Accessibility
Student group constitutions require your group to be accessible and inclusive to all. Our comprehensive Accessibility Guide to Student Activities goes into detail around how you're able to run your student group in an accessible way to widen participation for disabled people. We'd recommend all student leaders to consult this document in full to help make their activities as accessible and inclusive as possible.
To get you started, you can use this Accessibility Checklist during your planning of any activity, social, meeting or event. Over time and with practice, these steps will form part of your usual planning and thinking. If you can't tick all of the boxes, you should consider what other adjustments you can make to not remove access.
We've also detailed some basic guidelines here too to get you started:
Provide access information in your event descriptions.
It’s super helpful for people to know that the event organisers are considering people with disabilities, since if we don’t know if we’ll be welcome we won’t go in the first place. Always put contact details and ask people to contact you if they have any access adjustments.
Aim for spaces with step free access.
This helps those with chronic pain and mobility impairments. Ground floor rooms are best (lifts break!).
Aim for spaces with step free access
This helps those with chronic pain and mobility impairments. Ground floor rooms are best (lifts break!).
Make sure that there are accessible toilets at your venue.
Provide subtitles and closed captions on screened videos.
Subtitles for screened videos allow deaf and hard of hearing people to comprehend video content. Closed captions do a similar job for the visually impaired. You can generate these on Youtube videos.
Use microphones and hearing loops for events where there is a speaker.
Even if the speaker thinks they’re loud, it won’t be accessible. Many rooms on campus have hearing loops, but contact YorkSU Reception (reception@yorksu.org) for a portable one. And make sure you don’t shout into a microphone, it’s painful!
Make sure people can see your lips when you speak so they can lipread.
If you’re holding an online event, look into programmes which automatically write transcripts.)
These aren’t always 100% accurate but they do make a difference. Find instructions here for doing this on Zoom.
Leave clear walkways so people have space to move around with trip hazards.
Schedule breaks for long meetings and events.
Usually 10 minutes per hour works well.
Don’t expect someone to turn up to everything.
Everyone gets ill, injured or tired, and a lot of disabilities make this more likely.
Be aware that austistic people may use stimming.
This is the repetition of physical movements, sounds, words, or moving objects. it’s difficult to help it so don’t get mad, but also consider the impact of repetitive noises on other students with sensory sensitivity.
Always make sure there are places to sit down.
If you want to learn some British Sign Language (BSL) there are lots of resources online.
Be receptive to access feedback - it can go a long way!
If you have any food or drinks, try to provide disposable plates, cutlery, cups and plastic straws as well as asking people to bring their own.
List any ingredients of any foods and keep the nutrition labels.
If people have allergies or other disabilities where they need to count carbs it can be really helpful.
Questions?
Jasmine Pledger, Student Citizenship and Employability Development Coordinator - volunteering@yorksu.org