If a customer were visiting you in your store and needed assistance with something, most likely they would ask. If a customer or potential customer is visiting your website and they can't do or find something because it isn't accessible, what are they going to do?

Microsoft Word is one of the most common ways to create text documents. Thankfully, Word has many built-in features to help make documents accessible. However, this doesn't mean a Word document is automatically accessible — to make a document fully accessible, you need to follow a few key principles.

Here are seven guidelines to make Microsoft Word documents accessible to people with disabilities.

One of the great things about digital accessibility is how many free resources, guides, checkers, and other tools you can start using today. Here are some of the free offerings we have — available to everyone, right now.

Accessibility testing on mobile devices is critical, yet so often organizations focus only on desktop optimization. There are at least three main reasons this oversight can be a costly mistake:

1. The user, not the company, decides how they'll access the site or app.
2. Apps and mobile websites are different from desktop sites.
3. Apps and mobile websites are not automatically accessible because of accessibility features of iOS and Android devices.

Pinterest, one of the most visual social media platforms, is also considered pretty accessible by many. Pinterest features elements such as alt text, a balanced color palette, and advanced screen reader capabilities, making the platform accessible by people who are blind or have visual or other disabilities.

Here is how to take advantage of the accessibility features in place and how to create more accessible Pinterest content yourself.

Project managers have a level of responsibility for and eyes into all the moving parts of a project. If those projects include websites, apps, or other digital tools, managing accessibility is also one of those responsibilities.

Here are 15 things project managers should know about accessibility (hint: #1 is that you are critical to the process).

May 30 is World MS Day, created to increase awareness, solidarity, and hope for those affected by multiple sclerosis. The campaign for 2019 is “My Invisible MS” and the theme is Visibility, according to the World MS Day website.

The special goal of this year’s theme is to challenge common misconceptions and bring awareness to the invisible symptoms of MS and the impacts of those unseen symptoms on people’s everyday lives.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are often called the most accepted and universal standards for web accessibility — but how widespread is WCAG really?

For some people with various kinds of disabilities, standard computing technologies such as keyboards, monitors, and computer mice can be difficult or impossible to operate and to use to navigate the digital world. Fortunately, there are alternative methods that can help, known as assistive technologies, for using a computer or browsing the web. While the term “assistive technology” can apply to any device used to make tasks possible or easier ―  such as wheelchairs and hearing aids ― this article will discuss only those assistive technologies used to supplement or replace computing devices.

Having people with disabilities visible and present in the community, making decisions, and being valued has the transformational power to impact attitudes toward inclusion. Being inclusive is important to an organization’s success in order to enact positive social change that includes all members of their community.

“Accessible travel” is the concept that all people — including people with vision, hearing, mobility, and cognitive impairments — should be able to do what they want to do and go where they want to go without facing unnecessary barriers, physical or digital, that prevent them from enjoying their travel and tourism experiences to the fullest capacity possible.

May 16, 2019 marks the eighth Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). To help spread awareness of the importance of accessible digital and web experiences for all, we're highlighting 50 facts. The time for accessibility is now.

In the digital realm, the terms accessibility, usability, and inclusion often overlap, which can lead to these terms being confused. It’s not surprising to find the boundaries between these three concepts blurred because they can inform and improve one another — where lines can be drawn can be more a matter of opinion and interpretation is relative.

Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground, is releasing a feature-length documentary telling the story of those who attended a summer camp for teenagers with disabilities in the late 1960s and early 1970s. "Crip Camp" is part of Higher Ground's first phase of releases in their partnership with Netflix.

Less than 10% of blind students today are Braille readers, despite the common misconception that everyone who is blind knows Braille. To combat the Braille literacy crisis, Lego has put the recommendations of two charities into action and is testing the concept of Lego Braille Bricks.

Braille Bricks will aim to help children who are blind or have visual impairments learn Braille while having fun. The Lego Foundation and Lego Group made the announcement on April 24 at the Sustainable Brands Conference in Paris.

This month, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) turned 20 years old. WCAG version 1.0 was published on May 5, 1999 and was a total game-changer for web accessibility. Today, WCAG version 2.1 is cemented as the gold standard in accessibility. So, how did we get here?

When building a website, many designers and developers adhere to the principle of keeping everything as simple as possible, only as complex as it needs to be. This is usually a good practice for web design itself — but what about the text on your web pages?

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 6.6 million people in the U.S. have a cognitive disability that affects their memory, concentration, or decision-making. Making the language of your website more accessible is a valuable step in improving the experience for people with disabilities.

National Life Insurance Day is observed every year on May 2, the anniversary of life insurance becoming available in the United States. This year, let's take the celebration a step further by committing to make life insurance websites and tools accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities.

The concepts that govern web accessibility have been around for a few decades, but in the past few years accessibility has started to pick up steam in public consciousness. So, why now is web accessibility becoming so popular? Here are eight reasons.

Much has been written and discussed about the accessibility of digital materials used in education, and as the concepts of web accessibility become more-commonly understood and applied, there should be more movement in that space in the not-so-distant future. Most people understand why it's critical for a student's success that they have access to the information and materials they need when they need them. What happens, though, when it isn't the student that faces accessibility barriers, but the parent or parents?

It can be tricky to keep track of rapid changes in accessibility perception, laws, and lawsuits, and to understand which laws apply to certain websites. So, do state and local government websites have to be accessible?

Colors are an essential feature of web design and how they're used is a core consideration of a website's or app's accessibility. A term you may have heard is "color contrast," but if you aren't quite sure what that means, we have you covered.

For companies in the retail industry, they should make sure to especially consider whether:

• Their online presence is tied to a physical location.
• Their e-commerce functions are accessible to people with disabilities.
• They are maximizing SEO and website traffic through accessibility.
• Their emails, social media, and landing pages are also accessible.
• They are reaching every customer they could or excluding people because of the inaccessibility of their website or app.

Some people think that creating an accessible website limits design and creativity; however, prioritizing accessibility can inspire beautiful and creative site design. Using color and images thoughtfully, for example, can make your site stand out. Here are 4 tips for creative site design with accessibility in mind.

More than ever, companies are striving to innovate workforce and culture. Companies that aim to be diverse and inclusive of people with disabilities take accessibility seriously, and also recognize that accessibility is a civil right.