About This Handbook

Every day your organization publishes posts and images, shares documents and slide decks, and sends emails. This guide shows you, step by step, how to make all of it usable by people with disabilities and older adults — whether they are members of your audience or your own colleagues — without needing a technical background.

Accessibility means designing content so that everyone can perceive, understand, and use it — including people who are blind or have low vision, who are deaf or hard of hearing, who have motor or cognitive disabilities, and the growing number of older adults online. It is not a special favor; it is part of serving your whole community and letting every member of your own staff work independently.

The international standard for digital accessibility is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Most laws, donors, and partners ask for Level AA, the middle and most widely-adopted level. This handbook translates Level AA into plain, practical actions for the content your team actually creates.

Who this is for

• Communications, outreach, and program staff at public institutions, private-sector companies, and civil society organizations.
• Anyone who prepares documents, presentations, or emails as part of their daily work.
• Managers who want their workplace and digital systems to be usable by employees with disabilities.
• Anyone who writes, designs, films, or shares content — no coding required.

What you’ll find inside

• A plain-language explanation of WCAG 2.1 / 2.2 and what “Level AA” means.
• Two parts: Part A — Accessible Public Communication (social media and online content) and Part B — The Accessible Workplace (documents, presentations, emails, and daily workflows).
• Step-by-step instructions for the most popular platforms (Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, YouTube) and office tools (Word, PowerPoint, email).
• Checklists at the end of every chapter, a one-page master checklist, and a fillable conformance checklist (the accompanying Excel tool).
• A glossary and a list of free tools.

How to use it

Read it front to back the first time, then keep it open as a reference. Each chapter ends with a short “How this maps to WCAG” box (so you can show partners and auditors exactly which criteria you meet) and a checklist you can copy into your publishing and office routines.