Blog
Excel Accessibility
I tend to get two assumptions about Excel. The first is that it is automatically accessible because all you do is put data in cells, so what's to go wrong? The second is that Excel is not at all accessible and that we should either avoid it or not even worry about accessibility.
Neither is true. Excel, like most other applications, can be used to create accessible content but you have to know what you're doing. In this day and age, I really think we should all know how to do this, which is why I write these blogs and run my website.
Published: 21 July 2024
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Word Accessibility
Some of my earliest experiences of using a computer were for word processing. I had a ZX Spectrum +3 with a word processing programme that took ages to load. It allowed me to produce my university assignments in print, rather than having to handwrite them. In 1989, I don't think I knew anything about accessibility - physical or digital - but a lot has changed since then.
Now, in 2024, most of us have some kind of digital device and disabled people, including assistive software users, should be able to access Word documents just as easily as everyone else. This post will explain three things that you can do to make your Word document more accessible.
I'll try to explain what to do, why it matters and how to do it. I will try to give instructions for assistive software users too, as I think they get completely forgotten when teaching accessibility.
Published: 14 July 2024
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Document Series
It's a long time since I wrote blog posts on the subject of document accessibility, which is something that we should all know something about. In the workplace, I have noticed a significant shift in awareness around document accessibility but there is still a long way to go. Many people now know they should be making their documents accessible but just lack the skills and confidence to do it well.
So I thought now is the time to write a series of blog posts on different types of documents and give you three things that we can all do to make them more accessible.
Published: 7 July 2024
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Northern Ireland
As I prepare this blog post, it's a week before we leave for Northern Ireland. As usual, a lot of planning has gone into this post, which you can see on my Wanderlog Plan 
. I've also plotted out the Northern Ireland part of the trip on this map.
Published: 22 June 2024
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Liggy in the Workplace
Liggy is my assistance dog, provided by the charity, Canine Partners . When I first brought her home, I wrote a blog post called Assistance Dog Etiquette , to help explain to other people in my world, how they should behave around her. That post was great in the beginning but Liggy is older now and things change, so I thought I should update the information.
What I am going to write here applies mostly to when Liggy comes into a workplace with me, but it does transfer to other environments too, such as shops and restaurants.
Published: 19 February 2024
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Inequality and Injustice
2023 has been yet another year, dominated by news stories of war. The war in Ukraine has continued. War in Israel and Gaza has erupted. It feels like a very unsettled time for our world.
Is it coincidence that in 2024, two of our planned holidays take us to places that have been the centre of war and conflict? Our next road trip will take us to Northern Ireland, which as a child, I only knew as where The Troubles were happening. Then, later in 2024, we are planning to visit the Western Front in Ypres, Belgium and the Somme area of France, to find out more about World War 1.
As I begin to plan these two trips and learn about the history of Northern Ireland and the Western Front, I find myself asking some bigger questions around equality and injustice. What role does inequality play in war and conflict? This is an important question for me, as my work now centres around this same issue.
This blog post will explore some of my thoughts, though I expect I will have many more questions than answers at this stage.
Published: 29 December 2023
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Out of Season Road Trip
I've become quite sensitive to various discussions that have emerged on social media about motorhomes and road trips. Two themes, in particular, have caught my attention because they generate very strong views, which are often expressed with a nastiness that I don't want to be on the receiving end of.
- Motorhomes as a method of travel and touring
- Tourist routes such as the North Coast 500.
I'll explore these a little in this post, and look at the pros and cons of doing a road trip outside the main tourist season, as we just have. For context, we have just returned from a 2 week road trip of Kintyre and Islay, which was timed to coincide with our 30th wedding anniversary, but also fit the profile of 'out of season'.
Published: 23 December 2023
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SVG Bar Graph
A few days ago, I published a blog post about data accessibility. One of the things I wanted to do, following this, was to find out how data visualisations such as graphs and pie charts can be created so that they read well with a screen reader. This prompted a bit of a learning curve for me, which I'm going to share in this post.
Published: 8 August 2023
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Accessible Data
Data is something that I don't tend to consciously think much about but I don't think I have worked in any role where data wasn't really important.
As a teacher, I worked daily with data that focussed on children's progress and learning. We had numerous Excel spreadsheets that tracked progress each half term, what level each child had reached in each subject and whether they were making sufficient progress to be on track to achieve the expected levels in their Key Stage 2 SATs.
In adult learning, we had similar Excel spreadsheets for tracking courses, course numbers, finances and other performance targets. We also had dedicated database applications for storing customer information and personal data. It was while I was working there that the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came in, and with it, a lot of conscious thought about how personal data is used and stored.
Now I'm thinking about data from an accessibility perspective. We have lots of data in Government and to help colleagues process it, we use several data visualisation tools. The more I think about data visualisation, the more concerned I become about accessibility.
Published: 4 August 2023
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Tremor Recommendations
I have Essential Tremor. It is one of the most common neurological movement disorders, being eight times more common than Parkinson's Disease. Approximately one million people in the UK have Essential Tremor. It can begin at any age. I've had it since I was about six years old, but it wasn't diagnosed until much later in adult life.
As a child, people assumed I was just very nervous. As I got older, I've had people assume that I'm drunk and that I lack confidence. My tremor has become progressively worse as I've got older and it now affects my co-ordination and balance.
There are many ways that my tremor affects daily life. Here are some daily life tasks that I find more difficult because of my tremor:
Published: 9 July 2023
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