Accessible Courses: Small Changes, Large Difference

Accessibility is often treated as a specialist requirement for large institutions. For a small course creator, most of it is a handful of habits that cost very little.

And they help far more people than the ones they were designed for: learners on phones, in noisy places, on slow connections, working in a second language, or simply tired.

Captions: the highest-value change

• Add captions to every video. Auto-captions plus a correction pass is enough for most courses.
• Fix the technical terms — this is where auto-captions fail, and it is the part that matters most.
• Provide transcripts where you can. Many learners prefer to read, and transcripts are searchable.
• Who this helps: deaf and hard-of-hearing learners, second-language learners, anyone watching without sound, and anyone who wants to scan rather than watch.

Speaking and presenting

• Describe what is on screen rather than pointing silently. Saying which element you mean helps everyone follow.
• Do not rely on colour alone to convey meaning — add a label or shape.
• Read out anything important that appears only as text on screen.
• Speak at a steady pace and pause between ideas.
• Avoid rapid flashing or strobing effects entirely — these can trigger seizures.

Readable materials

• Use large enough text in slides and screen recordings — what is readable on your monitor is unreadable on a phone.
• Keep contrast strong between text and background.
• Use real headings in documents rather than just making text bigger — this is what screen readers use to navigate.
• Give images meaningful alternative text that describes what matters, not just what it is.
• Avoid text inside images where possible — it cannot be read by assistive technology or resized.
• Use descriptive link text rather than click here.

Video and audio

• Good audio is an accessibility feature, not just a quality one. Poor audio is hardest on the people who most need clarity.
• Offer playback speed control — some learners need slower, some faster.
• Offer quality options for slow connections.
• Allow downloads where you can, for learners with unreliable internet.
• Keep background music quiet or absent — it interferes with speech comprehension significantly.

Course structure

• Consistent navigation so learners do not relearn the interface each section.
• Clear lesson titles that describe content.
• State the time each lesson takes.
• Do not rely on timed activities unless the timing is genuinely part of the skill.
• Offer more than one way to demonstrate learning where practical.

Documents and downloads

• Use accessible formats rather than scanned images of text, which are unreadable to assistive technology.
• Structure documents with headings.
• Provide editable versions of worksheets where possible so learners can complete them digitally.
• Keep file sizes reasonable for slow connections.

Testing without specialist tools

• Watch a lesson with the sound off and see whether the captions carry it.
• Listen without watching and see whether you can follow.
• View it on a phone and check text sizes.
• Try navigating with the keyboard only, without a mouse.
• Zoom the page to double size and see whether anything breaks.
• Ask learners whether anything is difficult to use — and mean it, because most people will not volunteer it.

When someone asks for an adjustment

• Respond promptly and take it seriously.
• Ask what would help rather than assuming — they know their needs.
• Do what you can, and be honest about what you cannot — a straightforward answer is better than silence.
• Do not require disclosure of a diagnosis in order to help.
• Fix it for everyone where the change is general rather than making it a special case.

Where the effort goes furthest

If you can only do a few things:

• Captions on every video.
• Legible text sizes and contrast.
• Clear audio.
• Describing what is on screen aloud.
• Not relying on colour alone.

Those five cover a large share of the benefit for a small share of the effort.

One thing worth remembering

Accessibility work is usually described as helping a minority of learners. In practice, the changes that make a course usable for someone with a disability make it better for everyone — clearer, more navigable, and usable in more situations.

It is one of the few improvements where doing the right thing and building a better product are the same action.

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