Increasingly the front door of our Church is digital, with our websites and social media spaces the first port of call. If we understand that good hospitality is vital to sharing the Gospel then perhaps we should be asking, how hospitable is our digital presence?

May 15 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, a time to get everyone talking, thinking and learning about digital access and inclusion for the more than one billion people worldwide who live with disabilities or impairments. 

Accessibility in our digital communications makes a big difference to people locked out of participation when it's not there. For some disabled people who struggle with the inaccessible physical environment, having good digital access opens up a new world to them. And often disabled people can offer their skills and participate in the online community more easily than in the physical world.

Many disabled people use assistive technology to help access the digital world such as screen readers for people who are visually impaired or blind, captioning for people who are hearing impaired or deaf, and voice activation for people who have little or no hand movement.

As well as assistive technology, using plain language in digital communications meets with a wider range of people, such as English second-language speakers, people with low literacy and/or cognitive impairments.

Often the hardware of computers is accessible, but website and social media design leaves out essential coding information for people who use assistive technology. This can happen with the way we use technology both when we gather together virtually or in person.

To help churches plan their welcome better, there are guidelines and standards for online accessibility at NZ digital government, here: Accessibility | NZ Digital government 

To hear more tips on good digital hospitality, there is a free accessibility forum running from 10am on 14 May. You can book in via this link: All welcome at the Government Digital Accessibility Forum 2025 | NZ Digital government