Always share what accessibility support you’re providing for your event.
Will you provide live or automated captions? Will there be an option to access a recording of the event for those who cannot attend? Is there a formal break or intermission?
Proactively communicating your accessiblity support signals your intention and commitment to welcome and safely support attendance from KQTs of all experiences and abilities. Proactively communicating this information upfront can especially minimize the labor asked of disabled and chronically ill KQTs to request, explain, and advocate for their access needs.
Sometimes you may also not be in a position to provide the accessibility supports that all KQTs may need. Communicating your limits is just as important and will help KQTs discern if they would feel comfortable joining this event.
Take a look at this example in action:
Communicating Accessibility Information Upfront
This event will run for 2 hours with a short formal break at the halfway point.
^ Sharing transparency about event length and breaks
This is a space centering people of Queer, Trans, Korean, Indigenous, and/or displaced diaspora, heritages, and experiences of Korean descent.
^ Explicitly sharing description of intended audience and safety for marginalized people
English will be the primary language used in this event. Live captioning will be available for some portions of this event. Breakout Rooms will not have live captioning. Please name any special accessibility notes and questions in the registration form.
^ Indicating the event’s primary language and live captioning information
Ask your prospective attendees what their access needs will be.
You can support participants by asking open-ended questions about what needs they have and any specific requests that may support their access.
Take a look at this example in action:
Accessibility Question in Survey
KQTx Find Your Folx (Feb 2021)
Please share any accessibility needs that you may have during this event.
^ Creating an open-ended opportunity to name accessibility needs
Note: This event will mostly be in breakout rooms where closed captioning capabilities will not be available.
^ Transparency about available accommodations and what to expect in event activities
Once You Know Attendees’ Accessibility Needs
Based on the responses you receive, you may…
- Enlist live captioners
- Zoom: “Assign someone to type” for manual captioning
- Activate/pay for an automated closed captioning service, such as Otter.ai
- Zoom: “Use a 3rd Party CC service”
- Allow participants to view the caption transcript
- Zoom: “Enable live transcription.”
- Enlist/pay for simultaneous translators
- Enlist/pay for sign-language translators
- For spoken simultaneous language translation, see this Zoom page on language Interpretation
Image Description: A moving GIF shows the multiple options a host may enable on Zoom for assigning captions, using a 3rd party closed captioning service, or enabling Live Transcription.
- Familiarize yourself with the video conferencing environment and settings to maximize accessibility
- Be prepared to guide and support participants who may be unfamiliar navigating and changing these settings before and during the event.
- Review your Zoom Accessibility Settings (see screenshot below)
Image Description: A screenshot of the Zoom Accessibility setting shows three distinctly labeled areas for locating the closed captioning preferences, the keyboard accessibility, and screen reader support.