INFOGRAPHICS

Pretty, but are they accessible?

While infographics are brilliant for presenting complex data in a simple and creative way, because they are visual informational material, they present many accessibility challenges. That doesn’t mean you can’t use them in your course! It just means we need to make sure we are providing an accessible counterpart.

There may be items on this page that are inaccessible for individuals with some forms of disability. These items are necessary for illustrating differences between accessible and inaccessible content. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Shelby@thada.org

Steps to Making an Accessible Infographic

STEP 1

Is it already accessible?

If your infograph is a .pdf, it may already be accessible. Check by opening the infograph in Adobe and find the “Read Aloud” option. Did it read the graph in a way that would make sense to someone with a visual impairment? If not, or if your infographic is another file type (e.g., jpeg) then continue to Step 2.

SIDE NOTE

Unless you are advanced designer or web developer, I don’t suggest attempting to recreate the infographic into an accessible document.

STEP 2

Is it on a website?

If you can find a website that hosts the same infographic, there’s a chance that they also provide a transcript of the infograph on their page. If so, you should provide that transcript (or a link to that page) alongside the infographic when you distribute it your class. If you can’t find one online, proceed to Step 3.

STEP 3

Do you need to transcribe it?

Unless you read the information out-loud to students (for example, in a recorded lecture), you may need to create a transcript. To do this, you’ll want Identify and transcribe all the key pieces of information from the infographic that you want a student to be able to have access too. You can provide the transcript above or below the infographic on the course page (in the course shell), or as a linked .pdf or .docx near the infographic. Proceed to Step 4 for an example.

STEP 4

Want to see an example?

Take a look at an infographic and transcript (the accessible counterpart) that I use in one of my courses. You can also view a screenshot of how I embed and introduce this information in my course shell.

Infographic – The Year of the Selfie

Transcription of Selfie Infographic

See how I present the infograph and the transcript in my course shell