SDI is excited to announce the launch of the new Starkloff.org! The site officially became active at the beginning of December, but has been a long time in the making.

“We worked very hard to ensure the most accessible and beautiful site possible,” says Lori Becker, COO and Director of Development and Communications. “We had great help along the way.”

November Champion is the Senior Online Accessibility Strategist at St. Louis’ largest financial services firm. She helps ensure digital content is accessible. November is one of the newest members of the SDI Board of Directors. She helped to ensure the new Starkloff.org website is fully accessible to all who use it.

With the knowledge she has gained from the years of doing usability studies and working with people with disabilities, November analyzed Starkloff’s design. “I provided training to those designing and building the site, and tested it using Assistive Technologies once it was built,” she details.

“I love the finished product!” November says. “The site’s simple organization benefits everyone, not just people with disabilities.” She finds the color palette more readable for those with low or challenged vision, and the structure easier for those using a screen reader to navigate. “The imagery used is really compelling,” she adds.

For those who want to make their sites more accessible, November provides these words of wisdom: Usability goes hand in hand with accessibility. “So if you’re interested in making your site more usable so that people can easily find needed information or perform actions, you will need to make it more accessible as well.” She advises working with someone who is knowledgeable about accessibility or has a disability themselves to help make a site truly attainable.

“An inaccessible website is like having your office on the 40^th floor of a building with no elevators,” November parallels. While it’s difficult for anyone to be able to traverse that many flights of stairs, it’s impossible for those in a wheelchair and/or other mobility aids to get there. “Would you intentionally hide your website from people with disabilities?” she asks.

We encourage everyone to visit our new website at ww.starkloff.org today and sign up for our monthly newsletter!