Signing the web

Is your site truly accessible? Are you providing the best possible service to all your visitors?

I expect you’ve taken the first step, and perhaps your site is accessible to level A (or even AA). But have you considered taking the extra step, and providing accessible charting in your investor section, transcripts for all your video or audio sections on site, or providing a sign language translation for your webcasts and videos?

There are up to 70,000 users of British Sign Language (BSL) in the UK, and up to 500,000 users of American Sign Language (ASL) in the US. This is a big constituency which you should perhaps be considering.

ITV provide an online news service

ITV has recently launched an online world news service in British Sign Language (BSL). Its specialist access service ITV SignPost will feature daily world news in BSL and an accompanying blog.

The first screenshot shows the news service; the second the programme for Saturday’s signed television programmes.

BT provide consumer information in BSL

BT present some of their website in a signed format - but this content is purely aimed at retail customers, not the corporate website visitor. The second screenshot from BT shows their investor home page, highlighting a video of the CEO discussing BT.

Commendably, they’ve provided a transcript of the video. But they could also have provided a link to a signed version of this video. They do, after all, provide a sign language interpreter at their AGM. (Do you?)

Groovy Gecko: provider of signed webcast services

There are companies who can provide signed versions of your webcast.

Groovy Gecko, for example, produced the first ever live webcast with fully synchronised subtitles and British Sign Language. (Image belongs to Groovy Gecko). So it can be done.

Perhaps worth considering for your next significant webcast? Some of your shareholders, after all, may be deaf. Some deaf people may want to become shareholders …

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