Who Are You Leaving Out?

This story about Councilmember Chris Hinds in Denver, CO is a recent, public example of the exclusion and unnecessary hurdles that are pressed upon people with disabilities every day.

Nonprofit organizations are often in the business of building a better world, but decades of conditioning to find the lowest-cost solutions available can affect our ability to truly include relevant experts and community members. It is important for nonprofit leaders and event organizers to first be aware of default behaviors and then intentionally change those behaviors.

If you host events:

• Choose vendors and locations that prioritize accessibility (and confirm it in advance).

• Change your default settings on Zoom and other video conferencing platforms to enable Live Transcription.

• Hire ASL and other interpreters.

• Ensure your venue can comfortably accommodate the needs of service animals.

• Ask your speakers and attendees what they need and then actually provide it.

• Reference other accessibility measures, like this checklist for planning an accessible event from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to help you get it right.

If you’re using lack of budget as a justification to axe accessibility measures, then you don’t truly have the budget to be doing the event at all.