Case in point - the person behind the concept of Universal Design is Ronald Mace. https://cdrnys.org/blog/advocacy/ronald-mace-and-his-impact-on-universal-design/
North Carolina State University was the home of Ronald Mace's original efforts out of the Center for Accessible Housing > Center for Universal Design.
Anything that speaks to Universal Design will reference the Center for Universal Design, that lost funding for support and has just reinvigorated itself with a grant.
So the university is hosting a panel: re-envisioning the Center for Universal Design (CUD) at North Carolina State University. The Center for Universal Design (CUD) was established in 1989 to advance the understanding of accessible design for people with disabilities.
This virtual symposium intends to collaborate with like-minded peers and colleagues as we lay the foundational roadmap for the future of the CUD.
Free and open to the public.
What do you think is on their Zoom event sign up? Any mention of the accessible communications? NOPE
Do they say what can/will be available on request? NOPE
"Should future iterations of universal design aim to address race, gender, LGBTQ+ identity, disability status, and other personal identities? If so, how can this work be achieved?"
Apparently not if you need accessible communications.
Oh but wait, through yonder window breaks - a polite ask, with a date deadline that has passed.
"NC State is committed to providing an inclusive environment and, in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, will honor requests for reasonable accommodations made by individuals with disabilities. Requests can be served more effectively if notice is provided at least 10 days before the event. Direct accommodation requests to xxx email."
When I wrote to the "accessibility expert" that also consults events on their accessibility as an expert they couldn't say what sort of captions, just "live captions."
Don't make disabled people do this much work to determine if they are welcome or can engage.
And if your accessible events expert is sitting on panels and not requiring accessibility be clearly part of a program they're keynoting, you might consider their commitment to accessibility.
The expert that consults on accessible events writes, I confirmed they will have live captions. Spent more than two hours with that "expert" last week explaining captions. They either didn't take any of it in, or they just don't care.
Accessibility experts that sell their knowledge to consult on events should require baseline accessibility when they agree to speak on accessibility at events about accessibility - yes?
Have a great weekend - include your accessibility information in your events information and/or registration. Especially if you or your members are in higher education and offer ANY content to the public.
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Samantha Evans, CAE, ICE-CCP, MBA (she/her)
The Accessible CAE
sam.evans@accessibilityassociation.org
Certification Director
Intl. Assoc. of Accessibility Professionals, a division of G3ict
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