Accessibility Guidelines
Contact Information for the Local Hosts and Accessibility Committee
For accessibility requests and questions for the 2023 conference, please email the local hosts, Andrea Pitts and Elisabeth Paquette (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), at: philosophiaconference2023@gmail.com)
Accessibility Guidelines for Participants and Attendees
philoSOPHIA is committed to the principles of universal design. It is our explicit goal to make the conference as accessible and welcoming as possible from the ground up and also with an understanding that accessibility requires flexibility and ongoing communication with one’s particular community in a given context. Having said this, forms of accessibility are diffuse and can even come into conflict. To make an access request, please email philosophiaconference2023@gmail.com. Any information you share is assumed to be confidential, except if you determine that information needs to be shared with others to facilitate the access in question (for example, shared with a particular moderator or set of moderators). Should this be the case, you are welcome to speak directly with others, or the accessibility committee can share this information (anonymously or non-anonymously as preferred) on your behalf.
Accessibility guidelines benefit all participants, and we circulate these in advance so that conference attendees can plan their papers and panels with them in mind. We intend philoSOPHIA’s conference to be a site of open and ongoing creative engagement with how we deliver talks, present ideas, and interact with each other. These guidelines ask you to (re)consider specific aspects of conference participation, perhaps in new or different ways. We are always looking for ways to increase accessibility at philoSOPHIA. Whether or not you attend, please consider writing us at philosophiaconference2023@gmail.com (which will be read by the above hosts and accessibility committee). This email account will be checked during the conference as well, so please feel free to contact us in real-time.
Accessibility and Accommodations Commitments for philoSOPHIA 2023
The following is a preliminary list of accommodations we are committed to offering at our 2023 meeting. It is not exhaustive and, as noted above, any request for accommodations and access will be addressed in a timely and respectful manner.
Individuals may request readers, note-takers, interpreters, or guides.
An area at the conference location will be set aside and designated as a "quiet room" so that individuals with disabilities or chronic conditions can have a place to rest, read information, etc. This room is also available for nursing/pumping.
Members from the Accessibility Committee will be on hand to assist with any concerns or requests that arise during the conference. Information about how to contact them will be made available in the document below.
For information specific to the 2023 conference, please refer to this google document, which will be routinely updated to include any and all accessibility information (such as parking and transportation) as we acquire it. You may also find some of this information on the Accommodations and Travel page.
GENERAL NOTES
Avoid wearing scents.
Trigger Warnings: A trigger is an embodied experience that causes someone to recall or associate some facet of a difficult lived experience (in the past, ongoing, or potential) with the content being presented. Be mindful of whether your contributions to the conference (whether as a presenter, questioner, or what have you) might contain triggering content and provide a warning of such content.
Community ⇔ Accessibility: Accessibility practices are ongoing and fluid in response to the particularity of a given community. Our hope is that philoSOPHIA can be a model of practicing access collectively as a community together.
Accessibility Guidelines for All Presenters
PREPARING FOR THE CONFERENCE
Prepare to be flexible. Access needs are shifting and fluid, and it may be that even your well-prepared presentation will need to shift depending on who attends, moderates, or co-presents on your panel during your presentation.
If you plan to use PowerPoint or other forms of projection, we ask that you request this in advance so that it can be specified in the philoSOPHIA 2023 program. Instead of or alongside the use of PowerPoint, please consider drafting a script or outline for your talk and/or large-print copies (17-point font or larger and single-spaced) to distribute. On any such handouts or copies, please be sure to specify if you do not want your work cited without permission (and/or collect drafts at the end). If your presentation requires PowerPoint, please ensure that it is accessible, including audibly describing (in detail) any images or videos shown during the presentation of the material. Another possibility is using a website or Google Doc to host your handout/copies, and providing attendees with a QR code.
Please note that there are additional resources below under Additional Guidelines for Online and Hybrid Presenters. Here is an overview of how to make presentations accessible:
Choose a good, high contrast, color scheme.
Use more than color to communicate information (i.e. bold to convey emphasis)
Keep text brief, in a large sans serif font.
Use simple graphics (and use a text equivalent when appropriate)
Verbally describe images in detail.
Ex: Instead of “a person wearing red,” “a tall person wearing a red knit sweater, backlit by the sun outside of a window to their back.”
Avoid animations in your presentation materials.
Audio describe and caption any videos in your presentation. (See below for tips on audio descriptions and video captioning.)
DURING YOUR PRESENTATION
Speak at a reasonable pace.
Always use the microphone.
Be responsive to your audience.
Describe any images or videos displayed or utilized in print media. The American Anthropological Society has put together a step-by-step guide for ensuring presentations with videos are accessible. (See sections 7 and 8.) If your presentation includes a video, please reach out to the local hosts and accessibility committee so that we can help your ensure accessibility
In the event that an interpreter is present at your panel… People read much faster than they typically talk, which is hard for everyone to follow. If present, the ASL interpreter or CART transcriptionist also needs to keep up. (CART is Communication Access Real-Time Transcription, which is live captioning for a computer or projected screen.) Before your talk begins, provide a script to the ASL interpreter or CART captioner with jargon (and, ideally, the text of the full talk), so they can create signs or shortcuts.
AFTER YOUR PRESENTATION
If you are comfortable doing so, provide any feedback to the accessibility committee.
Additional Guidelines for Online and Hybrid Presenters
PREPARING FOR THE CONFERENCE
Prepare your presentation documents (PowerPoints, script, handouts, etc.) in advance. Share your presentation documents and materials using the instructions provided for your virtual event. Sharing these materials may take place via email or via upload to a virtual platform. Avoid making changes between the creation of your documents and the presentation. If changes are absolutely necessary, provide those updates via an email or upload, based on your event.
Ensure that your materials are accessible. Use clear language and limit the text on each slide when creating presentations. Use consistent design in presentations to reduce the cognitive load on each slide. Start presentation slides with a summary/overview and end with a review of the most important points. More general tips for making an accessible presentation can be found here.
Please refer to Microsoft's guide for making PowerPoint presentations accessible. If you are using Google Slides, Grackle is a reliable platform which scans all slides and checks for accessibility concerns. You can find more information here.
If you choose an alternative program, make sure that the presentation can be downloaded in a .ppt version. Presentation programs that do not provide this option may be inaccessible to people using screen readers. In general, it is better to use a popular program like PowerPoint instead of running the risk of an inaccessible presentation. For example, while engaging, Prezi is inaccessible.
DURING YOUR PRESENTATION AND Q&A
In addition to the general guidelines above, when presenting online or to a partially online audience in a hybrid modality, it’s important to project toward and interact with the camera directly, as well as with the in-person attendees. If you are giving your presentation from a separate location, be sure to test your microphone, video, and captions.
Repeat any questions. Check with your moderator to make sure someone is designated to read the questions that come in, for example, via the chat function on zoom. It is also worth repeating the questions said in-person for the sake of those attending remotely.
Accessibility Guidelines for All Moderators
Moderators, along with presenters and participants, play an important role in facilitating the proceedings of the conference. Moderators will be asked to help facilitate and be mindful of general accessibility practices during sessions. As a community, we are attentive to the ways in which accessibility is multi-dimensional. Thus we understand that the guidelines suggested below may conflict, may not be possible, or may happen differently, based on the accessibility needs of presenters, participants, and moderators themselves.
Thanks for serving as a moderator! Please first carefully review the general Accessibility Guidelines above. If you need help while serving in your moderator role at the conference, please head to the registration desk.
BEFORE THE PANEL BEGINS
Arrive early. Please be early to allow time to execute needed changes or adaptations.
Check-in with presenters: Ask presenters how they are comfortable being reminded of the time, their names and pronouns, etc.
Collect materials presenters wish to be shared, such as handouts (notes, outlines, etc), QR codes, and website addresses.
Consider the space. Adjust for any obvious obstacles that may make the space inaccessible.
AT THE START OF THE PANEL
Distribute panelists’ materials. Distribute handouts or designate an audience volunteer. Announce website addresses and write them on the board, if available.
Remind the audience of the Twitter hashtag for the conference (#philosophia2023). This provides a connection for those who can’t attend philoSOPHIA.
DURING THE PANEL AND Q&A
Monitor the pace and audibility of talks. If a presenter is speaking quickly, tactfully ask them to slow down. Ensure that everyone speaks into the microphone. Moderators should repeat questions or comments made by conference participants.
Keep presenters to their allocated time. This allows necessary breaks between panels.
Encourage one speaker at a time.
Microphone usage. Ensure all speakers and audience members use microphones when speaking during sessions.
AFTER THE PANEL
If you are comfortable doing so, provide any feedback to the accessibility committee.
Additional Guidelines for Online and Hybrid Moderators
In addition to what is listed above, here are some tips for running a successful and accessible online or hybrid panel.
BEFORE THE PANEL BEGINS
Ensure that the zoom chat and Q&A functions are available to all.
To turn off Zoom chat from interfacing with screen readers, open Zoom settings. Under Zoom settings, open Accessibility settings. With Accessibility Settings, there are itemized Screen Reader Alerts. The Screen Reader Alerts menu has options to turn on/off various alerts.
Use closed captioning in zoom and other software. Enable the live automatic captioning feature, if available in your web conferencing platform. This can be done in advance on zoom.
On zoom, turn off the doorbell sound for participants entering the room so it does not disturb a meeting in progress.
Plan to mute participants that are not actively speaking to minimize feedback and noise. Decide if participants should be able to unmute themselves.
Ensure that online waiting rooms are adjusted so online participants that lose connection can easily rejoin without disturbing the hybrid meeting.
Start the meeting a few minutes early to allow participants time to log in and resolve any technical issues.
As you can see, for online and hybrid panels, there is a lot to be done up front and in preparation for the panel. If you need assistance in any of these manners, the Accessibility Committee and the local hosts are here to support you and answer any questions.
It may also be the case that, especially if the panel is in a hybrid format, the moderator may wish to ask for additional help managing both spaces. A person in either audience may be asked to volunteer to, for example, keep an eye on the chat and/or Q&A function, and assist in the online portion of moderating. For the 2023 conference, the organizers will ensure that someone is present to assist in moderating the online aspects of your panel.
AT THE START OF THE PANEL
If there is an interpreter, make sure that their video is “pinned” or highlighted. (Both for the sake of participants, but also for the sake of possible recording and dissemination.) Make sure you give enough time to make a plan with your interpreter prior to the meeting regarding any technical needs
Check-in with everyone at the beginning of the meeting. For example, “Can everyone on the call see us in the room okay?” Consider encouraging folks to sit within the frame of the video or, if they are comfortable and able to do so, move closer to the front of the room (where presumably the camera is).
Remind all participants that they should, if possible, ensure that their faces, including their mouths, are visible and well-lit in the videoconferencing window when speaking.
DURING THE PANEL AND Q&A
Acknowledge the in-person and virtual participants. Remind people there are multiple ways to participate and keep an eye on both modalities or ask someone to help you do so.
When a question is being asked via the “chat” or Q&A function, please read the question aloud first before allowing the presenter to answer. If you have a hybrid panel, also repeat the questions asked by the in-person audience for the sake of virtual attendees. Please check in with the panelists and decide how you’d like to do this. (For example, the moderator reads the chat questions and presenters repeat the questions asked to them.)
Guideline Acknowledgements
These guidelines have come together thanks to many folks, inaugurated by Amy Vidali in 2016 and revised yearly by the accessibility committee and local hosts. The document is a patchwork of the resources put together by disability activists and scholars, academics and non-academics, across the world. With this in mind, we encourage participation in crafting this document whether you are seeking accessible accommodations for the upcoming conference or not and welcome collaboration.
Special thanks to Kelsey Borrowman, Kit Conner, Lauren Guilmette, Robert Leib, Nicholas Osaka, Elisabeth Paquette, Andrea Pitts, Joel Michael Reynolds, Shelley Tremain, Amy Vidali, and Damien Williams.
