Toolkit: Introducing Accessibility for Visually Impaired Audiences at Archives

This toolkit is a resource for people working within archives and other collection repositories who want to introduce accessibility for visually impaired audiences into their work.

The toolkit is a summary of what I’ve learnt during my year-long research project as part of the RLUK/TNA Professional Research Fellowship Scheme 2023-24. The question guiding my project was: ‘How do we make our archives not just accessible but engaging for visually impaired audiences?’ As part of the Online Education team, I was aware of the technical accessibility requirements we had to follow, but I wanted to go beyond a checklist and see how we could more directly address and understand the needs of this audience group. To find this out, I have talked to experts and people with lived experience, undertaken training, and tested out different techniques and technologies directly with visually impaired students.

This culminated in the pilot workshop ‘Sensing the Archives’, in which a bespoke workshop was created for a group of blind and partially sighted KS 3-4 students from New College Worcester using tactile images created by George Rhodes of All Able as well as other sensory elements.

This toolkit does not intend to be a definitive guide to accessibility, a best practices document, or a reflection of the lived experiences of visually impaired people. It is written from the point of view of a sighted person.

What this toolkit does intend to be is a useful starting-off point for archives professionals who are interested in learning more about this area of accessibility and how they can practically incorporate it into their work. It is a living document that can be changed and updated as needed.