AccessSTEM

Throughout 2020, as conferences moved online in response to the global pandemic, many struggled with accessibility while others took proactive steps to make their conference more accessible. The 2020 Association of Computing Machinery International Computing Education Research Conference (ICER) is an example of one conference that chose to take proactive steps by captioning the sessions and providing clear guidelines to presenters about accessible presentations.

Alternative text, or “alt-text” is written descriptions of images that are embedded into website code and digital documents that can be read with screen readers by people with visual and other disabilities. An example of alt-text is “a small gray dog sitting on the grass in a park” that accompanies a photo of a dog.

Many conferences, both on-site and online, offer opportunities for researchers and practitioners to present their work. There are steps you can take to make your poster accessible to conference participants who have disabilities. The following tips apply to both on-site and online posters.

People of all ages, interests, and abilities use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms to share content and engage in conversations. Millions of social media participants have disabilities, including those that impact their ability to see, hear, and access a standard keyboard and mouse. Many use assistive technologies such as screen readers to read aloud content on the screen and alternate keyboards that emulate the computer keyboard but not the mouse.

The Intrepid Museum is an excellent example of an informal STEM learning program providing information about accessibility to the community. Through their Accessibility Resources website, information is structured into four categories: Online resources, on-site resources, specialized programs, and the Community Advisors program.

Highlighting efforts at the Royal Ontario Museum, the video Making Museums Accessible promotes the full inclusion of individuals on the autism spectrum in museum offerings through focused efforts such as community partnerships, custom tours, and staff training.

The Visitor Voices session at the 2015 American Alliance of Museums Annual Expo highlighted the practice of listening to perspectives and access stories from museum visitors who have disabilities such as vision impairments, hearing loss, and autism.

The Access Informal STEM Learning (AccessISL) project supports efforts to develop a capacity building model for making informal STEM learning (ISL) opportunities more welcoming and accessible to individuals with disabilities.

There are many ways that informal STEM learning programs can support individuals with mobility impairments. Staff should consider adopting universal design (UD) principles. Universal design means that rather than designing for the average user, you design for people with differing native languages, genders, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and abilities. For more information, visit Equal Access: Universal Design of Your Informal STEM Learning Project.

There are many ways that informal STEM learning programs can support individuals with vision impairments. Ensuring that websites are accessible, that videos are captioned and, ideally, audio described, and that other electronic media is provided in accessible formats will help patrons with vision impairments feel welcome.