Considering Disabilities: Accessible presentations

CONSIDERING DISABILITIES: ACCESSIBLE PRESENTATIONS

Remember that some members of your audience may not be able to see your presentation or may have trouble hearing it, so do all you can to make your presentation accessible.

  • image Be sure to face any audience members who rely on lip-reading to understand your words. For a large audience, request an ASL (American Sign Language) interpreter.
  • image Do not rely on color or graphics alone to get across information—some audience members may be unable to pick up these visual cues.
  • image For presentations you publish on the Web, provide brief textual descriptions of your visuals.
  • image If you use video, provide labels for captions to explain any sounds that won’t be audible to some audience members, and embed spoken captions to explain images to those who cannot see them. Be sure that the equipment you’ll be using is caption capable.
  • image Remember that students have very different learning styles and abilities. You may want to provide a written overview of your presentation or put the text of your presentation on slides or transparencies for those who learn better by reading and listening.