Welcome to the Redesigned NWACS Website!
A Little History
2015 was a pivotal year for NWACS. Kathy Smith was the NWACS President (and had been for decades). I was familiar enough with NWACS that I had been attending the annual conference for about 10 years. Kathy and I had worked together – even shared an office – for several years. During that time, I had gotten a tiny glimpse ‘behind the scenes’ of NWACS. And became good friends with Kathy. I am privileged to still call her a dear friend.
Back to the fall of 2015. The annual NWACS conference was approaching and Kathy started talking about how she thought it might be the last ‘hurrah’ for NWACS. The core group of women who had kept NWACS going for decades were all retired or nearing retirement. They were starting to feel more and more removed from the field of AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) – a field that was evolving at a mind boggling pace (and continues to!). There weren’t any younger AAC-enthusiasts approaching them with an interest in getting involved with the NWACS board. A couple of conversations during the lunch break during the conference that year (and conversations Kathy and I had) thankfully changed the fate of NWACS.
Three of us joining the board that fall was enough fresh energy to keep the legacy of NWACS alive. For my part, I agreed to “help with” the NWACS website. (Remembering the “help with” part of my offer makes me laugh now!) I had been telling Kathy that NWACS needed more of an online presence. At the time, the NWACS website had maybe three pages? And unfortunately, the board had lost access to be able to make changes, updates, and additions to it. I had known about NWACS for over 10 years (through word of mouth) and I had no clue there was a website! Let’s call that the NWACS Website version 1.0.
2016 saw me setting up a new NWACS website. With my limited website building knowledge, we went with an entry-level do-it-yourself website builder. There were drag-and-drop content sections – no coding required. It fit our needs at the time. Especially as a completely volunteer organization (with no background in website design or building). We’ll call this one the NWACS Website version 2.0. Over the 10 years since we launched version 2.0, the website has bloomed! It has become more than any of us envisioned. Definitely more than three pages.
As the website grew, we pushed the limits of what our entry-level website builder allowed. As well as the limits of my knowledge! Over the years, our target audience expanded – making it more important than ever to meet various accessibility needs so everyone could meaningfully access the content on our website.
Did you know there are Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)? These internationally recognized standards, developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), help ensure digital content is accessible to people with disabilities.
In the United States, several laws and regulations support digital accessibility. Section 508 applies to federal agencies and requires accessible technology. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) includes
- Title II (state and local government entities) and
- Title III (businesses and nonprofit organizations),
which courts have increasingly interpreted to include websites and digital services.
Many states also have their own protections, such as California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act. In Washington, state agencies must adhere to Washington State Digital Accessibility Policy (USER-01). At the government level, the current technical standard for website accessibility is WCAG 2.1 Level AA.
On to Version 3.0
Our website has grown from three pages to a library of over 350 – and growing! In 2024, we started the process of redesigning our website with the goal of making it more accessible. And it has been a process! It started with finding a website accessibility and design team to work with. Enter Simply Accessible Websites. Isla and her team have been amazing to work with!
I am not a website accessibility expert (although I have learned a lot through this project!). But I do know that true accessibility is “baked in” from the beginning (that’s where Isla, Rosalinda, and Nick came in!). It is not really something you can go back and “add in” later. It starts with the structure and programming. It means a more simple and clean design. True digital accessibility is intentional and woven through every step of the design and creation. There are things we can all do to help with digital accessibility though.
Let’s Get Accessible
Here are a few examples of actions we are taking to up our accessibility game.
Cognitive Accessibility
For several years now, we have aimed for all our content to be at a reading level of 9th grade or below. We are not always able to get there, but we try hard! With specialty topics like augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) and assistive technology (AT), it is easy for the language difficulty (and reading level) to quickly jump up.
We try to incorporate many of the ideas from One Idea Per Line: A Guide to Making Easy Read Resources from the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN).
Donnie TC Denome presented on plain language for AAC at AAC in the Cloud in 2021, which is also a helpful resource. Watch Plain Language for AAC – What It Is and Why It Matters on YouTube.
Other helpful tools we use include:
- Hemingway Editor: we use the free version to determine reading level and to identify hard to read sentences
- Rewordify: this tool can be helpful when trying to rewrite text to bring the reading level down; it is especially helpful in identifying hard to understand words
Vision Accessibility
There are many aspects to visual accessibility. There is the visual of the website itself, but also visual accessibility of all images, graphics, etc.
Keep things visually simplified and clean. This helps support visual processing of everything on the screen.
Screen reader accessibility. Screen readers provide a way to access websites and documents (and other computer actions) without relying on vision. The screen reader needs all of the content presented in a way it can correctly interpret and in a logical order.
Using headings appropriately provides a way for the screen reader user to scan the content sections without the screen reader having to read every word of the page. This allows the person to find something specific or to get an overview before deciding to read the entire thing. Sighted people scan pages all the time without even thinking about it. Proper headings allow screen reader users to have an equal experience.
Alt-text is critical to include for images or graphics. If it is decorative (doesn’t add anything to the content), then no alt-text is needed. But everything else needs a visual description for screen readers.
Check for visual contrast. Visual contrast is particularly important for people with low-vision. This applies to the color of the text directly on the website pages, as well as text in images and graphics. A helpful tool we use to check color contrast levels is the WebAIM Contrast Checker.
Use italics and ALL CAPS sparingly. Italics, and more than a few words in capital letters, can be difficult to read.
Other Website Accessibility Actions
Keep flow in mind. When a web page scales for mobile devices, the content may shift around (especially when there are two or more columns of content). It needs to stay in a logical flow!
Contextual links: links are most useful when they also make sense out of context. Avoid generic link phrases like “here” or “read more” (especially without more context). For example, “visit the ISAAC website” instead of “learn more here.”
Images should not be links. It can make it difficult for screen readers to interpret.
Links should not open in a new window. This can be confusing and make it harder for people to understand where they are at, and how to get back to where they were.
Only links are underlined. If other text is underlined (e.g., for emphasis) it becomes confusing as to what is a link and what isn’t, and leads to increased cognitive load.
PDF remediation: PDFs need to be remediated to make them accessible. It involves checking/adding tags for structure, establishing reading order, providing needed alt text for images, etc. It means going deep in the metadata.
Why NWACS Committed to Redesigning Our Website
We want our digital spaces to embody the inclusive values at the heart of NWACS. Accessibility is foundational to participation, learning, and community.
NWACS is committed to ensuring digital accessibility for people of all abilities.
It is an ongoing effort. Our website is a work in progress. We will continue to listen, learn, and improve.
Share your comments or questions.