EAPM Style and Accessibility Guide
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Keep this style guide growing, up-to-date, and free to for everyone to use. Show your support for the Style and Accessibility Guide by becoming an sustaining patron of accessible style with an gift of $24.99 or any amount you choose.
Keep the style guide free
Keep this style guide growing, up-to-date, and free to for everyone to use. Show your support for the Style and Accessibility Guide by becoming an sustaining patron of accessible style with an gift of $24.99 or any amount you choose.
About this guide
This style guide was built to maintain consistency across EAPM news outlets and media. It was also built to bring accessibility to our written and spoken language.
To bring news to a wider audience, language and design must be:
- clear;
- concise;
- accurate;
- and understandable.
Why is this important?
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
- 28.2 percent of American adults are disabled;
- and 50 percent of American adults have a chronic illness.
Digging deeper into those CDC numbers we find:
- 6.2 percent of American adults have a hearing disability;
- 5.5 percent have a vision disability;
- 13.9 percent have a cognitive disability;
- and 12.2 percent have a mobility disability.
Another less known statistic is that among American Adults, 54 percent have a literacy level that is below 6th grade, according to the National Literacy Institute.
Improving accessibility across written, audio, and video news is the best way to reach all audiences with facts and maintain trust.
Use this guide to improve your consistency with words, style, and accessibility.
We hope this guide helps you become a more accessible journalist.
Questions and comments
Is there something missing? Have something to add? Do you have a burning style question? Email style@equalaccesspublicmedia.org.
