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Are your #USSStrike #TeachIn sessions inclusive and accessible to disabled attendees?
I am a deaf and disabled person who has been excluded from teachins and strike sessions because free and simple access improvements which might increase access aren't even being thought of.
If we want to revolutionise education and teaching, that needs to include us the disabled members of our communities too.
While some things may be expensive or time - consuming, there are many zero cost, fairly quick and simple things which could be done.
I have compiled some suggestions to help you make everyone more included. I'd like to see more of these become the norm for teachins.
QUESTIONS YOU CAN ASK YOURSELF
Where is your session being held? What are the barriers to access?
Can people physically get in? Are there options to allow people to sit nearer the speaker? Is there space for different seating or people using wheelchairs, assistance dogs or mobility aids like crutches to get in? Can you actively direct your audience to be considerate and aware of people's needs? Could you invite people with any difficulties hearing to sit nearer the front? Can you facilitate group discussions carefully so people don't talk over one another or interrupt. Do you need to recruit a co-facilitator or assistant to help do logistics and welcome? If you as facilitator make inclusion and access a priority throughout, others will follow.
SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS
Give clear info about your session, length, type of content, subject and a brief outline and loose order of content.
=Aids people who experience barriers involving uncertainty, hearing, seeing or sequencing...
Summarise any visuals (images, graphs) descriptively and functionally (what does it look like, what is it meant to convey) as you go along.
=Aids people who experience barriers to seeing, processing or extracting meaning from visual information.
Upload outlines, prep notes and anything which might help someone experiencing barriers to hearing to somewhere attendees can download or access them during session (QR codes or clearly write shortened url on a big piece of paper - read it out for people who can't see the paper).
= Aids people who experience barriers to hearing, processing, concentration and memory.
Create an open Google doc and encourage those who wish to, to join it and make notes or share their own relevant resources in there.
= makes inclusion a group responsibility, may enable some people to engage and interact who would struggle verbally.
If you've uploaded videos, use a platform which can auto-caption, do that AND allow users to correct them. (better audio creates better captions which are quicker and easier to tidy up).
= Auto captions aren't enough on their own to give deaf people access, but they are better than nothing for zero/low budget endeavours and sharing tidying them up shares responsibility for inclusion.
Use headings to break up text into logical structures.
= This improves the navigability of your document, especially for people using assistive technology (such as software which reads out text).
Provide text description of images. If you can't find image description in your system put it in a paragraph next to the image. If users comment create a community rule that everyone describes their own images.
= enables people experiencing barriers to perceiving or understanding visual information to know what is communicated by it.
If using uncaptioned video as your delivery option or in resources, consider writing a brief summary of what is covered and salient points. If you can find or ask others to help find equivalent or similar text/other format resources that's even better.
Link to further material or your sources. Consider a range of different formats - if you've done lecture in person or video, consider text and captioned video resources.
= Different formats automatically increases accessibility, people can use resources which have the fewest barriers to their access.
Ask around and openly seek ideas to increase accessibility. Assume you do have disabled people in audience even if you can't identify us. Accessibility is a shared responsibility.
= An open, welcoming and supportive attitude enables disabled people to take up access options. Access is a right not just a nicety.
Follow (listen to) people on social media who talk about disability access and inclusion.
= This is a great way to learn about what is possible without demanding dis-privileged people use their limited energy to educate you.
Search for terms like "make X accessible".
= there are free resources out there. Seek them out - share them.
I will try and collate some useful resources for another post.
Do people want me to do a teach-in on making teach-ins inclusive and accessible?
I also welcome additional ideas - tweet to me @natalyadell
I am a deaf and disabled person who has been excluded from teachins and strike sessions because free and simple access improvements which might increase access aren't even being thought of.
If we want to revolutionise education and teaching, that needs to include us the disabled members of our communities too.
While some things may be expensive or time - consuming, there are many zero cost, fairly quick and simple things which could be done.
I have compiled some suggestions to help you make everyone more included. I'd like to see more of these become the norm for teachins.
QUESTIONS YOU CAN ASK YOURSELF
Where is your session being held? What are the barriers to access?
Can people physically get in? Are there options to allow people to sit nearer the speaker? Is there space for different seating or people using wheelchairs, assistance dogs or mobility aids like crutches to get in? Can you actively direct your audience to be considerate and aware of people's needs? Could you invite people with any difficulties hearing to sit nearer the front? Can you facilitate group discussions carefully so people don't talk over one another or interrupt. Do you need to recruit a co-facilitator or assistant to help do logistics and welcome? If you as facilitator make inclusion and access a priority throughout, others will follow.
SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS
Give clear info about your session, length, type of content, subject and a brief outline and loose order of content.
=Aids people who experience barriers involving uncertainty, hearing, seeing or sequencing...
Summarise any visuals (images, graphs) descriptively and functionally (what does it look like, what is it meant to convey) as you go along.
=Aids people who experience barriers to seeing, processing or extracting meaning from visual information.
Upload outlines, prep notes and anything which might help someone experiencing barriers to hearing to somewhere attendees can download or access them during session (QR codes or clearly write shortened url on a big piece of paper - read it out for people who can't see the paper).
= Aids people who experience barriers to hearing, processing, concentration and memory.
Create an open Google doc and encourage those who wish to, to join it and make notes or share their own relevant resources in there.
= makes inclusion a group responsibility, may enable some people to engage and interact who would struggle verbally.
If you've uploaded videos, use a platform which can auto-caption, do that AND allow users to correct them. (better audio creates better captions which are quicker and easier to tidy up).
= Auto captions aren't enough on their own to give deaf people access, but they are better than nothing for zero/low budget endeavours and sharing tidying them up shares responsibility for inclusion.
Use headings to break up text into logical structures.
= This improves the navigability of your document, especially for people using assistive technology (such as software which reads out text).
Provide text description of images. If you can't find image description in your system put it in a paragraph next to the image. If users comment create a community rule that everyone describes their own images.
= enables people experiencing barriers to perceiving or understanding visual information to know what is communicated by it.
If using uncaptioned video as your delivery option or in resources, consider writing a brief summary of what is covered and salient points. If you can find or ask others to help find equivalent or similar text/other format resources that's even better.
Link to further material or your sources. Consider a range of different formats - if you've done lecture in person or video, consider text and captioned video resources.
= Different formats automatically increases accessibility, people can use resources which have the fewest barriers to their access.
Ask around and openly seek ideas to increase accessibility. Assume you do have disabled people in audience even if you can't identify us. Accessibility is a shared responsibility.
= An open, welcoming and supportive attitude enables disabled people to take up access options. Access is a right not just a nicety.
Follow (listen to) people on social media who talk about disability access and inclusion.
= This is a great way to learn about what is possible without demanding dis-privileged people use their limited energy to educate you.
Search for terms like "make X accessible".
= there are free resources out there. Seek them out - share them.
I will try and collate some useful resources for another post.
Do people want me to do a teach-in on making teach-ins inclusive and accessible?
I also welcome additional ideas - tweet to me @natalyadell
