Accessibility

Mobility

The conference venues are wheelchair accessible and equipped with signs that guide you in the right direction. Wheelchair entrances are marked with a red arrow on the campus map inside the conference programme. If there are any areas which are inaccessible we will make that clear in pre-conference communication with a view to planning how to deal with these limitations.

Quiet space

At each conference we will try to provide an identifiable ‘Quiet space’. Such rooms are meant for delegates requiring some peace and quiet, so please do not use them for other purposes. The Quiet space is not really intended as a place to work in, however if there is capacity and you aren’t disturbing others present, it is allowed.

Breastfeeding space

This room is meant to be used by breastfeeding mothers and/or parents who need private space for taking care of toddlers/kids.

Prayer room

A prayer room is available.

Capacities for vision, hearing and sustained interaction in groups vary between people, and wax and wane for each of us from hour to hour and over the course of our lives. Conference participants are encouraged to follow these common accessibility guidelines, so as to make their presentation and other activities within the conference as accessible as possible. Besides ensuring all colleagues are equally supported in their desire to participate, maximizing the accessibility of presentations and discussions helps reach a wider academic audience. Recognising the diversity of experiences, we accept that you may need to interpret/ignore these guidelines, in the interest of your own health.

When registering for the conference, please state any accessibility needs/requests in the registration form, so we can follow-up and work toward making conferences more welcoming to scholars with accessibility needs (and host universities more aware of accessibility issues). If you need assistance during the conference, please contact NomadIT in advance ideally and any time during the event. Our contact details are always provided in our final email to delegates prior to the conference. We will do our best to assist delegates, however we may not be able to provide all services or equipment due to availability or the time required to obtain them. If a safety or other concern arises during the conference, please inform the NomadIT team as soon as possible.

Best practice for all virtual conference delegates

State your name and institution each time you speak. Avoid using derogatory language, which includes language expressing ableism, racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, etc. See our acceptable behaviour policy.

• Limit background noise and mute your mic if not speaking.
• Check your name in the chat and edit it to the name you are known by professionally if it has defaulted to something else (you can add ‘convenor’, ‘discussant’ or ‘chair’ after your name).
• Where possible, have your video camera on when speaking as this can aid comprehension for non-native speakers and those with hearing impairments.
• Have the Zoom chat up and visible so that you can see input from people who are participating via chat.
• When URLs or other resources are mentioned, ask someone to type them into the chat window – or follow up with other participants after the meeting.
• Delegates should respect presenters and not take screen grabs/recordings of them or their presentation.

Best practice for convenors

Convenors can greatly influence the behaviour of panelists and help make a session as accessible as possible:

1. When beginning a session, please share the following information aloud with audience members

• The title of your session, name, preferred pronoun (as comfortable) and institution.
• That audience members are welcome to stand, sit, lie down and move as necessary, based on their access needs.
• Whether a break will be provided during the session.
• Whether taking pictures is allowed.
• Whether taking screen grabs is allowed and if there will be a recording available afterwards.

2. Notify participants that the session will be recorded.

3. Pause regularly to ensure all attendees have a chance to speak; check for questions in the chat.

4. Establish a procedure for turn-taking and questions at the beginning of the session, and clearly inform all participants of the procedure. Ensure this includes options that are accessible to those using captioning, translation services or screen readers.

5. Avoid using derogatory language, which includes language expressing ableism, racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, etc. See our acceptable behaviour policy.

• Allow participants to ask questions either by (A) using the hand-raising function so as to ask verbally or (B) by typing in the Zoom chat.
• When possible, have someone manage the chat and another person lead the session. Depending on panel size it can be challenging to do both.
• It’s recommended to have a second person whose job is logistics: ensuring delegates can access the room, managing the chat, and so on. A conference volunteer will be allocated to every panel session who can help with these tasks.

Best practice for presenters

A presentation created with universal design principles considers a broad range of audience members, including those with varying language proficiencies, gender, racial and ethnic background, age, and disability status. Applying universal design principles can lead to a presentation that creates better comprehension, as well as better feedback and discussion. These recommendations are especially important for presentations online where the audience are utilising a range of screen sizes.

Principles for slide design

• Use high contrast text against solid backgrounds, such as white text on a dark background or black text on a light background.
• Use a sans-serif font, such as Arial, Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica, etc.
• Use 18+ point fonts at a minimum.
• Use five bullet points at most per slide.
• Keep each bullet point to one line.
• With PowerPoint – complete a “Check Accessibility”.
• Checking accessibility will review: Contrast levels, Slide reading order, Alt text and Table readability

Handouts

If you wish to provide digital handouts, they should be 16- to 18-point font size. Provide the URL of where a delegate could locate the handout to download it from. Feel free to add a disclaimer: “Please do not distribute without the expressed permission of the author” and include your name and contact information.