Madeline Weightman recently chaired a panel on accessible communications and shares her thoughts on how it should change how we all approach our work

I recently had the privilege of chairing a panel discussion for the Worshipful Company of Communicators' DEI Committee — Have You Been Understood? — exploring accessible communications and the business case for getting it right. I came in thinking I understood the topic reasonably well. I left with a much sharper view of how far we still have to go, and of how personally this lands.

The idea that changed my thinking most came from John Dickinson-Lilley, a communications director who is registered blind. John introduced the social model of disability — and it reframed everything that followed.

Disability is not the limitation. The barriers around us are.

The social model of disability holds that people are not disabled by their impairment or condition, but by the environmental, organisational, and attitudinal barriers that society places around them. Disability, in other words, is not an individual limitation. It is a social construct — created by the world we have built and the assumptions we have baked into it.

As someone with dyslexia, this hit home. Growing up, I was classified as a slow learner. It was not until I received a diagnosis — and with it, access to information in a format that worked for me — that things shifted. I went on to do my A levels and attend university. The limitation was never mine. It was the environment around me that had not adapted.

This is the lens through which I now think about communications. When we produce content that people cannot access, understand, or act on, we are not reflecting a limitation in our audience. We are creating a barrier. And as communicators, that barrier is entirely within our power to remove.

We all consume information differently — and our publics are no different

Sara Thornhurst, a disabled PR professional and specialist trainer in disability inclusion, offered a reframe that is equally hard to argue with. The CIPR defines public relations as the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics. If our communications are not accessible, we are not reaching all of our publics. We are, as Sara put it, only doing half the job.

One in five people in the UK lives with a disability. Many more process and access information differently — through dyslexia, ADHD, deafness, or simply a different cognitive style. These are not edge cases. They are a significant and mainstream part of every audience we are trying to reach. When we design communications that exclude them, we are not being unlucky. We are making a choice — usually an unconscious one, but a choice nonetheless.

The question Sara and John kept returning to was this: are we designing communications for the people we assume are out there, or for the people who actually are?

The business case is clear

There is a legal duty under the Equality Act 2010 for all organisations — public and private — to make communications accessible. That is the floor, not the ceiling.

There are 16 million disabled people in the UK alone who may currently not be accessing your clients' products, services, or campaigns. Closing that gap is not just the right thing to do. It is a genuine market opportunity. And beyond disability specifically, designing for accessibility produces better communications for everyone — sharper messages, cleaner copy, clearer calls to action. John made the point that working through what accessible communications requires forces you to identify the single most important thing you want your audience to understand. That discipline benefits every campaign, not just those targeting disabled audiences.

As Sara noted, more diverse teams produce more diverse communications — and they are better performing across every business metric as a result.

The most common mistake? Treating it as an afterthought

Almost universally, accessibility gets added at the end — a caption here, a transcript there — rather than being built in from the brief. This makes it feel like additional work when, as Sara pointed out, it really means the process was never complete to begin with. We have simply not been used to finishing the job.

The fix is to start earlier. Include accessibility in the brief. Build it into the budget. Consider formats, channels, and tools before the campaign exists, not after it has been signed off.

Practical changes to make now

• Write descriptive alt text for every image. Not 'woman at desk' — something specific: 'A woman in her 30s with dark hair sits at a desk, looking directly at the camera, smiling.' The description should paint the picture for someone who cannot see it.
• Use H1 and H2 headings properly in documents — not just for visual formatting, but so screen readers can navigate through them.
• Cut back on emoji use in digital copy. Screen readers read every single one aloud. A row of clapping hands becomes a string of words that breaks the message apart entirely.
• Consider a stenographer for high-stakes events. Accuracy rates of around 98% — far ahead of AI captioning tools. At roughly £600–700 for a day, the cost is modest relative to most campaign budgets.
• Do not rely on AI tools alone, particularly for communications with legal, safety, or medical implications. AI captions and descriptions must be reviewed by a person.
• When you next redesign a website or create a new template, brief for accessibility from the outset. Retrofitting it costs significantly more in time and budget.
• Follow RNIB on social media. Their team publishes genuinely useful and often very entertaining guidance on accessible copy, image descriptions, and alt text.

Useful resources

Sara has produced a suite of five inclusive guides for the CIPR, covering everything from the foundations of disability inclusion through to allyship and advocacy. They are free to download and an excellent starting point for any communications team.

CIPR Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Resources

You can also watch the full session with captions via the Worshipful Company of Communicators — link to follow shortly.

At The Work Crowd, we connect businesses with communications professionals who understand the audiences they are trying to reach. If you are looking for freelance talent with expertise in accessibility, inclusion, or disability communications, get in touch with our team.