile devices to receive that information?
“The key to this is ensuring that you have a digital accessibility strategy in place and then start implementing it. The Service Providers Accessibility Guide outlines how you can achieve that,” said Dr Hollier.
He also outlined five tips to ensure that service providers are ready for the full rollout of the NDIS:
- Provide staff with training relating to the use of assistive technologies such as a screen readers. Once staff have experienced how people with disabilities are likely to engage with their content, it makes it easier for them to prepare the content to work with accessibility tools and features.
- Make your website and apps WCAG 2.0 compliant. ICT professionals should focus on making sure that their information is compliant to the international standard so that assistive technologies chosen by people with disabilities work well in accessing online content. The Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility provides practical training in this area and the Access iQ website is full of technical information and guidance.
- Add styles to your documents and check them for accessibility. Word and PDF documents can be made accessible if appropriate styles are used and accessibility checks are run on the documents. Content staff can be trained in how to do this in a day. For more urgent or complex jobs, document remediation services can make your existing documents accessible.
- Caption videos on YouTube so that people who are Deaf or hearing impaired can access video content. Learn how to do it yourself and don’t rely on the poor quality auto-captions.
- Learn about the mainstream accessibility features in popular products. Windows, Mac and iOS devices such as iPads and Android devices all have great built-in accessibility features which assist people with disabilities in accessing service provider content.
Dr Hollier’s NDIS presentation, Accessibility Guidance for Service Providers, can downloaded via Media Access Australia’s SlideShare channel.