Everything we do on nsw.gov.au is underpinned by our commitment to accessibility and inclusivity.
The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 requires agencies to ensure people with disabilities have equal access to information and services. All NSW Government digital products and services must meet the current version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to level AA.
The NSW Accessibility and Inclusivity Toolkit is an invaluable resource and provides extensive guidance on ensuring your content is accessible and usable by all of our customers.
nsw.gov.au and WCAG
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are international technical standards which aim to make web content accessible to people with disabilities.
As a NSW Government site, we are committed to ensuring nsw.gov.au meets the current version of WCAG (2.2) to AA level.
We use an accessibility by design approach, where accessibility considerations are included from the very beginning, through design and development. All features and functionality are thoroughly tested against the WCAG standards, and using various assistive technologies, before release.
Ongoing monitoring
We constantly monitor the site for accessibility issues using tools such as SiteImprove. We’re happy to say we routinely exceed our target score of 84% compliance site-wide.
Additionally, we regularly engage accessibility specialists to run independent accessibility audits across the site and are committed to promptly rectifying any issues identified.
Your responsibilities
Accessibility is everyone's responsibility. If you manage and publish content, you can do your part by following the accessibility guidance when creating and maintaining your content.
Easy Read
Easy Read is a specific technique to create content designed for people with intellectual disability, low literacy or low English proficiency. Read more about Easy Read.
You can also visit the Easy Read hub to see our current Easy Read content. The hub will continue to expand over the coming months.
CALD audiences
Another key audience we must consider is customers who are part of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.
Following the guidelines for writing in plain English helps all of your users understand your content. Well written content that has a reading age of Grade 9 or lower also provides a more accurate basis for machine translations such as Google Translate.
You can also read guidance on communicating with CALD communities, which provides useful insights into how you can most effectively communicate with these customers. The CALD Guidance Tool provides detailed actionable insights based on extensive research.
Translation
We provide the Google Translate automated translation feature across all pages of nsw.gov.au. While this is a useful starting point for customers, remember that it is a machine translation, and as such may not be entirely accurate.
For high priority, critical content, we recommend investing in professional, human translations.
See I want to make content on nsw.gov.au accessible for CALD communities for more information.
Need any more help?
If you have any questions, or require assistance with anything mentioned in this article, submit a request via the webform.