Starting Your Digital Accessibility Journey: Social Media, Web, and Documents

As a professional communicator, you work hard to craft messages that connect with audiences around the world. According to the World Health Organization’s World Health Report on Disability, about 15 per cent of the world’s population lives with some form of disability, or about one billion people worldwide. The issue with accessibility being an afterthought is that most regions worldwide, like North America, Europe, and Asia, have accessibility legislation in place, where it’s the law to make your content accessible. If your documents, website, and social media content aren’t accessible, you’re telling disabled people they don’t matter, and potentially, not abiding by your country’s legislation. But where do you even begin? When it comes to accessibility, it’s progress over perfection. In this interactive session, we’re going to show how you can create accessible social media and web content and provide you with the basics of accessible document strategies. Communication can deepen connections and boast inclusion, diversity, and equality while being equitable, but only when the content is accessible to everyone.

Matisse Hamel-Nelis

Matisse Hamel-Nelis is VP of Communications for AbleDocs, and professor within Durham College’s PR & Strategic Communications program. She is also the Vice President, Communications, Marketing & Digital Media for IABC/Toronto. An international award-winner, she is best described as a strategic, forward-thinking communicator focused on goal-oriented social PR with accessibility at the fore. She has designations through the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) as a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC) and Accessible Documents Specialist (ADS).

 

Kelly Thibodeau

Kelly is a consultant, trainer and speaker and the founder of Squarely Social, an online content strategy consultancy based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She’s been involved in web content accessibility since 2007 and her company received the inaugural 2022 Manitoba Accessibility Fund Grant. Kelly has been making online marketing make sense for organizations, non-profits, and industry groups for over 25 years. She believes that digital experiences are social, and that including people of all types and abilities is an important part of that conversation. Kelly’s been on LinkedIn since 2006 and has had too many browser tabs open ever since.