NSW insurer and care provider icare has introduced a range of enhancements to its website, icare.nsw.gov.au, to make it more accessible to people living with a disability and members of the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities.
Julie Starley, icare general manager for customer, digital, and brand, said the latest enhancements “address a wide range of usability needs for people with disabilities, impairments, and medical conditions, as well as CALD communities.”
Enhancements include:
“Our goal is to provide our customers with an experience that is respectful and empathetic every time they interact with us,” Starley said “Over 10,000 customers visit the icare website each week, so ensuring it is accessible to those for whom English is a second language and to people living with disability is a fundamental part of our ethos.”
In NSW, more than 25% of households speak a language other than English, 2016 census data showed.
The icare website also features text size scaling, and alternative textual descriptions and metadata, which allows assistive technologies to interpret non-text content; and website navigation tools to support users with limited dexterity and/or visual impairment.
“Delivering real outcomes and benefits to people living with disability and CALD communities are priorities in our Inclusion and Diversity Strategy 2017-19,” Starley said “The new enhancements improve this significantly, but there is still more to do. We’re continuing to look for new and innovative ways to go above and beyond the baseline requirement of Level AA Even though the enhancements have been built in accordance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.”
