How to Communicate Accessibility
“How to Communicate Accessibility,” on a blue speech bubble in the center of the image. Purple blob lines throughout the image on the white background.
In my experience as a disabled and deaf person of both creating events for people to attend and participate and attending events that I am interested in, accessibility can be lacking. Specifically with communicating information to people with disabilities relating to accessibility in order for them to make an informed decision.
What I have noticed from an organizational point of view is the expectation that people with disabilities will inform their needs and it can probably be figured out in the end. On the upsetting side, people who create these activities may think that people with disabilities will not attend or worse, think that their event is accessible when it is not.
As someone who has multiple disabilities, I have experienced the frustration of wanting (or expecting to) attend an event but there is little to no information about the accessibility. I have even attended events where the organization has the box to input information about accessibility needs and nothing was informed or done about it. This is not an uncommon experience and it influences the thought process that disabled people go through to make a decision about attending or not.
So why is it important to be aware of?
By being on the organizing side of the events and the attending side of the event, there are quite a few tidbits of information I picked up on that can help the awareness of accessibility of events.
The first area of difference is the assumption of accessibility. People with disabilities know their own experiences of what they individually need. If they go and learn about others’ experiences through activism or organizing events themselves, they can know a little more overall on what is needed for different communities within the disability community.
For organizations, depending on the resources and capacity, they may not know the information to look for without the education. People who plan and organize events can be limited to their knowledge which includes stigma, what they can quickly find online, what the legal requirements are, and what the other stakeholders know about accessibility. This leads to assuming the needs and “figuring it out later” mindset. The accommodation mindset of “oh, if we are informed then we can look to see if we can do it,” does not consider the amount of time and resources needed for accessibility. I even had an experience where as a panelist, the accessibility was thought through for attendees but not for the people speaking, even when I tried to gather as much information as I could to prevent this experience.
For the longest time, the expectation for organizations was to just have the disabled person inform the organization of their needs and they will see if it can be accommodated, if there was even an opportunity to do so. Now the expectations are shifting but the quality of information in communications is still lacking. Lack of knowledge and awareness is a big reason but it is worsened with the lack of incentive to look into and figure out the accessibility of the event.
Now, it is getting more common to specific physical accessibility and services such as ASL interpreters and captioning. Still lacking in the sensory accessibility and the quality of experience and access. For example, many events are now saying their have closed captioning for the event, but many times it is AI captioning which can be inaccurate and misses the ability to fix and adapt to the event information that AI cannot do during an event. Quality is just as important as having access. Without the quality, the question of was it worth it to show up? Was participation even an option without quality access?
Mistakes happen all the time with access, but not being clear on the options or communicating the options effectively can be just as inaccessible. Not fully communicating with people who request access needs on whether you can or cannot fulfill the request, whether you need to know who the people who need the services that are available to still let you know, and not fully communicating with service providers, staff, and volunteers to create an accessible experience is setting your event up to be inaccessible.
So what can you do to improve the process of organizing and communicating for events and activities for a more accessible experience for everyone?
Understand the different areas of accessibility: It is not just physical barriers to consider, sensory, communication, mobility, usability, and understanding needs all have to be taken into consideration. Do a full audit and evaluation to have the information to improve and communicate the best information possible.
Reduce the amount of effort people with disabilities have to do: While there may be some effort needed to ensure accessibility for the individual on both sides, it is important to consider if the amount of work and effort you are requesting is more than what you would expect and give to someone who does not have any needs. In many cases, the organization has the ability to research and find information for the broad and common accessibility needs but the individual ones just need more attention.
Flexibility and options within your process and for individuals is crucial for success: If you plan without flexibility in mind, it will be harder when you get informed about accessibility needs. Accessibility is part of the design of the event, not just an add-ons.
Amanda