HOW TO MAKE YOUR CONFERENCE ACCESSIBLE – AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE!

PRESENTATIONS

Accessibility can be improved in many ways during presentations.

INTERPRETERS

People who are Deaf or hard of hearing may require the assistance of a sign language interpreter to benefit from the presentations. Hiring interpreters to cover all sessions may turn out to be cost prohibitive if you have a particularly large event. Or you may even have a hard time finding interpreters in your area to cover all events. Where possible, all efforts should be made to ensure interpreters are available, if you know that you will have attendees that need interpreters.

Instead of interpreter, you could organise for CART (Communication Access Realtime Transcription). Basically someone is typing what the presenter says and the transcription is projected on a screen near the main display screen. This has the added advantage that you end up with a transcript of the presentation that you can use to create subtitles for your videos (more on that later), or simply to provide for the attendees after the presentation.

Or you could rely on some imaginative use of technology. This can be tricky, so make sure you thoroughly test whatever solution you come up with ahead of time and in context. For example, I once setup Dragon NaturallySpeaking at a church a Deaf colleague was attending. The church could not afford interpreters, yet they had a few Deaf and hard of hearing parishioners that would have liked to attend services but couldn’t. So a used laptop was donated, a cheap overhead projector was acquired and Dragon was trained for the priest. His sermon were projected on a screen and people who couldn’t hear him speak could read the text. They discovered shortly after they implemented that system that many of the elderly parishioners also benefited from this reasonable accommodation. And the priest realized he now had access to all his sermons in electronic formats, indexed, searchable, etc. As with CART, you’d end up with an exact transcript. BEWARE! This solution worked well in the context of one person speaking in one environment. It may not be optimal when speakers haven’t had time to train the speech-to-text solution.

Accessibility often requires lateral thinking.

SLIDE COLOR SCHEME AND FONT SIZES

Remind speakers that their slides should rely on colors that would be easy to distinguish for the roughly 8% of people who are color blind.

Also, less text per slide, with bigger font is generally better and easier to read. For everyone!

How have you made your conference more accessible for all people?

If you are interested in learning more about Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) or how to make accessibility a natural part of your business through the application of Corporate Social Responsibility, please contact Sandra Broekhof @ 416-579-1035 orsandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca

HOW TO MAKE YOUR CONFERENCE ACCESSIBLE – AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE!

CARPETS

Solid surfaces like polished concrete or varnished wood floors could cause a hazard for people who are ambulatory but unsteady on their feet. They are slippery, especially if liquids were spilled.

Yes, carpets are generally a better solution. However, carpet should have high density, low cut pile. Otherwise it acts a bit like quicksand for wheelchair users who have to work a lot harder to move from point A to point B.

HALLWAYS

Hallways should be wide and clear of obstructions. This will help mobility for wheelchair users, but also for people with sight impairments, particularly if they use a cane for mobility.

DINING HALLS

If you offer meals, such as lunch, plan the layout of the dining hall carefully. Ensure there is enough space between the tables (including with people seating at chairs) for a wheelchair user or someone using a guide dog to be able to navigate through. Otherwise you risk forcing people with limited mobility to sit near the doors, or be unable to reach the buffet table.

The round tables and chairs in the photo are for a presentation, but imagine if they were setup like this for a dinner – No room to move around. Photo by William Boyes. CC SA-By 2.0

Are you organizing dining “tribes”, or interest group tables? How are you going to deliver that information to attendees with visual impairments? How will they know which table might host a tribe they relate to? You could make an an announcement with offer to direct people could be made, or a listing of the available tribes could be provided on the website, again with an offer to have a volunteer direct people to the right table.

EVACUATION PLANS

When you talk to the facility manager about the evacuation plan, discuss with them what their procedures are to evacuate people with disabilities. Share that information with your attendees.

How have you made your conference more accessible for all people?

If you are interested in learning more about Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) or how to make accessibility a natural part of your business through the application of Corporate Social Responsibility, please contact Sandra Broekhof @ 416-579-1035 orsandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca

HOW TO MAKE YOUR CONFERENCE ACCESSIBLE – AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE!

CONFERENCE ROOMS

Are the presentations held in amphitheater style rooms? Or in large meeting rooms? Are there stages in the rooms?

If you have presentations in amphitheater, ensure there are spaces available for a wheelchair user to “park” themselves to follow the presentation. Ensure entrances to the amphitheater aren’t at the high end of the room, and if they are, that there is a low gradient ramp to be able to go down. Avoid placing the wheelchair seating area at the back of the room only.

If you are using large meeting rooms with rows of removable seats, make sure to leave enough space for wheelchairs to move around. Avoid people over crowding the room. It can be difficult to gauge how popular a specific presentation will be, but if you are able to get a feel for how each presentation will be attended (from historical data for instance), avoid scheduling a popular presentation in a smaller room.

If the presenter is expected to speak on a stage, is there a ramp or level entry to get on the ramp. If there isn’t, find another room for wheelchair using speakers. Don’t offer to lift them and their chair bodily up on stage. It is neither dignified nor safe!

BATHROOMS

Are there accessible bathrooms near the conference and dining rooms? This includes having stalls large enough to permit a wheelchair to go in, as well as sinks and taps that can be reached from a wheelchair.

Accessible bathrooms should be in near proximity, but sometimes accessible bathrooms are only available on different floors of the venue than the one where the conference is being held. If that is the case, ensure appropriate signage and information so people who need accessible toilets will know how to get to them.

Also, in the housekeeping address to attendees, it’s worth reminding people to avoid using the accessible stall. It’s not unusual for wheelchair users to be stuck waiting for people who could have used a different stall.

How have you made your conference more accessible for all people?

If you are interested in learning more about Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) or how to make accessibility a natural part of your business through the application of Corporate Social Responsibility, please contact Sandra Broekhof @ 416-579-1035 orsandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca