Enhance your Website with Accessibility Software

National Inclusion Week runs from the 28th of September through to the 4th of October in 2020, and is a celebratory week that recognises and promotes inclusion in the workplace. The week is run by Inclusive Employers, the UK's first and leading membership organisation that supports businesses trying to develop more inclusive practices within the workplace. Recite Me are proud to list Inclusive Employers as one of our clients, and National Inclusion Week presents a perfect opportunity to look at digital inclusion from an internal company perspective. The Recite Me assistive toolbar is used by hundreds of companies in both public and private sectors to help customers and subscribers access their products, services, and information. However, many organisations also use Recite Me on internal systems like intranets and learning platforms to ensure company information is also fully accessible and inclusive to their employees. We are a Disability Confident Employer. Are You? Disability Confident schemes exist in many countries including the UK and the USA. The overall aim is to help employers to be more inclusive and explore the benefits of employing disabled people. Although the scheme is voluntary, it is heavily subscribed by progressive and forward-thinking companies, and in the UK alone there are over 18,000 organisations already listed as Disability Confident Employers – Recite Me being one of them, of course. The key for employers is to alter their perceptions and the way they think about disability, and make positive changes to the way they attract, recruit, develop, and retain disabled employees. “Diversity and inclusion is not an initiative but core to who we are as a company and how we run our business operations.” Alexandra Forsch, President of Awin US One of the fundamental challenges companies face when looking at digital inclusion is taking account of the many and varied barriers that employees face online. We tend to think of disabilities purely in terms of mobility and physical restrictions, but in reality, there is a whole range of diverse conditions that can prevent users from gaining equal access to online information. Examples include: Visual impairments Deafblindness Colour blindness Dyslexia Hyperlexia Dyspraxia ADHD Speaking English as a second language Epilepsy The Importance of Being Digitally Inclusive in 2020 This year more than ever before, we have seen a significant shift to remote working due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recent studies show that in the coming years, as much as 25-30% of the workforce will be working remotely at least one day per week. This means that businesses need to act quickly to ensure that all of their employees have the tools and support they need to access company systems and contribute to this new way of working. As it stands, the majority of companies are already behind here, as despite a rise to nearly 77% of workers wanting to access business websites, intranets and documents from outside of the office, 38% of employees say that the technology they are provided with doesn’t operate correctly in a remote setting. Supporting Inclusion through Assistive Technology A proven way of supporting people online is by utilising assistive technology. Assistive software allows adaptions to be made to account for several barriers including learning difficulties, visual impairments, disabilities, and varied linguistic needs. Recite Me’s accessibility software supports a diverse range of staff in the workplace by providing a variety of tools that allow users to create a fully customisable experience. Our accessibility features can either be used individually or combined to make multiple adjustments for ultimate ease of use. Users can: Personalise font size, type, and colour options to make each web page easier to read. Utilise the mask screen tool, which isolates parts of the page to help with focus. Use the ruler tool to make reading easier. Download content as an audio file as an alternative to reading. Convert page content into over 100 different on-screen languages. Have the page read aloud in a choice of 35 different languages. Customise PDF documents and have them read aloud or translated. If you’d like to know more about how assistive technology can help make your business more inclusive, you can contact our team or request a demonstration. The Benefits of Being Inclusive Many companies shy away from online accessibility and inclusion factors as they perceive them as being complex, expensive, or simply too difficult to work around. Yet the average cost of making an accommodation for a disabled employee is just a few hundred pounds/dollars, and data shows that employees with disabilities take less time off and tend to stay with companies for longer. So in reality, this is nothing more than a common misperception, especially when you consider all of the additional benefits of becoming an inclusive employer: Drawing from the widest pool of talent available Acquiring high-quality staff who are skilled, hardworking and loyal Improved innovation thanks to the wider perspective you gain by having a more diverse team Demonstrating fairness in the workplace Reduced staff turnover rates overall Improved staff morale Showing customers and other businesses that you are committed to equality in the workplace There is also growing evidence that improved inclusion leads to increased revenue and profits. “According to Accenture’s 2018 study, The Disability Inclusion Advantage, companies that embrace best practices for employing and supporting people with disabilities outperform their peers with higher revenue (28%) and profit margin (30%).” John Stern, Accessibility Advocate Each One, Reach One A significant part of the challenge of becoming inclusive is knowing that the tools exist. So now you know about it, why not tell someone else? We encourage you to start a conversation about inclusion this week! The theme for this year’s National Inclusion Week is ‘Each One, Reach One’. The idea is to make an inclusion chain and inspire individuals and businesses alike to play their part in making inclusion an everyday reality. By reaching out on an individual or organisational level, and helping others to understand the opportunities presented by inclusion, we can all make a positive difference.

European Day of Languages takes place annually on the 26th of September. The aim of the day is to encourage language learning across Europe, and to promote awareness about linguistic diversity and the importance of protecting linguistic heritage. This is definitely something that the team at Recite Me can get behind, as the text translation tool and text-to-speak translation function are two of the most frequently used components of our assistive toolbar. Europe is incredibly diverse in many respects. It is a continent steeped in history, with a wide array of cultures and traditions, beautiful countryside and city vistas, varied architectural styles, incredible food, and of course, many languages. With English being the global ‘lingua franca’, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this is the most commonly spoken language in Europe, but that is not the case. Despite having over 400 million native speakers worldwide, only 70 million reside in Europe, which doesn’t even put English in the top 3 most-used languages across the continent: Russian – 120 million native speakers German – 95 million native speakers French – 80 million native speakers English – 70 million native speakers Turkish – 70 million native speakers Italian – 69 million native speakers Spanish – 45 million native speakers Ukrainian – 45 million native speakers Polish – 40 million native speakers Dutch – 22 million native speakers The implication for business here is significant – if your website is only available in English, then you are missing out. Even if your company only operates in the English market, you are still excluding the 10% of the population who speak English as a second language. Accounting for Languages in Business Globally, around 1 in every 4 internet users speaks English as a first language, so it is common practice, particularly for western companies, to publish their website in English first and foremost. However, the case for having your website available in more languages is clear – accessing the other 75% of the market! “When your site is available in multiple languages, you attract the attention of an international market. You also become identified as a global brand which elevates your status and improves your reputation. Consumers tend to trust global brands more than ones that are only known locally.” Nick McGuire, E-commerce specialist and blogger Many website owners try duplicating their website into multiple languages. But for smaller businesses this can be difficult due to budget restraints as the more languages you add, the more expensive it becomes. Plus, some languages require complicated coding. Take Arabic and Hebrew for example. Not only does the text need to run from right to left, but the whole layout will need to be altered and many graphical elements will need to be repositioned to account for the change. Then comes the problem of which languages to prioritise. Granted, most companies will take time to research and analyse their website traffic data before spending on multilingual sites. However, simply knowing which countries website visitors come from doesn’t necessarily guarantee success. For example, if a website doesn’t receive any visits from Italian internet users, does that mean there is no interest in those particular products or services in Italy? Or simply that there are not enough translations in Italian to attract potential buyers? One of the best ways to avoid all of the question marks and make your website inclusive to as many users as possible is to use assistive technology. Recite Me’s assistive toolbar makes websites inclusive by providing: Text translations in over 100 languages Text-to-speech in 35 languages A built-in dictionary and thesaurus to check definitions The Benefits of Being Linguistically Inclusive There is always a cost-benefit analysis to consider when looking at expanding your online presence, and being inclusive of different linguistic needs does not disappoint when it comes to the list of benefits: Increased revenue – data shows businesses that translate their landing pages and ads can expect to gain up to a 20% increase in conversions. Discover new markets – A translation service on your website can open up your company to new customers from markets you previously could not access - or were not aware you could access. Get more website traffic – The more people you can attract and keep browsing on your website, the better your site will do in search engine rankings. Build trust and strengthen your brand – More visitors to your website means more awareness of your brand in general. But also, customers favour brands that are value-driven, so you can further improve your brand reputation through being inclusive of varying linguistic needs. Statistics & Case Studies Currently, Recite Me software is helping thousands of companies to be more inclusive. In the last 12 months, our toolbar made 21,663,682 translations in total, and the top five languages used were Arabic, English, Spanish, French, and Italian. This is not to say that these languages will always be the most used. That will come down to what industry you are in, and where your company is based. In terms of industry sectors, services that are regularly used by a wide cross-section of the community are some of the most important when it comes to being inclusive. This includes businesses like utility companies and transport providers: Western Power delivers electricity to over 7.9 million customers over a 55,500km² area in the Midlands, the South West, and Wales. In the past 12 months on their website, users have made over 6.5 million translations using the Recite Me. Gatwick airport is the second busiest in the UK, and the 9th busiest in Europe. Over the past 12 months using Recite Me software on their website, users have made nearly 2million translations. South Western Railway operates almost 1,700 train services per day, and is the main provider of rail transport in western Surrey, Hampshire, and Dorset, and also serves London, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Somerset, and Devon. In the past 12 months on their website, users have made nearly 100,000 translations using the Recite Me. The education sector benefits significantly by making accommodations for those who do not speak English as a first language. 2019 statistics show that there are almost half a million international students enrolled on higher education courses in the UK: Merthyr Tydfil College offers over 30 A Levels, a range of vocational courses, and is home to around 4000 students. They have seen half a million translations the past 12 month with the Recite Me software on their website. Ed Place offers home learning solutions from year 1 through to GCSE. Since installing Recite Me software on their website, users have made over 350,000 translations in total across the various Ed Place domains. London University is home to nearly 227,000 students and was one of the first educational institutions to embed the Recite Me toolbar onto their website. In the past 12 months, users have made over 80,000 translations. You don’t need to be a national corporation or large institution to benefit from translation tools, however. Even smaller local and regional businesses are seeing the advantages: Everton FC is a premier league football team whose stadium regularly hosts between 36,000 and 38,000 home fans in the stands on match days. Over the past 12 with Recite Me installed on their website, users have made over 70,000 translations. Situated in the heart of London, the Strand Palace Hotel offers a range of rooms and services for both leisure and corporate guests. In the last year with Recite Me software on their website, users have made nearly 20,000 translations. The Jorvik Viking Centre in York welcomes over 400,000 visitors per year. In the past 12 months and through the pandemic they have seen users translate nearly 6000 pieces of content. Get ‘Down with the Lingo’! While European Day of Languages aims to break down linguistic barriers in a more general and social sense, we hope you are starting to see the benefits of being inclusive of more diverse language needs online. If you need more information, statistics, or would like to see a demonstration of how our assistive toolbar works, please feel free to contact our team. If you would like to get involved in European Day of Languages on the 26th, the European Centre for Modern Languages (ECML) has set up a website with multiple resources including activities, games, fun facts, and self-evaluation tools, available in 37 languages.