Accessible Accessibility: Lessons Learned from NOAA Data Communications

People with disabilities are a group that has historically been underrepresented and marginalized in the science communications arena. For materials produced by the federal government, accessibility is the law according to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, but accessibility efforts often fall short or remain an afterthought in post-material creation.

NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) stewards environmental data from across NOAA and the international science community, ranging from bathymetry data that describes the seafloor to solar activity descriptions and products. NCEI Communications takes the lead on translating these data and products into information that can be used and understood by everyone from technical data users to K-12 educators. People with disabilities are part of every NCEI user group, and as such the NCEI Communications team has restructured their strategy for creating accessible materials. Notably different from the approach many agencies and organizations take, NCEI content creation has refocused to prioritize accessibility as a part of the process from the very beginning. NCEI Communications will share lessons, ideas, and other simple ways to create scientific content with “built-in” accessibility.