Accessibility for Websites – new course for 2021

Our new 2-hour online workshop “Accessibility for Websites” is now available to book, with the first one of 2021 starting at 1pm on 27th January.

After many requests for information about how to ensure online activity was accessible, we developed this workshop with input from web developers, non-technical web users and disabled users with accessibility needs.  has been designed for non-technical Employers and Managers who need to understand how their organisation’s website is used (or not!) by people with online accessibility needs. As the pandemic has driven so much of our daily life online, it is more important than ever that any online engagement is as accessible as possible – for everyone!

According to the ONS (Office for National Statistics) data, in the UK Covid-19 forced the share of online retail sales to increase from 20% to 29% – equalling the same rate of growth in 9 months to the previous five years. And as Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella stated on 30 April 2020: “we’ve seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months”.

And this is pertinent to why business should pay more attention to web users with accessibility needs, because in 2018 there were estimated to be 7.15 million disabled people who had access needs – and between them they spent £24.8 million online!

So the new workshop is not just about providing practical examples of barriers and solutions, but also the commercial benefits of having an accessible website, and what is at risk (legally and financially) when websites are not accessible. Whilst public sector websites in the UK now have a legal requirement to be accessible, the law around private sector organisations is not so clear cut – but it would be best for your business to not be the first test case!

As always, our workshops are free of charge for Devon based organisations. We limit places on each workshop to a maximum of 15 to enable full participation. These are not webinars but fully interactive training sessions delivered live by a trainer who previously owned a marketing consultancy business linking web designers (technical users) with other business owners (operational users) – translating each other’s requirements.

Have a look at our short video about the new workshop – either follow this link to view on You Tube or click the image above. To book your place on the first workshop of 2021 (reference OS17 Wednesday 27th January 2021, starting at 1:00 pm), please click this link to go to our Eventbrite Booking page. Alternatively other dates are available as part of our Spring 2021 Open Programme (follow this link for dates and details).