Is Your Training 508 Compliant? What You Need to Know about Training Accessibility

The CDC reports that 27% of Americans are living with a disability, from a visual or physical impairment to cognitive problems. Since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, millions of people with varying degrees of disabilities have experienced increased independence and greater access to goods and services.

According to the 2022 U.S. Census, 9.8 million Americans with disabilities were employed, the highest number — by more than 1.1 million — in over a decade. With increasing numbers of disabled Americans joining the workforce each year, it is clear organizations should strive for ADA-friendly design in online training programs to accommodate all employees.

Providing safety training online that is accessible to individuals with disabilities is a critical component of any online training program. Fortunately, it’s not very difficult to increase the accessibility of online courses for workers whose disability may affect their capacity to train online.

Accessibility Is the Law

Before you can begin understanding the need to offer accessible safety training, it is important to understand what exactly “disability” means. While many definitions of disability are somewhat narrow and often include a requirement for how long a disability has affected the person, the ADA uses much more inclusive terms.

The ADA defines a disability as “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities,” or a record of having such impairments in the past. Some disabilities are easy to identify, such as those requiring the use of a mobility device, while many others are considered invisible disabilities. This umbrella term encompasses those disabilities that are not immediately apparent and mostly applies to neurological issues, though some physical disabilities may classify as “hidden” as well.

Now let’s review a few key standards from the ADA, which applies to employers with 15 or more employees, including state and local governments:

• The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in the workforce and provides equal employment opportunity to people with disabilities.
• Employers are required to make reasonable modifications to policies, practices, and procedures where necessary to avoid discrimination, unless they can demonstrate that doing so would fundamentally alter the nature of the service, program, or activity being provided.
• Facilities with public accommodations must ensure that no individual with a disability is excluded, denied services, segregated, or treated differently than other users of the facility.

The ADA’s precursor, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, applies specifically to federal agencies and programs receiving federal financial assistance. The most-cited portion of the Rehabilitation Act is Section 508, which prohibits discrimination based on disability in programs conducted by federal agencies and requires electronic and information technology designed, developed, and delivered to be accessible to persons with disabilities.

However, because the Rehabilitation Act served as the model for the ADA, all businesses should evaluate their programs and processes to ensure they are disability friendly, no matter what employment category they fall under.

What to Look For in ADA-Friendly Content

When it comes to employee training, it is crucial that all training materials are interesting, usable, and engaging for people both with and without disabilities. The key to ADA-friendly training is not to overstimulate the senses, but to emphasize fundamental aspects of the training experience that will capture specific senses.

The principles of universal design can be used to enhance accessibility. Universal design is the idea that if we design products that can be used by all people without the need for adaptation or specialized design, we maximize benefits for all people and abilities. Here are some key areas where attention should be paid to create an inclusive learning experience.

Images

Section 508 of the ADA requires that all images have text descriptions describing the image. This can be accomplished through the alternative (alt) tag. Having an alt tag attached to an image informs people with visual impairments of what the image is through the interpretation of their screen reader. Simply providing an alt tag to an image provides a descriptive option for learning the information.

Along with keeping alt tags up to date, images should also be attractive and current. Dated images may confuse the employee and lower relevance of the training, resulting in a loss of interest and effectiveness. People who have learning disabilities and difficulty focusing for long periods of time will benefit from realistic, current imagery.

Video

You can use several techniques to increase the accessibility of video used in an online training program. To connect with employees with auditory impairments, closed captioning should always be available in online training. A printable version of the training course’s script can also be a great supplement for someone with auditory impairments, for an engaging read-along experience that also improves knowledge retention.

Audio

Quality audio is important for all training programs and can help provide consistent training for all employees. Because audio is a non-visual element, it is important to supplement all audio with text (just like you must supplement all text with audio). The reason for this is twofold.

First, if a worker has an auditory impairment, they may rely primarily on the screen’s text to receive the information contained in the training, and therefore the screen text must fully communicate the key points shared in the audio. Employees with visual impairments need audio that includes all key points presented through text in the training. It wouldn’t be fair to test them on the content otherwise, as the design of the training would include barriers to access other employees would not experience.

The second benefit of matching audio to text is that it appeals to two very different learning styles. Auditory learners learn best through listening, while visual learners learn best through reading. By providing audio and text that are consistent, the key messages are accessible to both the visually and the auditory impaired, as well as to both visual and auditory learning styles.

Text

There are more than 2.1 million Americans who are blind or have low vision who are employed. With screen readers and other devices, online training is a great tool for delivering training to the visually impaired.

A screen reader is an application used to interpret and read information on a desktop screen. These devices are incredibly beneficial to auditory learners or people with visual impairments. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires an option for users to select if they want to disable the screen reader. While it is an effective application, people should have the option to disable their screen reader.

The size, style, and organization of text are also important. Keeping the text layout uncluttered and consistent from page to page increases accessibility for employees with cognitive or learning disabilities.

Links

Links are an essential part of many online training courses because they provide users with external, dynamic information to supplement course content. However, some employees may be left confused by a link if it is labeled incorrectly. This can be overcome by making links descriptive. Instead of labeling the link as “Click Here,” title it with a description of the externally linked information. Users with cognitive disabilities also can benefit from having descriptive links because they allow them to recognize links as connections between both sets of information.

Color

When used effectively, color can greatly enhance an online training program. It’s best to use dark-colored text on a light-colored background. This increases the contrast between the text and the background while providing visually impaired individuals with enhanced accessibility to the information.

There are two ways to check to ensure the color used in the training is viewable to colorblind learners: (1) print out the training program in black or white or (2) view the training program on a black and white screen. Doing so will indicate whether the color is being used effectively.

Interactivity

Interactive elements are important to the success of online training courses. They help maintain employee interest and can be used to check for understanding and reinforce critical concepts throughout the course. However, it’s important that activities are structured so they are accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Activities that require employees to click on small buttons may be difficult for workers who lack fine motor control. Timed tests may be difficult for some workers with physical or cognitive disabilities.

Tying It All Together

Accessibility is a fascinating and thrilling challenge that instructional designers should be excited to strive to meet. Improving a product’s accessibility improves it for everyone, meaning you can provide training that can help more people do the things they want to do, safely.

Choosing a partner that has already researched and adapted to changing accessibility needs makes it easy when you need to implement a training solution. Discover how HSI has created fully accessible training courses that follow compliance laws and regulations in place today.