Interview with Mark Lasser, CPACC

QUESTION 01 Can you tell us a bit about yourself, and how your disability might impact your experience, as someone who attends live in-person and virtual events?

have an eye condition called NAION which affects my optic nerves. I developed this as an adult, and had to learn to use assistive technologies and to read Braille. For me, this was a major life change. I lost about 95% of my eyesight over the course of a week. For me, what I see is like looking through frosted freezer doors at the supermarket. I have an impression of what’s around me, but no definition.

I currently live in New York City and have also worked in Denver, Seattle, and Ann Arbor, Michigan. I have always attended live theater, sports, and music. My experience of live music hasn’t changed much but I now bring a handheld radio and headphones to baseball, basketball, and football games. For live theater, it makes a world of difference if they offer live audio description and a touch tour. Pre-recorded audio description is almost always a poor experience and out of sync. It’s also important to have a trained person offering audio description. We wouldn’t expect anything less than a trained professional ASL interpreter signing for a Deaf audience, but somehow, it’s often thought that anyone can jump in and provide audio description.

For virtual events, there are rarely, if ever, audio describers (where people physically describe themselves for the benefit of those who can’t see them). The blind community is something like 75/25 opposed to self-description at live events. I personally don’t find it helpful. It’s certainly not a way to make up for a lack of other accessibility deficits including audio description for videos.

QUESTION 02 Thinking back on some of your experiences attending in-person or virtual events, what are some of the worst things speakers, trainers, and other communication experts can do to ruin your experience as an attendee?

It’s really irritating if I’m at a live event and sitting up front with a white cane or with a friend with a seeing eye dog, and the speaker just pays us no mind. Consistent reference to things being “over here” and “as you can see” during a slide presentation is tough to get through, and I’m sure there’s some body language that the speaker should notice if they were looking at us on occasion. Other irritants are referring to things by color alone as this not only affects me but also a significant of likely colorblind folks in attendance. The combination of these is the worst. For example, “As you can see on this side, the items in green are going well.” This is also true for virtual events, except the speaker may not be aware that some attendees are blind or colorblind.

Not surprisingly, videos that have a music soundtrack or are silent and use text on screen can also be frustrating.

I also really dislike self-description. This is a nuanced and complex issue. Although often well-intentioned, I find it awkward and not something the blind community ever does at our own events. There are people that find it uncomfortable, and I can’t think of a time I found it particularly helpful. There’s not total consensus on this, though. Recent surveys have said about 75% of blind people don’t like it.

QUESTION 03 Can you share some of the great things speakers, trainers, and other communication experts sometimes do that make a positive impact on your ability to fully enjoy your in-person or virtual event experiences?

Part of this is actually not doing the things I mentioned in the previous question. If the speaker or presenter is really cognizant of what the experience is like for someone who is only listening, it will improve the presentation not only for blind folks. It will also make a better transcript or audio only presentation for anyone who might be driving or otherwise unable to see the slides. It also may make a better experience for folks with attention deficit disorders, and even for those who just might be tired or under caffeinated.

Thinking ahead of time how they might describe images, pictures and complex charts and graphs also helps. Trying to synthesize a really complex chart or table on the fly is going to create tension for the speaker, so thinking about this in advance will often improve fluidity and create a more inclusive experience. Ultimately, this isn’t rocket science. If the speaker or presenter were to think of their event being both broadcast and attended in person and also being broadcast over the radio or in a podcast, and prepare accordingly, they’ll make a better and more robust experience for many people with disabilities.

QUESTION 04 If you had one piece of advice to give speakers, trainers, and other communication experts, so their content became more inclusive of people who have disabilities, what would it be?

I think I’d suggest they try recording their rehearsal and watch it once with the volume off, to see if it’s working with the visuals and closed captioning. And then, watch it again with the screen off and just listen to see if it makes sense to folks with vision disabilities. If this works, they may not be 100% inclusive, but they’ll be approaching that number.

QUESTION 05 Thank you for sharing some of your insights with us today. As we wrap up our conversation, is there anything that you’d like to add, such as another thought, another piece of advice, another perspective, etc.?

Most, if not all of these ideas for live and virtual presentations are going to be universal in their improvements. For people with disabilities, it may be the difference between understanding and being totally lost in the process.

There are others who are also going to benefit. Maybe the presenter is in a large ballroom and folks on the sides or back of the room can’t see the screen well. Or folks may be seated behind a tall person, with no alternatives to move. Or the sound system may just not be functioning well.

Making the assumption that some of your audience cannot see or hear perfectly (or at all) will probably improve the communication skills of the presenter and it’s probably a good assumption.