How can you make sure your communication is inclusive of people with disabilities?

One recommendation is to make accessibility supports standard in as many as your operations and communication activities as possible. If you hare hosting an event, include ASL interpreters and captions without waiting for a participant to request them. Also, think about auto captions and their quality -- which is often low. Opt instead for a live captioner who can plug directly into your video projection either at a live event or a webinar.

As you are planning events and meetings, consider disabled participants and proactively offer a hybrid option. Communicate the flexible remote option in an inclusive manner. While supporting disabled participants, inclusive options also support everyone else who could not attend in person for a wide variety of reasons. I was recently asked to request disability accommodations to have a remote option at a large diversity meeting at my university. While personally invasive, everyone whose car didn't start, who had sick children, was caring for an older parent, was sick that day, or lived too far away to attend could also enjoy the Zoom link I needed to be disabled to request.

The Medium is the Message. Its not your responsibility or obligation to make your work accessible, that is the responsibility of the platform or medium being used to respect the rights of the disabled to participate. You may chose to make your product/work more accessible, that's your choice. Then why is the media provider forcing you to do all the work. Shifting the blame doesn't make it better...

Plain language does not mean, however, that you are "dumbing down" the ideas. It is important not to contribute to information deprivation that disabled people often face because people leave out important details or simplify concepts so much that they do not get the full picture of what is being communicated.

I present often on Inclusive Teaching in STEM fields. The information conveyed in equations is often overlooked in accessibility efforts focused on the written word. How we 'speak math' is key to equitable access for disabled students and STEM professionals. Be precise and use proper math terminology rather than 'over' and 'under'. Explicitly state implied math punctuation like grouping symbols, fractions, and exponents. Use inflection to convey hierarchy. Avoid acronyms, use units, and enunciate clearly for lip readers. These tips apply equally to non-native speakers, those new to content and vocabulary, or multitasking. What supports disabled STEM professionals supports everyone else as well! Inclusion starts with language.

Many people think they're being clear, when they are not. A common example of this is what I refer to as the "deadline bait-n-switch." As an autistic person, if you give me a deadline I will assume you do not need it sooner and will prioritize my other work accordingly. When I've asked for explicit deadlines in the past, I've had managers start inquiring about the status of a project several days before the deadline I was quoted. It's important to be clear about the expectation of a first product and final product, and important also not to assume incompetence, negligence, or "laziness" if miscommunication occurs.

"Accessibility Helps Everyone" moniker is true in communications. Accurate captions, ASL interpretation, alt text and image description on all visual media content helps target audience members with and without disabilities. Captions help engagement especially with Gen Z viewers who grew up with captions as videos are mainly consumed without sound (85% of Facebook videos; 79% of LinkedIn viewers watch videos without audio and adding open and closed captions can increase viewership by 82%). If you are using AI-generated captions, please fix "craptions" before you post videos. My pet peeve is brands who run ads & videos with legally-required closed captions on TV air the same content on the web without closed captions, leading to FCC fines.

There are many phrases in the English language that have roots in negative attitudes about disabled people. Think about "it fell on deaf ears" or the "blind leading the blind" and what they imply. If used in a way that is meant to convey a negative outcome, that is reflective of an ableist perspective on disability. There are ways we can adjust our metaphors and turns of phrase so that we are more direct about what we are saying and do not put down disabled people in the process.

One way to stay informed is to intentionally follow content creators who have a range of disabilities. It is important to focus on the real life experiences of disabled people and to learn directly from people who have or have had a disability. If you are in the media, think about how you represent disability, and be especially careful not to emphasize inspirational stories that do not recognize both the resilience of the individual and the real hardships that disabled people face in our inaccessible society.

This may be the first piece on accessibility in presenting that you have read. We promise it won't be the last. Accessibility is gradually becoming as pervasive as spellchecking and cybersecurity checks. Those were new once too, and today we would never publish content or digital experiences without them. Accessibility is heading in that direction too. If you haven't already chose to be an early adopter, it's not too late to do that today.

Disability as a valued form of diversity is often overlooked in DEI efforts. As Jonathan Kauffman so aptly points out, "Disability is the essence of diversity, by definition. It runs across race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomics, culture and the most important thing, it’s the only minority group anyone can join at any time, which makes it unique.” (Source America, 2020). The misconception that we have no disabled students, customers, colleagues, or friends fails to recognize the prevalence of disability, the high percentage of non-apparent disabilities, and the challenges of disclosure due to stigma and bias. Accessibility and inclusion supports not only the disabled community. And it's a community you might just join at any time.

Ignoring disability inclusion is a missed opportunity and hurts your brands and businesses. Disability inclusion and accessibility is the often-ignored part of the DEI conversations and acronyms (DEIA, IDEA) as well as often treated as intersectionality versus primary identity. The strong business case for disability inclusion (over 26% Americans + 22% Canadians has a disability; 1 in every 3 US households has a member with disability) should ensure that your organization provides environments, facilities, products, services, communications and events that are accessible to employees and customers with disabilities so they can participate and contribute equal to those without disabilities.

Don't forget your visual storytelling. In Australia, 18% of people have a disability, yet people with a disability are underrepresented in advertising, marketing and public relations materials; as spokespersons; as experts; and voices for the community. Consider if you are representing your entire community when planning your public relations materials and ensure representation of everyone in your community is genuine, not tokenistic.