Understanding Accessible Communication: Importance and Implementation for All
Accessible communication is crucial for engaging individuals with and without disabilities. Designed to minimize the need for special accommodations, accessible communication ensures that everyone can access essential information and provide feedback. It is legally mandated under laws like Section 508, 504, ADA, and various state regulations. Accessibility is especially significant in public health, aiding in early detection efforts among diverse populations. This article provides practical guidelines for making meetings, customer communications, multimedia, and websites accessible to all, including those with specific needs.
Understanding Accessible Communication: Importance and Implementation for All
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Presentation Transcript
Accessible Communication Technical accessibility/ Section 508
What is “accessible” communication? • Designed to reach persons with - and without - disabilities • Designed to limit need for accommodations • Allows receiver to gain important information, and to give feedback as easily with or without disabilities • You can never be 100%
Why accessible? • It’s the law – 508, 504, ADA, 255 • State and local laws, grant requirements demand it as well • It’s essential for public health • Especially for early detection efforts • Deaf parents • Increasing mean age of parents (HoH) • Increasing grandparent custody (HoH) • Providing accessibility can be part of your awareness campaign
Nuts and Bolts – Meeting Accessibility • General meetings open to the public must be captioned • Relay Conference Captioning • CART • Sign language interpreters • Handouts • English as a second language • Print accessibility – large print vs. disk
Nuts and Bolts – Customer Communications • Train staff for relay calls • Delays in response • Unclear or imprecise language • Voicemail and VRS systems must be able to respond to TTY input. • Kiosks and ITMs • must have jacks for ALS/CI. • Volume must be adjustable at least to ambient +20db
Nuts and bolts - multimedia • All multimedia must be captioned • Includes FLASH and online movies and animations, as well as TV spots • MAGPIE • Closed or Open captioning • Audio files/Radio spots should have transcripts available • sat/DR should have text for website
Nuts and Bolts – Websites • Consider multiple disabilities • Color blindness • Visual disabilities • Motor impairments • Cognitive disabilities • Medical conditions (seizures) • Blind and Deaf/Blind • PDFs, Word files need to be accessible too!
Resources: • Why Accessible? • www.ada.gov • Meeting accessibility • Fairfax County, VA Checklist • Customer Communications • Relay - Minnesota Department of Commerce • Kiosks – US Access Board • Multimedia • National Center for Accessible Media • Websites • HHS Section 508 for the Web
Questions? Questions?