Accessible communications

Accessible communications means designing information that's easier for everyone to use.

Millions of people with visual impairments, learning impairments and cognitive impairments are all directly affected by inaccessible communications.

However, the whole population is shown to benefit from more attention to accessibility and clarity of wording.

• 32% of disabled people feel that companies don't take impairments into account when producing their product packaging and marketing materials.
• Only just over half the UK hotels surveyed in 2006 (53%) said that they were able to provide restaurant or room service menus in Braille or large print.
• For people with a learning disability, government departments like benefits or tax (60%), followed by banks (53%) then utility companies (36%) regularly send documents that are hard to understand.
• Over half of people with a learning disability (55%) said they or someone they knew had missed appointments or lost out financially because of unclear documents. This applied to nearly a quarter of the general population (24%).
• 70% of all consumers would feel more positive about a company or its products if it showed greater consideration for disabled needs in its marketing and product information.