Case Study: CNIB Improves Accessibility and Ensures Brand Consistency with Word LX

The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) has been helping Canadians with partial or full vision loss since 1918. Headquartered in Toronto, CNIB has over 50 offices in Canada with almost 1,000 employees.

CNIB is responsible for producing Clear Print – an accessible design standard that ensures maximum legibility for those with vision loss. It governs:

• Font styles

• Size and leading

• Colours and contrast

CNIB wanted to implement Clear Print across all their documents, as well as organize and standardize the many logos and templates scattered across their various network.

CNIB needed to convey a clear understanding of their brand through their documentation, but there was inconsistency (a large organization with many offices), as well as accessibility issues (about 14% of their workforce can’t use visual cues).

Based on these needs, CNIB reached out to us for our document automation and creation expertise. Even though we’re best known for helping law firms achieve consistency and brand standards, the foundation of Word LX™ has the flexibility to assist organizations like CNIB with their document functionality requirements.

The solution was highly successful. Through special customizations, Word LX™ functions as usual, but with added accessibility capabilities. Now CNIB has centralized forms and templates, as well as automatic Clear Print compliance.

Word LX™ also improved the functionality of the Windows screen reading software, Jobs Access with Speech (JAWS®). This application provides voice-based descriptions as users navigate Word documents.

The customization we provided made it easier for CNIB staff using JAWS® to create documents and navigate through their underlying structure (i.e. headings, paragraphs, bulleted points, etc.).

“The opportunity to leverage our technology to positively affect and empower individuals dealing with vision loss, in combination with helping support CNIB’s mission, was incredibly inspiring and rewarding for our team,” said Dan Sharp, President and CEO of Infoware.

This project with CNIB identified Infoware’s ability to help any type of organization. It demonstrated how our software can enable and enforce branding standards with accessibility regulations.

For more information about our solutions, click here.

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