Accessibility Basics & Emails
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Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) defines Persons with disabilities are defined as those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In other words, with no barriers and full accessibility, there will be no disability.
ICT Accessibility is the responsibility of every Staff of the United Nations.
Digital technology enables content generation from a single source for various outputs.
Disabilities can be categorized to four main categories: visual, hearing, physical, and cognitive. Disability occurs across a wide spectrum.
Assistive technology devices are used by persons with disabilities to assist them in their personal and professional life. Diverse assistive technologies were shown and explained:
AI and advanced technologies, such as ChatGPT and Generative AI, AI-assisted devices for speech.
Mobile and wearable devices, including accessibility tools in smart phones, Smart watches.
Specialized input/output devises for mobility disabilities, such as speech recognition programs, hands-free or specialised mouse (Foot mouse, roller mouse, joystick mouse, trackball, camera-based head tracker), and head control switches.
Assistive technologies for persons with visual disabilities such as screen readers, screen magnification software, desktop video magnifier, portable magnifiers, OCR Software with scanners, Braille displays, and Braille printers.
Assistive technologies for persons with hearing disabilities, such as subtitles and sign languages, Assistive listening devices in rooms (Induction loops), FM hearing system with microphone and receiver, Infrared systems with a transmitter to convert sounds to light, and other listening devices such as text telephones or captioned telephones.
Accessible Email Tips:
Use accessibility checker in Microsoft software like outlook. The function can be found under the “Review à Check Accessibility.”
Use clear headings, and bullet points to organize content.
Avoid using excessive formatting, such as underline and italics.
Provide descriptive alt text for images that has meanings. You can add alt text by clicking on the right button of the mouse.
For hyperlinks, use descriptive text instead of using general phrases like “click here” or “more”. Do not use full URLs as link text.
Use plain language and avoid excessive use of acronyms.
For tables, use simple table structures with proper headers and captions. Avoid merging cells or using complex nested tables.
Digital accessibility is essential to achieve full inclusion to persons with disabilities and to comply with international standards. The UN follows the international standards of This means that all the digital contents should be perceivable with several senses, operable with any input devices, easily understandable, and have robust structure.
is a system-wide mechanism for sustainable and transformative progress on disability inclusion through all pillars of the UN's work.
Ensure sufficient colour contrast. Accessibility checker will let you know if the contrast is not enough. You may also consider using.