Accessibility “How to” Videos

Many organizations want their programs and services to be accessible to people with disabilities but aren’t sure how to make improvements. We’re pleased to partner with Bender Consulting Services to offer a series of short (one hour) videos, free of charge, to address common accessibility issues. Each video will provide step-by-step instructions in an accessible format, and is followed by a downloadable PDF of the main points. Together, the series will allow users to increase the accessibility of your agency’s communications, meetings and events.

Table of Contents

Disability 101: Understanding the Terms of Engagement
Website Accessibility: The Ramps and Rails of the Digital World
Document Accessibility: Can You Read This?
Social Media Accessibility: Our Network Depends on it
Disability Smart Events: Welcoming, Not Simply Accommodating
The New Normal: Evolving Virtual Accessibility
Avoid Virtual Fatigue: Collaborate and Connect

Disability 101: Understanding the Terms of Engagement

Cultural Factors and Considerations when Engaging with People with Disabilities

This session provides high level insight into effective practices for engaging with the disability community. Topics: inclusive communication and customer service strategies; cultural considerations across a variety of disability types; and historical perspective into current trends for disability inclusion. This one-hour recording will help you feel confident in your ability to successfully interact with people with disabilities in a meaningful and productive manner and to identify and address barriers to program inclusion.

PDF: Disability 101: Understanding the Terms of Engagement Takeaway

Website Accessibility: The Ramps and Rails of the Digital World

Why Basic Website Accessibility is Important for Your Organization

Understand how people with disabilities use and interact with the digital world and what solutions can be put in place to ensure an inviting and inclusive experience for visitors to your website. Learn how to increase traffic and return visits to your website, by avoiding color contrast failures, ineffective captioning, misuse of headings, and other common accessibility errors that cause people with disabilities to abandon your site. With legal cases involving inaccessible websites on the rise, it is more important than ever to learn about both the legal and business case for website accessibility. This session will provide basic tips for digital accessibility, including an overview of common accessibility errors and highlight the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.X.

PDF: Digital Accessibility Websites and Documents Takeaway Note: The learning resource for website accessibility and document accessibility has been combined.

Document Accessibility: Can You Read This?

Creating Accessible Documents, Brochures, PDFs, Flyers, Reports and more

Did you know that a lack of accessibility in documents can prevent readers from consuming information in a logical reading order? Learn about this common accessibility problems and understand how accessibility factors into the readability of the materials your organization is producing for marketing, donation requests, reporting, and daily administrative use. This session provides examples of common accessibility errors and provides accessibility tips and solutions for a variety of document types. Session participants will understand how to effectively use MS Office program tools to incorporate solutions and check for accessibility.

PDF: Digital Accessibility Websites and Documents Takeaway Note: The learning resource for website accessibility and document accessibility has been combined.

Social Media Accessibility: Our Network Depends on it

Accessible Social Media Posts and Campaigns

A strong social media presence is a crucial success factor for small and large organizations. Successfully navigating the process of creating accessible social media posts and campaigns can increase the return on social media engagement. This session will provide an outline of general social media accessibility concepts, an understanding of platform accessibility features for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, and address disability social media etiquette. Participants will understand how to apply basic solutions to accessibility in the social media environment.

PDF: Social Media Accessibility Our Network Depends on It Takeaway Resource

Disability Smart Events: Welcoming, Not Simply Accommodating

As COVID-19 continues to impact life in America and around the world, we are all experiencing a ‘new normal’ of conducting meetings and events virtually. Together we can define and evolve this ‘new normal’ to create a space where all of our clients, customers, staff and volunteers, including those with disabilities, can continue to engage productively. This session explores how we can tactically use virtual tools and features to interact in an accessible and meaningful way. Learn effective engagement practices, for both group and 1:1 programming, from pre-registration through post-event communications.

The New Normal: Evolving Virtual Accessibility

Event planners know the real work happens in the fringes, but how can these essential opportunities to collaborate exist within virtual programming? How do we keep clients, customers and colleagues engaged when so many are experiencing virtual event fatigue and missing that direct human connection? This session explores inclusive free and low-cost tools that decrease the distance between live event and digital participation while helping to instill coping skills for our network during the COVID-19 pandemic.