Accessibility training

Accessibility is a shared responsibility between product owners, designers, developers and editors.

Accessibility training overview

Aim

Educate stakeholders and editors on the importance of accessibility and how a successful project can be planned.

Approach

An introductory accessibility training workshop covering the foundations of accessibility and how it relates to the various phases of a project.

Outcome

Stakeholders and editors are empowered to implement accessibility principles leading to an end product that will remain accessible over time.

Drupal Accessibility training

A successful accessibility implementation relies on many people, starting from the project owners all the way through to the designers, developers and the editors. Each team member has a part to play. Accessibility is not just the responsibility of the designers or developers to get it right. The organisation owning the project needs to be invested and knowledgeable in accessibility, its importance and how it can be achieved.

An introduction to the fundamentals of accessibility can be an important first step in making sure your entire team is on board with the importance of accessibility. Product owners need to lead from the front to make sure it is a consideration at all phases of the project. Editors need to understand the fundamentals and what they can practically do to make sure the content they produce is accessible.

Morpht offers a workshop, led by an experienced accessibility trainer, to bring your team up to speed with accessibility training. The workshop will be helpful for those at the start of a new project or those who need to take stock of where they are at.

Workshop overview

Audience

This workshop is useful for a range of people both on the tools and in leadership, to introduce and unpack the topic of web accessibility. It is relevant to website owners and editors alike.

Goals

Participants should take away an understanding of:

Common terminology and key concepts
Who web accessibility impacts – physical, cognitive, and situational
The WCAG guidelines
Who's responsible?
Assistive technologies

Agenda

The workshop will typically cover the following areas. This programme can be adapted to suit your needs.

Definition: The definition of web accessibility
Who: Who is impacted: physical, cognitive & situation
What: WCAG, overview of the principles and criteria
Where: Where does it fit into the design process
Testing: User testing and mechanical testing
- Exercise 1: A brief audit, Assistive tech, Keyboard navigation & screen readers
- Exercise 2: Screen reader demo
How: Audits and strategy
Why: Why we should be doing better, the benefits

Frequently asked questions

Does Morpht offer accessibility audits and training?

Yes. Morpht offers accessibility assessments as a standalone service or as part of a broader site assessment. The agency has delivered some of the most accessible Drupal sites in Australia and has experience with WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, keyboard accessibility testing, screen reader compatibility, and the newer AS EN 301 549 standard. Morpht also offers accessibility training for content editors and site owners, recognising that accessibility is a shared responsibility between developers, designers, and the people who create and publish content day to day.

Do content editors really need accessibility training if the site was built accessibly?

Yes. An accessible component library can be undone by an editor who pastes formatted text from Word, skips heading levels, or uses colour alone to convey meaning. Accessibility is a shared responsibility between owners, designers, developers and editors, and editor behaviour is the part most likely to erode compliance after launch, since it happens continuously rather than once at build time.

What does good accessibility training for a government content team actually cover?

Effective training goes beyond "here's the WCAG checklist" and covers why accessibility matters for real users, how to structure content (headings, lists, alt text, plain language), how to use CMS features correctly (rather than fighting them), and how to self-audit before publishing. It should be role-specific; a stakeholder's accessibility responsibilities differ from an editor's.

How often should a team refresh accessibility training?

At minimum, whenever standards update, the CMS or design system changes, or new staff join the content team, accessibility knowledge decays quickly without reinforcement, and turnover in government communications teams is common enough that a one-off session at project launch rarely holds up two years later.

Accessibility training