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Accessible Online Conferences

for your Deaf & Hard-of-hearing colleagues

CREST Network Core Team

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Accessible design is a good design- it benefits people who don’t have disabilities as well as people who do.

Steve Ballmer

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Deaf people are systematically underrepresented in higher education. Barriers to access are a serious problem.

Not all hearing losses are the same. Deaf and hard of hearing people have a range of hearing loss levels and accessibility needs/preferences.

Failing to provide accessible educational experiences creates a culture of systematic exclusion of deaf and hard-of-hearing people from higher education and science.

Making your conference accessible helps you be part of the solution, rather than exacerbating the problem.

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Note: All underlined text is linked to another website for additional information.

Key Points

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Steps on Providing Accessibility

When setting up an online workshop or meeting, check if your participants need accessibility accommodations and what kind. Include a statement that you will provide accommodations as needed. If you don’t feel comfortable arranging this, assign a “accessibility advocate” to oversee this.

Require that all videos used in the conference are captioned. This may require more lead time. Factor it in from the beginning.

Record and ensure your meeting has live captioning.

Establish a protocol for video sessions that include interpreters.

Follow these best practices for video conferencing with sign language users.

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National Deaf Center

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Planning Your Online Conference

While making the schedule, be sure to add a symbol to indicate that the event will be captioned or an interpreter will be provided so people can know what they can access.

Organizers: request sign language interpreters early since it’s not easy to find one on short notice.

You can find an interpreter through the National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) through their online database or calling them.

Database: Search the Registry
Voice: (703) 838-0030
TTY: (703) 838-0459

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ADA Quick Tips - Sign Language Interpreters

For interpreting

For captioning

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Captioning

Resources to use yourself:

Captioning vendors that will create captions for you:

Captioning Service Vendors

Apps or programs that provide auto-generated captions are not considered equitable access due to their high error rate producing inaccurate captioning.

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Additional Resources

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Questions? Comments? Contact us at crest@gallaudet.edu.