Right now, somewhere in the world, a student is trying to take your course.
They're excited. They saved up for it. They cleared their schedule. And then they hit play on your first video—and there are no captions. They're deaf.
Or maybe they're colorblind, and your "click the green button" instruction makes no sense because green and red look identical to them.
Or perhaps they have ADHD, and your 45-minute lecture with no breaks or structure feels like trying to drink from a fire hose.
You didn't mean to exclude them. But you did.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: if you haven't actively designed for accessibility, you're accidentally locking out about 15% of the global population—over a billion people with disabilities. And that's not counting temporary situations like a broken arm, situational challenges like being in a noisy café, or age-related changes that affect us all eventually.
The good news? Making your course accessible isn't as hard as you think. And the changes you make won't just help people with disabilities—they'll make your course better for everyone.
Why Accessibility Actually Matters
Let's address the elephant in the room. You might be thinking: "My target audience doesn't have disabilities." But here's what that assumption misses.
The Ethical Case
People with disabilities have the same desire to learn, grow, and improve their lives as anyone else. When your course is inaccessible, you're telling them—whether you intend to or not—that they don't matter. That their money is welcome, but their experience isn't a priority.
That's not the kind of course creator you want to be.
The Business Case
Beyond ethics, there's a practical reality: accessible courses sell better. Students with disabilities represent significant purchasing power. Their friends and family members also consider accessibility when recommending courses. And increasingly, companies purchasing training for employees require accessibility compliance.
Plus, in many countries, digital accessibility is becoming a legal requirement. The lawsuits are real, and they're expensive.
But here's the most compelling reason: accessible design is just better design. Every improvement you make for accessibility makes your course more usable for everyone.
Visual Accessibility: Helping Everyone See Your Content
Let's start with the most common accessibility issues—visual ones.
Color Contrast Matters More Than You Think
That light gray text on a white background might look elegant to you, but for someone with low vision (or anyone over 40, honestly), it's a struggle to read.
The fix: Use a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. Don't know what that means? Tools like WebAIM's Contrast Checker will tell you instantly.
And never rely on color alone to convey information. "Click the red button" excludes colorblind users. Instead: "Click the red Submit button in the top right corner."
Font Choices and Sizes
Fancy decorative fonts might match your brand, but they're often difficult to read for people with dyslexia or visual impairments.
Stick to clean, sans-serif fonts like Arial, Verdana, or Open Sans for body text. Keep font sizes at a minimum of 16px for web content. And allow users to resize text without breaking your layout.
Alt Text for Images
When you add an image to your course, screen readers (software that reads content aloud to blind users) need a text description to convey what's in that image.
Write alt text that describes the purpose of the image, not just what it looks like. Instead of "woman at computer," try "student completing the course quiz on their laptop."
For decorative images that don't add meaning, you can mark them as decorative so screen readers skip them entirely.
Audio Accessibility: When Hearing Isn't an Option
If your course includes audio or video content (and most do), you need to think about students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Captions Are Non-Negotiable
Captions are the single most important accessibility feature for video content. And no, auto-generated captions don't cut it. YouTube's auto-captions are maybe 70-80% accurate on a good day—which means every fifth word is wrong.
Invest in proper captions. Many services offer affordable captioning, or you can edit auto-generated captions yourself. It takes time, but it matters.
Pro tip: Captions also help students who are watching in noisy environments, learning in their second language, or processing audio information more slowly. That's a lot of students.
Transcripts for Audio Content
For podcasts or audio-only content, provide a written transcript. This helps deaf students access your content, but also helps anyone who prefers reading to listening or wants to search for specific information.
Cognitive Accessibility: Respecting How Brains Work Differently
Not all disabilities are visible. Many students have cognitive differences that affect how they process information—ADHD, autism, learning disabilities, anxiety, or simply being exhausted from a demanding life.
Clear, Simple Language
Use plain language. This doesn't mean dumbing down your content—it means removing unnecessary jargon, breaking down complex concepts, and defining terms before you use them.
Ask yourself: "Could a smart person who's new to this topic follow along?" If you're using industry-specific terms without explanation, the answer is probably no.
Chunking Content
Our brains have limited working memory. When you present too much information at once, learning shuts down.
Break content into small, digestible chunks. A good rule of thumb: no video longer than 10-15 minutes. No text section longer than you can read in 3-4 minutes. Frequent headers, bullet points, and white space.
This isn't just for students with cognitive disabilities—it's how all brains learn best.
Predictable Structure
Students with anxiety or cognitive differences often rely on predictable patterns. When your course follows a consistent structure—same format for each module, clear navigation, obvious next steps—it reduces cognitive load for everyone.
Tell students what to expect. "In this module, you'll watch a 10-minute video, complete a worksheet, and take a 5-question quiz." That single sentence reduces anxiety and improves learning outcomes.
Motor Accessibility: Beyond the Mouse
Some students can't use a mouse. They might have limited hand mobility, tremors, or they might use alternative input devices like eye-tracking or voice control.
Keyboard Navigation
Can every part of your course be accessed using only a keyboard? Can students tab through your navigation, activate buttons with Enter, and move through your content without touching a mouse?
Test it yourself: unplug your mouse and try to complete your own course. You'll quickly discover any problems.
Click Target Size
Those tiny little icons and close buttons? They're a nightmare for anyone with motor control challenges.
Make clickable elements at least 44x44 pixels. This also helps mobile users (everyone has experienced the frustration of trying to tap a tiny link on a phone screen).
Video Accessibility Best Practices
Video is central to most online courses, so let's consolidate the key accessibility practices:
- Captions: Always. Accurate ones.
- Audio descriptions: For videos where important visual information isn't described in the narration, consider adding audio descriptions for blind students.
- No flashing content: Rapidly flashing lights can trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy. Avoid flashing more than 3 times per second.
- Playback controls: Let students pause, rewind, adjust speed, and control volume.
- No autoplay: Sudden unexpected audio is jarring and can interfere with screen readers.
Document and PDF Accessibility
If you provide downloadable materials—worksheets, ebooks, guides—they need to be accessible too.
PDFs are particularly problematic. A PDF created from a design program without proper tagging is completely inaccessible to screen readers. It's just an image of text.
For truly accessible documents:
- Use proper heading structure (H1, H2, H3)
- Add alt text to all images
- Use real text, not images of text
- Include a logical reading order
- Make sure links are descriptive ("Download the worksheet" not "click here")
When possible, offer documents in multiple formats—PDF and Word, for example—so students can use what works best for them.
The Curb Cut Effect: Accessibility Benefits Everyone
Here's something beautiful about accessibility: improvements for disabled users almost always help everyone else too.
This is called the curb cut effect. Curb cuts—those little ramps at street corners—were designed for wheelchair users. But they also help parents with strollers, travelers with luggage, delivery workers with carts, and anyone who's ever carried something heavy.
The same applies to your course:
- Captions help non-native speakers, students in noisy environments, and anyone who processes information better through reading
- Clear language helps beginners, tired students, and people consuming content quickly
- Chunked content matches how all brains actually learn
- Good contrast helps students on old monitors, in bright sunlight, or over 40
- Keyboard navigation helps power users who prefer keyboard shortcuts
When you design for accessibility, you design for everyone.
Tools for Testing Accessibility
You don't have to guess whether your course is accessible. These free tools will help:
- WAVE (wave.webaim.org): Scans web pages for accessibility issues
- WebAIM Contrast Checker: Tests color contrast ratios
- Hemingway Editor: Checks reading level and clarity of your text
- Screen reader testing: Try VoiceOver (Mac), NVDA (Windows), or TalkBack (Android) to experience your content as a blind user would
- Keyboard testing: Navigate your entire course without a mouse
For video, YouTube's caption accuracy preview helps, but manual review is still essential.
Starting Small: The 80/20 of Accessibility
Feeling overwhelmed? Here's the truth: you don't have to fix everything at once.
Start with the changes that help the most people:
- Add accurate captions to all videos – this is the single biggest impact change
- Check color contrast – a quick fix that helps millions
- Use proper heading structure – helps screen readers and all users navigate
- Write descriptive link text – easy change, big difference
- Add alt text to images – takes seconds per image
These five changes will address the majority of accessibility barriers in most courses. Start here, then expand your efforts over time.
Your Next Step
Accessibility isn't a box to check—it's a commitment to your students. All of them.
The beautiful thing is that every improvement you make creates a better learning experience for everyone. Accessible courses are clearer, easier to navigate, and more professionally designed. They build trust with students and reflect the kind of course creator you want to be.
You don't have to be perfect. You just have to start.
This week, pick one section of your course and audit it for accessibility. Add captions to one video. Check the contrast on your slides. Write alt text for your images. Small steps compound into big changes.
Your future students—all of them—will thank you.
Next Step: Ready to improve another aspect of your course design? Learn how to create engaging video content that keeps students watching and boosts completion rates.