You can’t be what you can’t read: Website accessibility for people with disability in Australian community radio

Community radio in Australia is built on the volunteering of community members, including by people from marginalised communities. An accessible website is a necessary condition for recruitment in volunteer organisations; however, digital accessibility presents challenges to increasing inclusion of people with disability. Inaccessible websites impact the rights of people with disability to information and participation under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (2006). People who have vision-impairments, are colourblind, or have other disabilities can have difficulty if websites do not conform to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, an international measure of accessibility. Enhancing inclusion via accessible websites is a step towards greater participation and volunteering of people with disability in this important community sector. Using a critical disability lens, this research asks, “How accessible are community radio websites in Australia?” using a convenience sample of websites of members of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia.