Accessibility is the ease of access to facilities and resources that persons with disabilities need to perform their daily activities and function in society (United Nations, 2006). This is important for speech-language pathologists as we advocate for the rights of persons with communication and swallowing disorders. Our goal is that their quality of life as members of our society improves. This entails information dissemination and making service delivery more accessible to them and their families.

Currently, online platforms have become a predominant mode of interaction. Some may experience limitations such as limited readability (e.g., font face and size). Ease of use and navigation of online information and the internet for persons with disabilities (WHO, 2013) is needed on online platforms such as ours, the Philippine Association of Speech Pathologists’ (PASP) website.

Hence, PASP has recently equipped this website with an accessibility widget in line with our vision: “effective communication and safe swallow for all Filipinos.” All Filipinos, regardless of their condition or socioeconomic status, are entitled to access information regarding normal communication and normal swallowing to inform their personal decisions. The accessibility widget launched on the PASP website is from UserWay, free of charge and easy-to-use.

The features of the accessibility widgets:

The website has also equipped its “scroll to top” button for easier redirection to the top of a page when reading. 

References:

 

United Nations. (2006). Article 9 – Accessibility. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Treaty Series, 2515, 3. https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention -on-the-rights-of- persons-with-disabilities/article-9-accessibility.html

UserWay Inc. (2022). The UserWay accessibility widget. UserWay. https://userway.org/widget

WHO | World Health Organization (2013). Disability: What is E-accEssibility? https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/what-is-e-accessibility

Written by: Wincarylle Floresta, Patricia Llavore, Jana Sabado