If you’re managing communications on a small team (or solo), here’s the good news: accessibility doesn’t have to be complicated. Functionality and inclusivity go hand in hand—and these quick tips will get you started.
Whether you’re managing programs, fundraising, or wearing four different hats on a small team, communications tasks probably land on your plate more often than you’d like. And let’s be real: even if you are a comms expert, there are only so many hours in a day.
But accessibility and inclusion don’t have to be a massive lift. And small tweaks can help you engage all audiences better. Accessible content has a “curb cut effect.”
By adjusting your emails, social posts, and web content, you can improve accessibility and reach wider audiences—like people with low vision, neurodiversity like ADHD or dyslexia, hearing loss or other disabilities, busy parents, older adults, and anyone who’s temporarily disabled. The best part? Inclusive communication doesn’t require fancy tools or design degrees. Here are four practical practices you can start using today.
1. Left-Align Your Text (Please. I’m Begging You.)
If there’s a hill I will die on in communications, it’s this one: left-align your text.
There are four ways to align text: left, center, right, and justified. The first three have their time and place (centered for headlines, right-aligned for design accents). But justified text—the kind with perfectly aligned left and right edges? It’s time to let it go.
Why it matters: Justified text might look polished, but making those edges line up requires uneven spacing between words. That makes it harder to read, especially for people who are neurodiverse or have dyslexia; it disrupts the brain’s natural ability to track lines and word groupings and slows reading speeds.
What to do: Left-aligning your text keeps it clean, professional, and readable. It makes your content easier to skim, easier to process, and ultimately, easier to get. And isn’t that the whole point?
Who this benefits: Everyone! While left-aligning text helps people with reading disorders or neurodivergence, everyone who reads from left to right finds it easier to read left-aligned text.
2. Avoid All-Caps
We all love a little text hierarchy. ALL CAPS feels like a great way to call attention to something important. But it’s not doing your readers—or your message—any favors.
Why it matters:
- First, it flattens word shapes into uniform rectangles, slowing down reading speed because the brain has to read each letter individually. And yes—it does feel like you’re shouting.
- Second, many assistive technology screen readers interpret all-caps as acronyms—spelling out each letter aloud. Listening to “T-H-I-S I-S Y-O-U-R R-E-M-I-N-D-E-R” gets old fast.
- Third, for folks whose first language isn’t English, especially those who can read and write in non-Latin scripts, like Chinese, Cyrillic, or Devanagari, uppercase letters are less familiar. Many ESL learners are taught lowercase first, so they have to mentally convert all-caps words and translate the meaning. That’s a lot of extra work.
Better options: Use bold fonts, different typefaces, color, spacing, or even emojis (where appropriate) to add visual cues. Or just stick to sentence case and strong writing.
Who this benefits: People using screen readers, people who learned English as a second language, and anyone who doesn’t like being shouted at online.
3. Vary Sentence Length and Format for Mobile
We’re all reading on our phones these days, whether it’s emails, blogs, or social posts. Your audience is busy, distracted, and likely skimming. Help them out by varying your sentence length.
Why it matters: Huge blocks of text create friction. If your content feels hard to parse, people will scroll past—even if the message is important. And for people with ADHD or cognitive differences, or just struggling to pay attention (like all of us), poor formatting can mean missing out entirely.
What to do:
- Use short paragraphs. 1-2 sentences per paragraph often suffice online.
- Break things up with bullet points or headers.
- Mix short and medium-length sentences to maintain rhythm.
- Always preview your content on mobile before publishing. Fun fact: More than half of your audience is viewing your content on their phone.
Good formatting isn’t just about aesthetics—it’s about comprehension.
Who this benefits: Anyone with attention challenges. You may be thinking about people with ADHD, but in this distracted age, everyone’s attention is being challenged. Clear, easy-to-skim content makes it more likely your message will land, whether someone is between meetings or scrolling on the go.
4. Always Add Alt Text
“Alt text” might sound like scary comms jargon, but it’s really simple. It’s a 1-2 sentence written description of an image—something a screen reader can read aloud for people who are blind or have low vision.
Why it matters: If your digital content is image-heavy, people using screen readers won’t know what’s there unless you tell them. It’s also good for search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines can’t “see” your images either, but they can read alt text. So, inclusivity and functionality go hand in hand.
What to do: Most platforms (like Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and Mailchimp) have an “add alt text” option when you upload an image. Don’t overthink it—just describe what’s essential in the image. If it is text on a graphic, include the words. If it is a photo, share who or what you see in it. And always use proper grammar and punctuation.
Who this benefits: People using screen readers, but also you by delivering more search results to your content!
You’ve Got This (Really)
Inclusive comms isn’t about perfection—it’s about intention. You don’t need to overhaul your entire communications strategy overnight. These four small changes can help more people access, understand, and connect with your work.
So go ahead—left-align, drop the caps, break up long paragraphs, and add the alt text. Let these practices work with you, not against you. And watch your audience, and your engagement, grow.