Awareness Raising – Accessibility Glossary
Awareness-raising includes measures designed to raise awareness of the importance of accessibility and inclusion.
The main aim is to break down prejudices, promote empathy and impart knowledge about the life situations of people with disabilities.
Awareness-raising measures can be aimed at public authorities, companies, educational institutions and the general public. They include, among other things
- Education and information campaigns
- Training on the topic of disability and inclusion
- Specialist events, lectures and workshops
- Use of accessible and inclusive language
These activities help to break down not only visible but also invisible barriers, such as mindsets, attitudes or ignorance.
They are essential for the successful implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD) and national laws such as the BGG.
Awareness raising begins with knowledge: many barriers do not arise from intent but because those involved do not know them. Anyone who has once experienced how a screen reader reads out a badly built page, or what navigating without a mouse feels like, designs differently. Short workshops or self-tests are therefore particularly effective.
It is important to include all roles: design learns about contrast and focus states, editorial teams about headings, alternative texts and understandable language, development about semantics and keyboard operation. Complement training with checklists that are quickly at hand in everyday work.
Managers belong in this too. When accessibility appears in goals, budgets and acceptance criteria, it becomes a fixed quantity rather than an extra topic. Plan recurring refreshers so that the knowledge stays in the team and new colleagues pick it up quickly.
Practical exercises in everyday work are effective too. Let team members complete a task on your website using only the keyboard or a screen reader and collect the experiences. These short self-experiments often create more understanding than long presentations because they make problems directly tangible. Record the results in a shared list and link them to concrete improvements in the next sprint. Repeat the exercises at regular intervals so that you can see progress and bring new employees on board from the start.
In short: Raising Awareness for Digital Accessibility: Why It Matters.
