Five things you can do to be more inclusive (September 2022 edition)
Tips, tricks, techniques, hints. Call them what you will, these innovative, valuable ideas have the power to radically change the way you approach the creation of your materials and the assets you produce, as you prepare your next presentation, your next piece of content, or your next workshop activity. With today’s post, I’d like to share 5 simple ideas you can start implementing today, to make your content and the experience you create for your audience from the platform that much more inclusive of everyone, especially those who have disabilities or can easily be left out.
Let’s get started.
Make sure the quantity of text used on the screen is kept to a minimum, and choose more visually engaging and compelling ways to tell your story instead (dyslexia & learning disabilities)
Big walls of text on slides, or screens are off-putting for most people, and that’s especially true when it comes to someone who deals with dyslexia. Expecting anyone to read through large blocks of text as they’re also trying to pay attention to what you are saying as the speaker, especially from a distance, is unrealistic at best!
Ask yourself; would you want to read all those words on a slide, in the context of a live, in-person or virtual event, or would you rather listen to an engaging story or argument? You, of all people, understand the power of storytelling. Make it a point to replace words with strong visuals, and come up with compelling ways to convey the same information through words instead.
Ensure any Information only conveyed through colour in your printed and digital content is also supported through text, visual cues and/or other additional means (colourblindness & visual disabilities)
Whenever your content provides information that relies on a person’s ability to process, distinguish, or recognize colours, you then run the risk that someone will to be left out. Using colours to convey a message is a great strategy to get your point across, but if that information is only conveyed through the use of colours, it will be exclusionary of some people in your audience.
To keep using colours, but give everyone a fighting chance, you need to make sure the colours and what they convey in context is also supported through other means, typically text. That way, on top of a colour reference, those in the audience who can’t process that level of information will still get a fallback that will work for them.
Instead of just pointing or referring to the visual assets presented on your slides, describe them verbally when the information they convey supports your content (blindness & visual disabilities)
There’s no denying that visual assets, when used efficiently, can be incredibly impactful, creating long-lasting impressions on our audience members. They embellish our assets, convey critical information, and oftentimes, do so in ways that are infinitely more powerful than words.
The old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” certainly has value, but it only applies as long as people can see said image! If you rely on imagery, graphics, and other visuals to convey important information in your slides and handouts, make it a point to always describe those assets visually, so everyone can fully benefit from the information they convey. Otherwise, if you simply refer or point to them, how is someone who’s blind supposed to perceive them and benefit from them?
Ensure that any blinking, flashing and other strobing effects never occur more than 2-3 times per second to avoid risks of photo-epileptic seizures for your audience (vestibular & seizure disorders)
There is a multitude of ways in which you can alienate, or even frustrate audience members who have disabilities when you’re clueless about inclusion as a speaking professional. But more importantly, there’s also a handful of ways in which you can physically cause them harm. Leveraging content that blinks, or flashes repeatedly, and creating stroboscopic effects is certainly one of them.
People who deal with constant vertigo and feelings of motion sickness, as well as those who are prone to photo-epileptic seizures, can definitely suffer from your content if you’re not being careful. To avoid triggering any situations that can cause your audience members harm, be sure to stay away from content that flashes, blinks, or animates more than two or three times per second.
Make sure to always provide synchronized captions and transcript files every time pre-recorded video and audio files are used as part of your content and delivery (deafness & hearing disabilities)
We’ve all sat in noisy, crowded public places, like pubs, gyms or airports, watching muted television screens, while synchronized captions displayed on those screens allowed us to keep up with what was being said. In those times where our ability to hear is challenged, it’s easier to wrap our head around how much of a game-changer captions are for people who experience deafness daily.
The same is true with text transcripts, whether they apply to video or audio files. If you share a podcast with your audience and fail to support your audio files with transcripts, how could someone who’s deaf or hard of hearing be able to consume your content? Not to mention that such text versions will do wonders for your SEO (search engine optimization).
The five considerations presented this month to create and provide a more inclusive experience to all of your audience members without discarding or dismissing those who may have disabilities are only the tip of the inclusive speaking iceberg. We hope you’ll give some or all of them a try in your next presentation! After all, a speaking professional’s work is never done, am I right?
Of course, should you be hungry for even more tips to sink your teeth into, then make your way to the Inclusive Speaking Tips section of our Info-Hub pages. You’ll find plenty more waiting for you over there!
About Denis Boudreau
Denis Boudreau is a consultant, trainer, coach, and speaker specializing in inclusive leadership and inclusive communication. He works with leaders and executives who are no longer willing to overlook disability inclusion and want to transform their leadership approach from “inclusive-ish” to truly inclusive by championing accessibility. A Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA), Denis has trained thousands of professionals over the past two decades and has delivered hundreds of workshops worldwide in both English and French. He has helped leading brands like Netflix, Salesforce, Victoria’s Secret, and many more embed disability inclusion into their business strategies, empowering them to break down barriers and create deeper, more meaningful connections with their target audiences while also meeting legal obligations.