At the end of last year tooltester conducted a study which looked at 200 of the most popular websites across the globe and ranked them on their accessibility. There was a mixed bag of results. H&M was the most accessible site with just 0.38% of the site begin inaccessible. Amazon came in second with just 0.72% of their site showing as inaccessible. At the other end of the scale was ASOS with almost a quarter (21%) of their site being inaccessible. ASOS responded to the report by saying:

“We want everyone to be able to confidently shop at ASOS. We take issues of accessibility incredibly seriously and regularly conduct full audits of our websites and apps to ensure we account for everyone’s unique needs and experiences.

“Since our last audit, we have made a number of changes, including adding alternative text to images, sound and captions on product videos and improved adaptability for keyboard-only users.

“However, we know there are always ways we can do better so we will review the report in detail and assess any further improvements to ensure the ASOS experience remains as inclusive as possible.”

Studies like this are important as not only does it alert companies to their accessibility errors but it also enables them to see what is being done by companies succeeding in accessibility thus supporting them on making their website as accessible as possible. This study prompted ASOS to put accessibility in the forefront of their long-term development plan, not just for one day.

While I was researching this blog I came across a handy tool which gives you an insight into how many people who visit your website may have a disability, just by putting in the number of visitors your website has. For example, if a website has 1,000 visitors 160 of those visitors could be deaf or hard of hearing, 90 could be dyslexic and 10 could be autistic. Find out the stats of your website by clicking here.

However, if you have a disability there can be barriers in place that prevent you from exercising when and/or as often as you like.  A recent study found 78% of disabled people would like to be more active. That’s why, for this month’s blog, I would like to highlight three new pieces of assistive technology that could provide independence and help individuals enjoy the physical and mental benefits that come with exercising.

Earlier this month the fourth annual Purple Tuesday took place. Through their six commitments Purple Tuesday aims to engage with organisations across all industries and of all sizes to promote understanding, put in place the right solutions, and equip staff to provide a quality customer experience 365 days a year.

One of Purple Tuesday’s commitments is ‘learning British Sign Language’ which encourages organisations to train their staff on key words and phrases in British Sign Language to enable basic conversations with customers who use this as their main form of communication. It was while I was researching for this blog that I found out British Sign Language (BSL) is the preferred language of over 87,000 Deaf people in the UK yet only 10% of people in the UK know more than two words in BSL. To help increase this number, starting from next month, Learning Labs will be regularly posting a BSL phrase on our social media channels and encouraging staff and our followers to learn the phrase. With just one phrase we’ll have learnt more words in BSL than what 90% of the UK population know. To kick things off below is how you can say ‘hello, how are you?’ in BSL. 

One of the drivers behind the social mental wellness domain is community. Having a community available to support you when you need it can have a positive impact on your mental wellbeing. During the pandemic, when many people were experiencing difficulties maintaining their mental wellness, communities came together to help each other whether that be checking on people living alone to prevent feeling lonely or shopping for elderly or shielding neighbours. When she was unable to train due to gym closures, Canadian Paralympic wheelchair basketballer, Arinn Young’s, local community worked together to find weight room equipment and space for her to practice.  However, a community is not limited to your immediate geographical community. It can be a community of people who share the same interest e.g. football fans, an online community such as a forum or Facebook group or people who share the same profession.  During the pandemic many people’s perception of community would has changed. Due to lockdowns many people turned to the online world to find their community.

In the UK, there are almost 2 million people living with sight loss. Of these, around 360,000 are registered as blind or partially sighted. New accessible approaches are frequently being offered. Last month Guide Dogs committed to supplying more than 3,500 visually impaired children with free iPads and iPhones after research revealed the damage caused to their personal development by a lack of access to technology. Following a successful trial last year cereal brand, Kellogg’s, has announced they will be adding world-first NaviLens technology to all of their cereal boxes in 2022. NaviLens is a code, similar to a QR code, which can be scanned by a smartphone. The smartphone will then relay to the user the information that is held by the NaviLens code, in this case ingredients and allergy information. Unlike other types of printed codes the new NaviLens technology includes high contrasting-coloured squares on a black background. This means that users do not need to know exactly where the code is located to scan it. In fact, a smartphone can pick up the code from up to 3 metres away. After the initial trial earlier this year the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) conducted an evaluation which found that 97% of the participants agreed that they would like to see more of these accessibility features available on grocery packaging in the future.

During the pandemic people were spending every aspect of their lives online, from attending work meetings on Microsoft Teams to speaking to friends and family via Facetime. On top of that you’re battling with distractions you wouldn’t experience in person, from Amazon deliveries to traffic noise or your neighbours mowing their lawn. Online events have to ensure the content is engaging so that it can cut through these distractions.

One app that I found useful in making my online webinars more interactive is Kahoot. You may have used it when everyone was doing quizzes to pass the time during lockdown. It’s a game-based learning platform which enables you to create your own multi-choice quizzes. The quicker you answer correctly the more points you receive so it unleashes everyone’s competitive side. Not only do quizzes add interaction and fun to online events but research has found they can help embed information in our brain.

I have also used MentiMeter to open up discussions during my online webinars. You can ask a question then attendees simply login there and then and answer it anonymously. Everyone sees the responses in real time via a word cloud with the most popular answers growing in size. It’s a lot more fun and engaging than just posting a question in the chat box for people to answer and with it all being anonymous it is more likely that people’s answers will be authentic, which creates a more valuable discussion.  

As we think of returning to live events, these digital tools can also be used as part of a face-to-face experience, offering a great way to encourage audience participation. Blending the interacting digital elements attendees have come to expect and feel comfortable using on webinars, I think we will see more of these in face-to-face events.

Representation of autistic characters in TV and film have often been perceived as stereotypical geniuses such as Raymond in Rain Man or Sheldon Cooper in The Big Bang Theory. Yes, some aspects of these characters are true of autism for some people. However, as with all developmental disabilities, the strengths and challenges each person experiences varies. By ensuring mainstream media includes an authentic, more diverse representation, a greater understanding of what autism is and how it effects the individual can be achieved. This can also empower autistic people who see a more authentic representation of themselves on screen.

English naturalist and TV presenter, Chris Packham, Swedish environmental activist, Greta Thunberg, and Paralympic swimmer, Jessica-Jane Applegate MBE are three autistic people that are challenging these stereotypes. Within their efforts to raise awareness of pressing subjects such as conservationism and climate change, they are also educating the world about autism simply by being themselves.

At the same time as learning to manage my own mental wellness in my personal life, the Learning Labs team has been developing a new concept for understanding and managing mental wellness. Learning Labs teamed up with New Economic Foundation (NEF) to carry out extensive research which resulted in the discovery of a new mental wellbeing concept, the Six Domains of Mental WellnessTM. This takes the daunting and intangible subject of mental wellness and makes it easy to understand and manage. It also forms the foundations of the newly developed Learning Labs mental wellbeing digital tool. As this has now reached launch stage, I have been an early tester, enabling me to assess my mental wellness daily. This has been a reflective process during lockdown restrictions and I realised the steps I had already been taking to manage my mental wellbeing actually aligned with the Six Domains of Mental WellnessTM. It also highlighted some areas that I had missed and could try new things to maintain.

Here’s my wellbeing plan based on the Six Domains of Mental WellnessTM concept – something I will continue even when restrictions are lifted because in many ways, I feel a lot happier and healthier mentally than before. For the parts that are missing (e.g. socialising!) I am looking forward to feeling more fulfilled with when we can meet people and interact as normal.

Looking back at the TV and films I watched as a child I can’t think of one example of a character that had a disability or learning difficulty. Thankfully, that has changed and children’s TV and film today is more inclusive. This helps educate the audience that everyone is different and enables children with disabilities or learning difficulties to identify with characters they see on screen.

Loop is a short film by Disney Pixar and is available on Disney+. The film follows two youngsters on a canoe trip. Marcus is neurotypical and Renee is on the autism spectrum. The film follows them as they learn to see the world from each other’s viewpoints. The character of Renee is voiced by an autistic actress, which gives the character an authentic autistic voice and speech pattern. The film gives you a view into Renee’s world by literally letting you see the world through her eyes during various points of the trip.

Through researching Loop, I learnt about the Sesame Street character Julia. Julia is an autistic character who has featured on the show since 2017. Her first episode was aired in April, during World Autism Awareness Month, launching in Spanish and English-speaking countries before being rolled out to more of Sesame Street’s 150 televised countries. In Julia’s first episode her autism is celebrated rather than seen as something that can prevent her from succeeding. Julia’s autism sees her flapping her hands when she gets excited and needing to take a break from playing and do some breathing exercises when some passing sirens become too much for her sensitive hearing. This is all explained and understood by the characters. Julia soon became a fan favourite and has been in Sesame Street ever since. Talking about Julia, Rose Jochum of the Autism Society of America said: “for all the little kids who have autism, it’s validating to see characters like themselves on television, instead of feeling invisible.”