Local health departments provide a lot of our information and services to community members through our websites and mobile applications. When these channels don’t follow accessibility best practices, they create barriers for everyone, not just people living with disabilities.
Accessibility is important for three reasons:
- It’s the law. In 2024, the Federal Register published the Department of Justice’s final rule updating its regulations for Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The final rule has specific requirements about how to ensure that web content and mobile applications are accessible to people with disabilities.
- It’s better for the people. Websites and applications that are accessible, don’t just improve experiences for people living with disabilities; they improve the online experience for everyone.
- It’s better for us. As public health professionals, we have the moral obligation to promote inclusion. By creating accessible tools, we help fulfill that obligation. Accessible websites and applications are also prioritized by search engines. So, by committing to accessibility, we improve our local health departments’ effectiveness to reach audiences in our jurisdictions.
There are three ways we can make our websites and mobile applications more accessible today:
- Use titles and headers. Assign page titles and include headings and sub-headings to our content. Don’t skip heading levels or go out of sequence.
- Write alt text. Alternative text (alt text) is required for all visuals, like images, graphs, and charts. Use alt text to describe the visual and provide a valuable experience for someone who may have limited vision. If a visual is solely decorative, applications have alt text tags for that.
- Create captions and transcripts. Write captions and transcripts for all audio and video content. Many applications, like YouTube and social media channels, have tools that create these automatically for us. Review and edit captions and transcripts for accuracy.
Below are additional accessibility tools:
The international Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) were created to meet the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments around the world. These guidelines are the gold standard for accessibility. If a public health communicator is new to digital accessibility, the guidelines can be very overwhelming. Fortunately, local governments, universities, and technology organizations have created one-pagers and guides, and compiled tools that can help. Below are a few of those resources:
- Checklist and One-Pager
- Digital Accessibility Quick Tips by Michigan State University
- Website Accessibility Checklist by HubSpot
- Guides
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 by WCAG
- Digital Accessibility Guide by NYC Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities
- Accessible Web Design Guide by U.S. General Services Administration, Section 508
- Basic Accessibility by Michigan State University
- Make Your Content 100% Compliant by HubSpot
- The Public Health Communicators Guide to Creating Accessible Social Media by the Public Health Communications Collaborative
- Accessibility Tools
- Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools List by WCAG
- Content Editor by Hemingway
- 22 Web Accessibility Testing Tools by HubSpot
Content will continue to be created and posted on digital platforms, like websites and applications, for years to come. Understanding and following accessibility guidelines will not just fulfill legal requirements but will help local health departments better serve communities now and in the future.
Note: This piece is authored by Matt Giljahn, Communications Coordinator at the Dakota County Public Health (MN) and member of the NACCHO Public Health Communications Workgroup. Many thanks to members of the 2024/2025 NACCHO Public Health Communications Workgroup for gathering the resources featured in this blog post.
