Bite Size Comms

I haven’t been able to hear properly for the last three months. It was not an illness, just a temporary impairment, as my ears were blocked. I stopped listening to podcasts. I found my pronunciation – never the best as a London-born boy! – sometimes needed a couple of takes when recording my podcast. Music, which has been an important part of my life since I was 18, was only put on for other members of my family. On Tuesday, my ears were cleared. It took three nurses and one doctor.

It made me think about inclusivity and accessibility and how they are fundamentally important in communications. It is a waste of time collecting measurement analytics if we can’t craft our messages so that they are likely to be heard, considered, and possibly even acted upon. That’s where inclusivity and accessibility sit with me—they are effective communication and ethically good things to do. 

Some years ago, I had a CIPR qualifications student who was blind. He worked for the Royal National Institute for the Blind, and from our first conversation, he showed me how he was an effective communicator, thanks to IT. His computer read documents out loud faster than I could read them on screen. I learned that PDFs are undecipherable to assistive reader computer programmes. I also learned the importance of adding alt text to images.

My apprentices showed me the tools they use to increase the accessibility of websites. Reach Deck is a great tool to add to a website. It sits solemnly in the corner to help people with neurodiversity access the website’s information. Captions automatically displaying on video is now the standard. Gen Z, referred to by someone I know as ‘the TikTok generation’, routinely reads captions on any video from a Netflix series to short social posts. I also know some people who love podcasts but never listen to them. They read the transcript. Microsoft includes an accessibility checker in Word, PowerPoint and Outlook. These tools already exist and work well. They must be routinely used – and embedded into our practice as professional communicators.

In the past, working for an organisation that favoured upper-class heritage and privilege, I had to be twice as good as privately schooled Oxbridge graduates; I have my own experience of inclusivity – or lack of it, in the Foreign Office.

Most of us live and work in a wonderful multi-national and ethnically diverse society. This brings great rewards to society. It also means that we need to think about the language we use, keeping it clear and simple. We need to be inclusive, too—as professionals, we don’t want to alienate some people because of the way we communicate something. Also, consider adding an infographic to the comms that visually explains the message rather than a stock image. Infographics in our more visually oriented society are much liked and can add meaning to the narrative.

I’m glad that the PRCA and the CIPR have made significant advances in promoting inclusivity and accessibility. This is my go-to topic when completing the compulsory ethics points for my annual CIPR CPD. The PRCA’s Accessible Communications Guidelines and the CIPR’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion guides are great resources.

The music is already on. Tomorrow, I will start listening to podcasts again. I’ve already asked my wife to stop making so much noise in the kitchen!

[Image: Unsplash]