By Louise Gibson – LGcomms Executive Committee and Social Media, Design and Advertising Team Manager, Sheffield City Council.
I’ll start this blog off by saying it’s long! I make no apologies about that, this is a subject I am deeply passionate about because I’ve been personally affected by exclusion and inaccessibility. I’m deaf and I grew up in a deaf household on a council estate in north Wales,
I’ve experienced ableism, sexism, ageism and exclusion because of my nationality and social background. Those are things that lots of you will, unfortunately, be able to relate to.
I suspect there is no one reading this who hasn’t also experienced some form of bias, exclusion or a barrier to accessibility at some point.
I’ve had conversations, even debates, with people in the past about whether communications should be accessible. Arguments that doing this makes more work or is not needed. To these I say it’s not more work – it’s working differently and it is definitely needed – see below for why!
If you’re a public sector communicator the chances are that you work in this sector because you want to help people You are ethically minded and want to develop communications which make a difference. Taking some of the tips in this blog and applying them will immediately help you to do that.
I have the privilege of working with a team and wider network of communication professionals who are amazing. Public sector communicators are under ever-increasing pressure to do more, often with fewer resources and less time.
It doesn’t matter how long you have worked in communications, decades or days, you will need to continuously develop your skills and knowledge to communicate effectively. Never has that been more important than in public sector communication accessibility and inclusion.
This blog is designed to give you some tips you can easily start using in your communications to make them more accessible and inclusive for everyone. I promise, including these as part of your communications is easy especially if you take a step-by-step approach rather than trying to do it all at once. Aim for progress not perfection!
Why accessibility and inclusion is crucial in public sector communications
One of the first things I was taught about communication is that it is only effective if the message is both received and understood. Without audience understanding communication is merely broadcasting. Social media has enabled rapid effective communication, opportunities for organisations and audiences to exchange information, news, ideas and emotions.
So where does accessibility and inclusion fit into effective communications?
Accessible communications are important because they ensure everyone, regardless of their abilities, can access and understand information, promoting inclusivity and preventing exclusion of people, allowing them to fully participate in society and engage with services without barriers. This includes providing information in ways which cater to diverse needs and learning styles.
At a fundamental level if our communications are not accessible or inclusive it is unlikely they will be very effective. Public sector organisations have some of the widest audience groups, essentially, we need to communicate effectively with every person, so understanding accessibility requirements is key.
Legal requirements for public sector bodies
Some organisations might be resistant to changing their approach to accessibility and inclusion in communications so there is some useful information here to help progress that.
Public sector bodies have some additional legislative requirements around accessible communication we need to adhere to which includes:
- WCAG 2.2 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) This relates to websites and apps but has excellent guidelines which can be applied to wider communication channels. The Gov.uk WCAG 2.2 website also has good guidance on the standards.
- The Equality Act places responsibility on public sector bodies to ensure communications are accessible. The Government Communication Service has useful guidance on this.
Both of the above pieces of legislation relate to disabled people accessing information and communications. Effective communication needs to consider disability, protected characteristics and other things which may create a barrier within our communications. That could include cultural differences across age groups or ethnicities, languages, literacy levels, neurodiversity and so on.
The data evidence
Alongside the legislative requirements there is a raft of data to convince any naysayers about the need to improve practice in this area. I would recommend starting with Census data which you can drill down to local level – or any trusted local data you might have access to. Public Health and other data your organisation might hold can be a treasure trove of evidence to further your argument, as well as your understanding of your local audience needs.
Some key statistics to get you started:
- 17.8% population in England/Wales is disabled– Census 2021
- 268,500 people in England registered blind– NHS data. Royal National Institute for the Blind estimates 2 million+ are living with sight loss in UK
- 3 million people have a form of colour blindness – Colour Blind Awareness UK estimate
- Approximately 6.8 million (or 1 in 10) are dyslexic – British Dyslexia Association
- 1.2 million+ households in England/Wales without Welsh/English as first language – Census Data
- 13.6 million people neurodiverse (or estimated 1 in 7) with increasing numbers of diagnosis – Local Government Association
- 1 in 7 adults have average literacy age of 9-11 years – Skills for Life Survey
- 18.3% population not white British – Census 2021
- 10.6% population identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, asexual or queer – Census 2021
- 262,000 people identify as a different gender than that assigned at birth – Census 2021
Take a look at how these figures correlate to your own local picture. Do you have a lot of households where English or Welsh is not the first language? Consider what you might need to do to make your communications to them more accessible.
If you are working in local elections where photo identification is needed how might that affect your local population and your communications? In Sheffield, for example, we ensured that privacy booths to show identification in polling stations were well communicated, sensitively to trans people and those needing to remove face coverings who may otherwise have felt excluded.
Some easy tips to get you started
There are lots of ways to make your communications more accessible and inclusive. Back in 2021 @McgarrDana on Twitter tweeted:
“Accessibility isn’t more work, you were just cutting corners before. The work was incomplete”.
I agree with the principle that inaccessible communications is incomplete but not the sentiment. Most people creating inaccessible or inclusive communications do so because they simply don’t know what they don’t know! There is a clear desire to improve in this are so here are some ideas.
I would recommend that you take on one or two of these at a time until you are doing them as habit and then add in more – remember, you are aiming for progress not perfection.
Emojis
Love them or hate them they are used a lot. They can present some barriers to inclusion though. Generationally there are differences in interpretation of some emojis, even the relatively benign thumbs up emoji was widely criticised by some Gen Z TikTokers in 2024 as they interpreted it as a slur akin to giving the finger!
For some neuro diverse people, they can present challenges in understanding and tone too.
For people using screen readers they can be very challenging – take a look at this YouTube video demonstrating this, you may never use an emoji again!
- Avoid using emojis within the main part of your social media posts, or as bullet points
- If you have to use them add them at the end of the post
Hashtags
- Use Camel Case or Pascal Case – essentially a capital letter at the start of each word #CamelCase
- Capitalising the start of each word means that words are easier for all to read – important in a fast-scrolling social media news feed. Crucially they are also differentiated by screen readers and so read out correctly. You can test this yourself in the Read Aloud Feature in Word.
- Use hashtags at the end of posts rather than in the middle which can disrupt the flow for people who are dyslexic or have lower literacy levels.
Plain language
Public sector is often full of jargon and technical language. One of the most effective things we can do as communicators is to translate this into plain language.
This is helpful for:
- Those using translation services on their devices – plain language is more likely to be translated accurately
- People with lower literacy levels
- Everyone! Plain language helps make all information more relatable and accessible
Use a literacy checker – there are lots of them free, I like The First Word’s readability checker.
Fonts and text
Use sans serif fonts – those without the twirls or lips at the edges of letters. Avoid writing in all capitals. Both are harder for people with dyslexia or lower reading attainment to read, and all capitals is harder in general for people to read.
Links
QR codes are back with a vengeance! Link shorteners are also used widely. Consider how transparent these are in terms of showing where they take people (also that third party sites which enable these may not be secure and links can be hijacked). Consider if your audience would all know how to use a QR code.
For transparency and to build trust:
- If using a QR code use include the full url somewhere too (QR codes on digital channels are not very user friendly)
- Avoid link shorteners if possible
- For hyperlinked text ensure you are using a descriptive link which explains where the link takes you, e.g. Visit UC Tech News Descriptive link page rather than for more information click here.
Links in social media comments – this came up in the accessibility webinar in March 2025. Some organisations have started putting links in comments of posts rather than the main body to ‘game the algorithms’ which don’t like external links.
Consider that doing this makes your post less accessible for people.
Colours
WCAG 2.2 standards set out minimum colour contrast for websites and apps. These can be applied to any product you create where you have text against a background to ensure good visibility and legibility.
There are lots of colour contrast sites free to use, I recommend Contrast Checker which allows you to input colour codes or upload an image to check colour contrast against WCAG standards.
Alt Text
Alternative text or alt text is an image description which is read by adaptive technology like screen readers. Good alt text helps provide visually impaired people with a more equitable and inclusive experience.
Most social platforms have alt text built in for images and gifs. If that isn’t available please do include an image description in the body of the post.
You have an image to describe, consider if you were on the phone to someone, how would you describe it?
Alt text:
- Include the key visual elements including any humour or sentiment you wish to evoke
- You don’t need to say picture of…
- Don’t use alt text for image credits or anything other than an image description
- Keep people descriptions neutral – avoid genders or race/ethnicity unless it’s absolutely essential and you have confirmation from those in the image to do so
Idioms and colloquial language
We have used colloquial language in Sheffield in the past. A litter campaign with images from a local artist included sayings like ‘purrit int bin’. This was well received by most but there are some issues here which inadvertently created accessibility barriers.
If you use colloquial language consider, will this translate to those not from the area or whose first language is not English/Welsh?
Will it create barriers for those with lower reading attainment or dyslexia?
Does it play on outdated cultural stereotypes?
Idioms can be challenging to some for the reasons above. If you are in an area with a population not originally from the UK or from outside your local area consider whether idioms will translate well. Imagine running the phrases, ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’ or ‘a wild goose chase’ through a translator and the confusion. Idioms can also present challenges for some people with neurodiversity.
Your next steps
The information above is just one small step into being more accessible and inclusive in communications. There are lots of resources available in accessibility and communications and other tips and things to consider.
I recommend making some small changes to your digital communications above and give yourself time for this to embed and become habit.
Resources and Training
Whilst accessibility and inclusion is not entirely about disabled audiences, that is a key part to getting this right. Training delivered by people with lived experiences of accessibility and inclusion barriers is always recommended.
- Disabled by Society – resources and training on accessibility
- AbilityNet – Digital accessibility training and resources
- Government Communications Service Accessible Communications Resources
- Local Government Association – Accessible Social Media
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines