Globally, over one billion people have a disability (WHO, 2023). That means around the world, one in six of us has a disability. In Australia, it’s one in five (ABS, 2019).
My name is Shun-Nga, I’m the creative lead for Easyread.tech, and I was born hearing impaired. As someone with a disability, accessibility is very important to me.
Growing up and even now, I struggle with accessing content and communicating with people that aren't face to face. As a kid, I didn’t watch cartoons like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Fairy Oddparents, Hannah Montana or whatever else my friends and peers were watching; instead I watched Better Homes and Gardens and Gardening Australia because they reliably had subtitles. Even now, after 18 years of auditory-verbal therapy and the latest technology in hearing aids and cochlear implant hearing processors, if a video doesn’t have subtitles, I don’t want to watch it.
Of the one billion people who have a disability, only one in 10 has access to assistive technology (PRCA, 2022). Of course, this statistic is affected by those in poorer countries who may not have access to a lot of resources, let alone assistive technology; however it’s still a fact that many people with disabilities struggle with accessing content, even if we have access to assistive technology.
The sad thing is, for many like myself, our struggles are normalised. I don’t expect videos to have good-quality subtitles, I don’t expect cinemas to have subtitles on the screen, I don’t expect brands to be thoughtful about the content they produce - whether it’s accessible to everyone, not just those who don’t have a disability. To this day, I still think about the one time I watched a movie in a cinema that had open captions (subtitles on the screen itself) - it was Fantastic Beasts - Crimes of Grindelwald. The feeling of joy that I had when I saw the subtitles come onto the big screen and I could have the full experience of watching a movie in a cinema, it was incredible. Unfortunately, only one cinema, in all of Adelaide, has open captions, and they only do open captions for one movie session, on one Sunday afternoon, once a month. Everywhere else, they do closed captions on this separate, small device that sits in your cup holder, which greatly detracts from my experience of watching movies, and that is why I almost never go to cinemas.
This isn’t an experience that is unique to me. In Australia, 1 in 3 people with disability have reported that their customer needs are often unmet. Of the Australians with disability aged 15 and over, almost one-third (33.1%) avoid situations because of their disability. Some of the most common situations that they avoid include going to shops, banks etc., and people with disability are three times as likely to avoid an organisation and twice as likely to dissuade others because of an organisation’s negative diversity reputation (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2017).
That is why I think we as a society can do so much more in making content accessible. When content and communications are accessible and inclusive, instead of people with disabilities feeling frustrated, angry, sad, or isolated; we get to have a much more positive response. Companies, government departments, businesses and service industries will find a much higher potential for engagement, for people preferring their brand, higher intentions for purchasing and buying in with their messages, and more peer recommendations.
With over one billion people around the world having some form of disability, that is a significant audience that has a global buying power of $13 trillion (Return on Disability, 2020). Global research has found that organisations who champion disability inclusion achieve on average 28% higher revenue, double the net income, and 30% higher economic profit margins compared to those who do not prioritise disability inclusion (The Disability Inclusion Advantage, 2018).
It’s not just about buying power either. Having accessible content is incredibly important to having a fulfilling life that is rich with experiences, connections and community. Every one of us here, regardless of whether we have a disability or not, want to engage with people and the world around us. We want to belong and be a part of a community, and to be able to share common experiences so we can connect together. Let me tell you about a particularly big brand: Coldplay.
Coldplay is a music band, but they are also a business. While I like their music, they aren’t at the top of my favourite artists to listen to, however, of all artists that are performing in Australia, Coldplay is the only artist that I’m actually going to go to for their concert. I have never been to a music concert, nor do I have any strong desire to go to concerts in general, but when my good friend Jas told me that Coldplay is coming to Australia, and invited me to go to their concert with her next year, I immediately said yes. I told her, if there is only one concert that I can go to in my entire life, it would be Coldplay, because they are well-known for making their concerts inclusive.
For their hearing-impaired and deaf concertgoers, they have this thing called Subpac, which is essentially a subwoofer attached to the person’s back so they can experience the bass through vibrations. For their vision-impaired and blind concertgoers, they have a touch tour that they provide for them before the concert. For those who have sensory needs, they have seating sections that are sensory friendly and are providing sensory bags for them. And the list goes on. Their thoughtfulness and inclusiveness makes them a highly-respectable artist in my eyes, and that is why I want to go to their concert.
We may not sell out stadiums like Coldplay does, but we can definitely make more content inclusive. By providing documents in Easy Read and Plain English, creating videos with captions and audio descriptions, making sure that all digital resources are readable for screen readers, and so on; there are so many things that we can do to include people with disabilities in our communities and our society, and help to make their lives and our lives better.
Here at Easyread.tech, we work hard to ensure that every resource that we produce is accessible, such as ensuring that we use the suitable font size and typeface, our illustrations are visually easy to understand while being appealing, the colours we use have a high enough contrast for the vision impaired, that there is enough white space around the text and between lines of text for ease of reading, and so on. We go through a rigorous process to make sure that our Easy Read and Plain English content are highly accessible to the target audience not just visually, but also language-wise. We’ve got our wonderful illustrators, Denny and Justin, who produced all of the illustrations you see on Easyread.tech, and Justin also puts together the Easy Read resources in beautiful designs for our clients. Samoda and I are trained to translate text into Easy Read and Plain English, and I help to keep everything running smoothly between our clients and our team.
The reason why I became a graphic designer in the first place was because of my experiences as a hearing impaired person. Because I didn’t connect so well auditorily and verbally, I became extremely passionate about visual arts and communications. This led me to study media and graphic design at the University of Adelaide which sharpened my visual communications skills, and my journey has led me to become a creative lead for Cornerstone Alliance, and helping to develop Easyread.tech.
I’m very privileged to have the opportunities I’ve had throughout my life: from my parents going above and beyond to provide the support that I needed as a child, to having wonderful, understanding teachers and friends that accommodated my needs, and having a wonderful team of people around me that believe in the same thing that I believe in; that is, everyone should have better access and have inclusion for all.
However, I know I’m an exception to the norm. My peers do not always have the same privileges and opportunities that I have had, and there are many who don’t have the voice to be able to advocate for themselves. That’s why I’m so passionate about making sure that accessibility and inclusivity is at the forefront of any resource development, be it documents, videos or any form of communications, and making accessibility a standard so generations after me can feel included anytime, anywhere.
Inclusive and accessible communications means that as a business or an organisation, you are following best practices in diversity and inclusion. It means you are a welcoming and responsible organisation that caters to the needs of everyone from those who have low-literacy to those who have cognitive disability and more. It also means that you are going to be viewed favourably from the outside and inside, and people will find your brand accessible. The benefits speak for themselves when everyone is included, and the culture of an organisation and its reputation take on an authentic meaning.