Improving health information accessibilityWebsites can present significant challenges to people with auditory, visual, and other impairments. Health information on benefit exchange websites can be complicated, especially for people who face barriers as a result of disabilities.
We conducted rigorous research to find best practices, guidelines, and standards that support people with disabilities and the mission of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange: to radically improve how Washington residents secure health insurance through innovative and practical solutions, an easy-to-use customer experience, our values of integrity, respect, equity and transparency, and by providing undeniable value to the health care community. We partnered with the Washington Health Benefit Exchange (WAHBE) to identify resources to improve the accessibility of health insurance information. We also provided them recommendations for short-term improvements. |
ConsultantsKathleen Sullivan MLIS, 2017
Johanna Jacobsen Kiciman PhD, 2007; MLIS, 2017
Sarah Carnes MLIS, 2017; Clinical Librarian, Bedford VA Medical Center
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Solutions that supportWe designed our presentations and the resource guide to be accessible to as many people as possible. We wanted to show how thoughtful design and content choices can make information easier to understand.
Font types and sizes, colors, images, vocabulary, and other elements can affect accessibility, especially for people with visual impairments. We enhanced our accessibility by using a machine-generated voice for our video and the recording of our Capstone presentation flyer. Machine-generated voices can be easier to understand for people who are used to using screen readers. |
Contact us |
Please contact us with your questions and so that we may pay forward the assistance we received from stakeholders, advocates, and subject matter experts
Sarah Carnes sarah.carnes@va.gov Johanna Jacobsen Kiciman jmjk@uw.edu Kathleen Sullivan kathlen@uw.edu |