Disability Pride Month is celebrated every July, tracing back to the Americans with Disabilities Act signed in 1990. In this post, we look at the history behind the month, the meaning of the Disability Pride flag, and what it means for digital accessibility — including some practical checks you can make today.
Most accessibility barriers aren’t disabilities. They’re decisions. For Learning Disability Week, a look at what “do you see me” actually means in everyday content, design, and learner independence.
Most institutions jump straight to Universal Design for Learning — and wonder why it doesn’t stick. The truth is that UDL is the pinnacle of a five-level hierarchy, and without the four foundations beneath it, even the best inclusive design falls flat.
The Hierarchy of Effective Learning Content starts where learners actually are: Can they reach the content at all? Does it work with assistive technology? Can they read and understand it? Can they adapt it to their needs? Only once those foundations hold does UDL become possible — and powerful.
This post walks through each level, from availability and accessibility to readability, adaptability, and finally UDL, with practical steps for building content that works for every learner from the ground up.
Board now sends students a Moodle notification whenever someone comments on their post — keeping the conversation going without anyone having to check back manually. Available for Moodle 4.5 through 5.2, with no extra configuration needed.
Online training without a transcript is not fully accessible — it never was. When a session ends with no written record, it quietly excludes a significant proportion of learners: people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, those with auditory processing differences, ADHD, working memory difficulties, non-native speakers, and many others. Most of these needs are invisible to a facilitator; participants won’t announce them, they’ll simply get less from the session — or not attend at all. Transcripts aren’t a special accommodation. They’re part of how good training works.
Earlier this week, Brickfield Education Labs co-founder and CEO Gavin Henrick joined the expert panel at Empowering Teachers to Create Digital Content, the closing event of the TD3C project in Dublin. Here he shares his reflections on the day and his fuller thoughts on accessibility, copyright, and what it really means to put teachers at the centre of digital education.
Accessibility overlays promise a fast, low-cost path to compliance — but growing evidence from regulators, accessibility experts, and disability organisations shows they often fail to deliver. This article examines why overlays don’t fix underlying accessibility barriers, how they can interfere with assistive technologies, and why legal and regulatory bodies increasingly reject them as a compliance solution. More importantly, it outlines what genuine, sustainable digital accessibility actually requires.
Why ALL CAPS Text Creates Reading Barriers The research is clear: capitalising text doesn’t help readers — it hinders them… Read More »Why ALL CAPS Text Creates Reading Barriers
Animated text overlays are everywhere — words bouncing, flashing, and flying across our screens in sync with speech. They look like captions, but they aren’t. When text is burned into a video instead of provided as a proper caption file, viewers lose control, assistive technologies lose access, and accessibility quietly disappears. This article explains why captions are infrastructure, not decoration — and how creators can keep their videos engaging without excluding the people who rely on captions most.
Opening links in a new window or tab is rarely necessary and can create accessibility barriers for many users. For people using screen readers, magnification tools, or those unfamiliar with browser behaviour, unexpected new windows can disrupt navigation and cause confusion. This guidance explains why it is generally better to let links open in the same window, highlights what WCAG 2.2 recommends, and outlines the limited situations where opening a new window may be appropriate. It also provides practical tips for writing clearer, more descriptive links and improving overall accessibility.