The Intersection of Accessibility, Virtual Events, and Cannabis
By Adelia Carrillo and Diana Krach
The pandemic is forcing most events to go virtual, causing a lot of entrepreneurs and groups to pivot substantially. While there has been a steep learning curve, the new platforms are actually providing a way for people to attend things they might not otherwise. Unfortunately, even with the availability of these events, many holes still remain when it comes to accessibility.
In the latest episode of Your Highness Podcast, Adelia Carrillo of EventHi acts as guest co-host, and she talks about some of the issues she has witnessed during the pandemic. Translation services are crucial, she notes, as are closed-captioning options if possible. Keeping in mind those who have sensory disorders or vision impairments, and making other alternatives available for folks who have special requests is also necessary.
Some other tips:
- During events where multiple people are speaking, the best practice is for each person to say their name every time they begin speaking. This helps people with a variety of disabilities, including people who are Blind or have low vision, as well as individuals with cognitive disabilities.
- The larger the event, the more organization is needed. For events where everyone is visible and able to speak, any individual not speaking should be on mute and a moderator is needed to manage turn-taking. A noisy meeting environment increases listening processing and fatigue for everyone; keeping yourself on mute when not speaking helps all participants.
- For people who are nonverbal, it is important to give them an option to share their thoughts if others are doing so verbally. One way to do so is to ensure the moderator or host reads notes made in the chat box out loud to everyone. The moderator or host should announce this as an option for people to do.
- In order to help people with different types of disabilities, when someone is not speaking, they also should turn their video off. A host of a Zoom meeting is able to unilaterally turn off the video of participants. The sign language interpreter video should always be on.
- Depending on the length of the event, consider having breaks for people to both have time to process information and use the restroom. It is recommended to have a 10-minute break every hour or so.
- If there is a PowerPoint or other visual aid, then the speaker should describe what is on screen to accommodate individuals who are blind or low vision. Even if you made the PPT accessible, people will not be able to use screen readers for the PPT being shown on screen — only if they are sent their own copy to use. Therefore, the speaker should describe what is on screen before delivering any other talking points. If video clips that do not include audio description are played during a presentation, the speaker should explain the visuals before the video begins.
- Presenting online offers a number of new features and tools to measure audience engagement and participation, like chat and non-verbal responses. Encouraging participation would help replace the in-person cues.
It is also extremely important to consider financial insecurity, especially during these trying times. If you can’t provide a grant or scholarship program, consider allowing people volunteer in lieu of purchasing a ticket. If your event or educational offering requires more than one device, try to find ways to make that more accessible to the public.
Links for grants and assistance with electronic devices:
https://grantsupporter.com/free-laptops-for-low-income-families/
https://interconnection.org/computergrants.php
Transcription of the episode can be found here.