Accessible Communication: Connect, Include and Empower
Join Guide Dogs Queensland this Disability Action Week 2024 as we encourage workplaces to improve communication practices for people with low vision or blindness.
This week highlights the progress we’ve made in accessibility and inclusion for Queenslanders with disabilities, while also inspiring us to explore new ways to make our state even more accessible and inclusive for everyone.
The theme for Disability Action Week 2024 is ‘Accessible Communication: Connect, Include and Empower’ highlighting the essential role that accessible communication plays in achieving true inclusion.
This theme focuses on ensuring that information is accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities, and emphasises the need for tailored communication strategies that accommodate diverse needs.
By promoting this theme, Guide Dogs Queensland seeks to inspire communities and organisations to adopt inclusive communication practices, fostering an environment where everyone can participate fully and meaningfully in society.
Want a free Accessible Communication Guide?
For Guide Dogs Queensland, as a peak body advocating for individuals with low vision and blindness, the theme for Disability Action Week 2024 resonates deeply with our mission.
This week provides a critical opportunity to engage with stakeholders, raise awareness about barriers that individuals with disabilities face, and advocate for universal change to support their rights.
By actively participating in Disability Action Week through various activities and events, Guide Dogs Queensland reinforces its commitment to empower individuals with disabilities and to drive initiatives that foster understanding, respect, and inclusivity within the community.
Brent is committed to making his world more accessible. While Guide Dog Jaycee helps him navigate the physical world, Brent relies on assistive technology to explore the digital space.
There are different accessibility tools individuals with low vision and blindness use to access content, such as, magnifiers, screen readers and braille translators.
Magnifiers play a central role in Brent’s daily living, this accessibility tool is commonly used by individuals with low vision to enlarge text or images, creating an accessible environment to navigate in.
“I use magnifiers or my phones camera for anything physical and the Microsoft Windows screen and text zoom functions for digital”, Brent explains.
Facebook and YouTube are accessible for Brent, as the zoom functions can be used on these platforms, however Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat are more challenging.
Brent advises, “I’ve tried using Instagram but find it a bit harder because it is so visually based. Unfortunately, apps like TikTok and Snapchat were never accessible to me. By the time I had zoomed in to start reading text, the app had already moved onto the next one”.
Digital platforms and physical content should be accessible to all as each person has unique preferences for communication—whether face-to-face, written, verbal, or visual. For Brent, face-to-face interaction is ideal, as it reduces the need for accessibility tools and minimises eye strain.
However, this approach is sometimes misunderstood, as Brent must position his eyes to the side of the person, he’s speaking with to see them, which can be perceived as a lack of eye contact.
“It feels disheartening to be dismissed because of how I need to communicate.”
It is crucial that we all remain mindful of the diverse ways people communicate and recognise that accessibility isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. There are simple, effective ways to make communication more inclusive, and Guide Dogs Queensland is here to provide the tools and support necessary to ensure everyone can engage meaningfully and comfortably—regardless of their individual needs.
"*" indicates required fields
