On this episode we are talking about Accessibility Awareness in honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, which was Thursday, May 18. Learn what you can do to ensure your workplace and social media is accessible, and how the new Dot Experience, which just broke ground, is incorporating accessibility from the ground up. Plus hear from the emcee of the groundbreaking event, Joe Strechay.
On this Podcast (In Order of Appearance)
Additional Links
Additional Information about Prime Access Consulting (PAC)
Mission
To collaborate with your organization to create welcoming, equitable, and delightful experiences for the widest possible audience.
Practice
Via our inclusive design methodology, we help you design, develop, and produce inclusive experiences. We work across digital and physical spaces, spanning websites, mobile apps, small-to-large capital projects, themed experiences, and much more. Our rigorous approach yields solutions that deliver world-class accessibility in a sustainable manner.
Approach
Having worked with hundreds of clients spanning cultural, themed entertainment, technology, education, non-profit, and government organizations, PAC has enjoyed the privilege of working on capital builds, incubator projects, visitor experiences of all shapes and sizes, and infrastructure and operations spanning all sectors. We have built museums, architected complex high-impact digital projects, and co-invented some of the world's most advanced and impactful accessibility solutions.
On this episode we are talking about Accessibility Awareness in honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, which was Thursday, May 18. Learn what you can do to ensure your workplace and social media is accessible, and how the new Dot Experience, which just broke ground, is incorporating accessibility from the ground up. Plus hear from the emcee of the groundbreaking event, Joe Strechay.
On this Podcast (In Order of Appearance)
Additional Links
Additional Information about Prime Access Consulting (PAC)
Mission
To collaborate with your organization to create welcoming, equitable, and delightful experiences for the widest possible audience.
Practice
Via our inclusive design methodology, we help you design, develop, and produce inclusive experiences. We work across digital and physical spaces, spanning websites, mobile apps, small-to-large capital projects, themed experiences, and much more. Our rigorous approach yields solutions that deliver world-class accessibility in a sustainable manner.
Approach
Having worked with hundreds of clients spanning cultural, themed entertainment, technology, education, non-profit, and government organizations, PAC has enjoyed the privilege of working on capital builds, incubator projects, visitor experiences of all shapes and sizes, and infrastructure and operations spanning all sectors. We have built museums, architected complex high-impact digital projects, and co-invented some of the world's most advanced and impactful accessibility solutions.
Welcome to Change Makers, a podcast from APH. We're talking to people from around the world who are creating positive change in the lives of people who are blind or have low vision. Here's your host.
Sara Brown:Hello and welcome to Change Makers. I'm APH's Public Relations Manager, Sara Brown, and on this episode of Change Makers, we're talking all about accessibility awareness in honor of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, which was Thursday, May 18. Learn what you can do to ensure your workplace and social media is accessible, and how The DOT Experience, which just broke ground, is incorporating accessibility and inclusive design from the ground up. Plus, we're g onna hear from the emcee of the groundbreaking event, Joe Strechay. Like I said earlier, Global Accessibility Awareness Day was Thursday, May 18, and the purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, and thinking, and learning, about digital access and inclusion. So with that, at the forefront of this podcast, I have APH's Vice President of the Human Resources Department, Maurice Brown here. He's gonna talk about what to do and how to make an office environment more accessible. Hello, Maurice, and welcome to Change Makers.
Maurice Brown:Well, thank you. Hello. It's great to be here. And, and thank you for inviting me to this. I'm excited.
Sara Brown:All right , Maurice, would you like to just share what it is that you do as Vice President of Human Resources at APH?
Maurice Brown:Thank you, Sara. Um, so as Vice President of Human Resources for the American Printing House for the Blind, it is my duty to be the people operations , um, champion. Um, we have a great team of seven of us here in HR, and it is , uh, our team is actually broken down into Recruitment , uh, Performance Management, Benefits Administration , um, Safety and Wellness , um, and , uh, also including ABIDE , uh, into that . So , um, we , uh, it is our , uh, it is our duty here at APH , uh, to make sure that every employee feels supported and championed and encouraged , uh, in their every day , uh, tasks.
Sara Brown:And so, this podcast is all about accessibility, and we're talking about accessibility in the workplace. Can you share some ways companies fail at making a workplace accessible?
Maurice Brown:You know, I think that , um, ever since , uh, the 1990s with the Americans with Disabilities Act , um, I believe that businesses have been , uh, uh, going after their physical location, accessibility. They're making their locations accessible to those , um, who are their customers, and their employees. But I, I think now more so in the 21st Century , uh, and beyond, businesses are more forward thinking in making their digital spaces , um, accessible. And I think that , um, a lot of that is where we're, we're lacking and where a lot of businesses are failing because , um, you know, let's take , um, for instance, restaurant chains, right? Or, or DoorDash, for instance. Oh , let's take DoorDash. DoorDash is an app that, that you can utilize to order food and or groceries or any other products and brought to your, to your place of either business or home residence . Right? Um, but is that app accessible? Has DoorDash jumped into that realm and, and , and said, you know, can those with who are blind or low vision follow this app and, and, and purchase what they need to purchase.
Sara Brown:Is it? I don't know because I've never used it.
Maurice Brown:Well, it it's not,
Sara Brown:Oh, no!
Maurice Brown:No . It's, it's not, it , it , um, uh, unless, unless an an employee or , or , or customer , um, has , uh, uh, their screen readers , um, or their audio devices connected to their phones when, when ordering DoorDash, DoorDash doesn't offer those components into their, their app and their, their, their plat... Their virtual platform...
Sara Brown:Now, how i s that... Is that legal? B ecause I've heard over, I've heard in the past, like websites or I've heard like maybe a celebrity has a website and that website gets sued. And I, years ago I remember hearing about it, world famous celebrities, and I was like, "how do you sue over a website?" And I guess because the w eb now, now knowing what I know is because the website was not, I guess, accessible, but how is, and so there was that lawsuit file, how, in this case, how is is that legal?
Maurice Brown:Well, it would be illegal because of the Supreme Court ruling that signal that all companies must do better , um, in their, in their physical and their digital accessibility, because there are, there are two sides to that that, that coin see. And so in order to make, and , and giving DoorDash as an example , um, companies have to think outside the box in order to , um, um, make all of their , um, their, their products , um, accessible and, and gain more accessibility , uh, through those. So giving , um, um, DoorDash or even your pizza chains like Dominoes or, or, or, or , um, Papa John's for instance, you know, using their websites and using their, their , um, uh, their, their apps. Um, I think they're becoming more cognizant of those who with disabilities , um, to become more accessible in their access. And so I think they're, they're coming along.
Sara Brown:Wow. Hearing, that just really opens your eyes too, just of all the other, the apps or companies that are well known and established mm-hmm . <affirmative> that are still coming up short mm-hmm. <affirmative> in those terms. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> . Now, what are some ways a company can improve their accessibility?
Maurice Brown:Um, I think that , uh, I think there are ways of getting over that, that fear of it being a costly burden , um, because it's not , um, we're being, you know, the world is more cognizant of the differences , um, in , um, in , in the ways that people live and the , and the ways that people interact and the ways that people collaborate. Um, so I think that we're becoming more cognizant. I think that , uh, businesses can, should recognize the innovative potential that employees have with disabilities. Uh , you know, employees with disabilities frequently bring, you know, qualities , um, to the, to the , uh, to the forefront that I think we otherwise don't really hone in on, if you will. Uh , you know, such as agility, persistence , um, the drive, strategic planning, doing things the same way but differently... You know, so that we can get a a , a greater product. You know, I was reading , um, an article in the business , uh, Harvard Business Review that stated that 75% of employees with disabilities compared with 61% , uh, of employees without disabilities have ideas that would drive value for their company. And nearly half of these ideas would serve the disability market within that product service. You know, that makes total sense, I think.
Sara Brown:No, I , that makes really good sense. Go ahead.
Maurice Brown:Yeah, no, and, and , you know, several others , um, I , I think that we need to create inclusive environments , um, that empower professionals with disabilities. So, you know , don't just, we, even APH we should not hire people with, with disabilities , um, just to check a box. We have to do it with intention. There's some intentionality with it that, that, that, that should be there. You know , um, another statistic , um, in this, in this article, which was very great and right on time , um, but nearly half of employees with disabilities who have ideas that would drive value for their companies fail to win endorsements for those ideas. And it's, and it's because , um, or one of the reasons I think is that some have encountered discrimination or negative biases by the companies, whether it be intentionally or unintentionally. And those are the barriers that we have to break down. Those are the things that we have to be cognizant of as an organization. You know, we have to expand on the definition of innovation. "What does innovation look like ?" "What is that definition?" "How can accessibility , um, have value add to innovation?" Right? "And who and who else who would not do that, but someone who is in need of that accessible , um, piece , right?" And so , um, it , it , this, I'm, so, again, I'm glad that I, I, I came across some of the material because it has truly made me think and emphasize what my responsibility is , uh, as the VP of HR here and, and our team on truly going above and beyond to make , um, to make or assist APH in being the most innovative place to work. Um, a lot in these past couple of days, I've heard , um, how we should be an accessible and inclusive organization, and I think they go hand-in-hand. Um, and, and without , um, accessibility, we cannot be inclusive. And if we can't be inclusive, then we're not inviting everyone in. So we're not living a part of our mission here. And I think that's really important.
Sara Brown:Wow. That's true. Accessibility, accessible and inclusivity. They do, they go hand-in-hand. Yeah , they do . Now, in just about every office in office setting, someone is always emailing or sending documents. Can you talk about some ways files aren't accessible and what can be done to ensure they are? And you know, if you think about it, when you , if you've sat in a meeting and they've showed a PowerPoint presentation, you know... Talk about some of those ways files aren't accessible and how that can, we can change that.
Maurice Brown:You know, I , I , I think about that quite often now, more so , um, than I have in , in, in my career and my life , um, being here at APH , um, and as I'm sitting in the room next to , um, some of our, our blind colleagues , um, here in the business , um, and, and we have a speaker or we have a presentation, and , um, and I'm always , um, wanting to, to make sure that, that they have everything that they need in front of them , um, their devices , um, that I, off the top of my head, cannot , um, begin to, to name. But , um, so their resources are there. Because I can see the presentation on the board, you know, I, I can, I can follow the PowerPoint, however , um, if a video comes up , um, sure, there's, there may be closed captioning on the video, but if you can't see the video, how can you see the closed captioning? And, and, and, and let's, let's take it to a broader text or context. Um, what if the , um, the video , um, is in Spanish, and so now, you know, that's kind of a double whammy because you, not only can you see, not see the, the presentation or the video, and you can't read what's in closed caption because it's translated and you don't know Spanish, you know, there's so many problems with that, right? So I'm always cognizant about how we , um, utilize our files to make them accessible. Now , um, from what I , um, what I've also learned is that PDF documents are not accessible documents, however, word documents are. Um, I, I would've not known that , um, had it not been for our subject matter experts here at a P h that we rely on heavily here in a , in , in HR, because before we send out any policies, handbooks, documents that, that require the attention of all employees, we wanna make sure they're accessible, we're wanna make sure that they're, they're read easily. Um , and, and , um, and, and understood. And so , um, we send all of our documents to our subject matter experts in other areas , um, of APH, so that , um, we too , um, can stay , um, uh, on the path of accessibility , um, for our employees. So , um, and then the other , uh, piece of that question, I think I've answered it , um, is in the use of the Word document , um, we're able to enlarge our type. We're, we're able to bold , um, lettering so that those who have low vision , um, are, are, are, are, you know, slightly cited , um, you know, have the ability , um, to utilize that wording in order to , um, to read the documents that are , that are put in front of them . So
Sara Brown:What can someone do if they're just not sure how accessible their office is, or if they just don't understand what to look for? What is, what is something they can do? Or what is something that can help them?
Maurice Brown:So , um, one, one of the most important , um, uh, pieces , uh, of the answer would be to , um, to evaluate, evaluate the company , um, ask, ask yourself the question. Um, "are we as accessible as we can be?" "Are, are we fulfilling the needs of our employees across the spectrum?" Um, that's a really important question to ask . If the answer to that question in any aspect, form, or fashion is "no," then we have to begin the research on that. Um, we have to find ways. A... again, just like researching , um, this article , uh, from the Harvard Business Review, that, that gave some great statistics , um, and has opened up the door to ask more questions on, are we doing what we can here at APH to be an accessible organization? If you, if a company has at their, at their hands , um, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and policies, accessibility should be a part of that. Um, accessibility should be the first in , in, in that, in that level of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Because without, again, as I said before, without having accessibility, we're not being inclusive. And so if we're, if, if we're not being inclusive, then why not? And how can we become more inclusive? And those are the questions that I think that we should ask ourselves , uh, if we feel as our offices or our , or companies or our organizations aren't as accessible as they should be.
Sara Brown:Is there anything else you would like to say , um, regarding the conversation of accessibility or accessibility in the workplace?
Maurice Brown:So I will say this , um, APH has a lot of tools and resources out , um, out on our website, including , uh, an Accessibility Hub that , um, will , uh, assist companies and organizations in, in , um, in retrospect trying , uh, trying to really figure out if you are as accessible as you say that you are. Um, and, you know, within that hub, there are , uh, a number of checklists and documents that you can kind of , uh, review and go over research , um, that will, will assist you along that path of accessibility. Um, I think it's, it's a great tool. Um, and I encourage anyone, anyone listening who, who has that, that inkling of a question of, "is our company truly as accessible as we can be?" I would encourage you to go out and , and take a look at that accessibility hub and our website, aph.org . Um , there, there are several resources there , uh, for just about every content , uh, imaginable in the blindness field. And so this is one of very much importance there . There's one other thing , um, <laugh> , because I would, I would hate to , um, put any, any , um, notion of , uh, far-reaching , um, accessibility , um, uh, what is the word I'm trying to say? I would, I would hate to, to, to put out there that any company is not accessible , um, and, and truly that they are. I would, I would challenge companies to put that on first and foremost on their websites and their apps to state that "yes, we are a truly 100% accessible , um, uh, organization and company. And, and if you will , if you need any assistance , um, please reach out to our organization and we can provide those resources for you." It's very simple to just place something there to say, if you, if you can't find it, what you're looking for, let us help you find what you're looking for.
Sara Brown:Okay. Maurice, thank you so much for joining me today on Change Makers.
Maurice Brown:Thank you so much. Appreciate the opportunity.
Sara Brown:I've put a link to APH's Accessibility Hub. There you can find plenty of information such as accessibility, checklists, tutorials, and more on how to make a workplace more accessible. To talk more about digital access and inclusion for social media, I have APH's Digital Engagement Manager, Abby Pullis and Digital Media Specialist, Caitlin Stewart-Wilcox, here to talk about the simple things you can do to have accessible social media. Hello, Abby and Caitlin , and welcome to Change Makers.
Abby Pullis:Hello.
Caitlin Stewart-Wilcox:Hi.
Sara Brown:All right , well, thank you both so much for coming on off the top. Can you just let listeners know what it is that you do here at APH?
Abby Pullis:Sure. My name is Abby Pullis. I'm the Digital Engagement Manager at APH. I work on our internal communications and creative services team , uh, to make sure that all of our communications are , uh, clear and timely accessible. And, you know, tie back to our mission. Um, I oversee social media strategy. I oversee our blog, and I work closely with the rest of the team on our digital communications.
Caitlin Stewart-Wilcox:And my name is Caitlin Stewart Wilcox, and I am the digital media specialist at APH, I create content for our various social platforms. I maintain our social calendar, and most importantly, I engage with the community, which includes responding to comments and direct messages and connecting people with our customer service team, or one of our many other resources.
Sara Brown:Great. Well, thank you both so much for coming on. And this podcast is about accessibility. Talk to us about social media. You both are the experts. Can you talk about why social media accessibility is important? I mean, for those that just aren't aware, they might think, why do I need to worry about it? You know, what, what, what, what's the point? But break that down for us.
Abby Pullis:Sure. Um, I think the importance of social media accessibility really ties back to creating a connection, creating , um, a space where everyone feels welcome and is accessible to everyone. Uh, we know that social media is the place that most people go to share big life updates, whether that's a new job or an engagement, or a ba , a new baby , um, or , uh, little things in life, like a picture from a family , family vacation or, or something that really is, is meaningful , um, and kind of storybooks your life. And I think that, you know, we don't want to create spaces where we're sharing that information. Um, if, if that can't be shared with those of our friends and family and community , um, that have disabilities.
Caitlin Stewart-Wilcox:If you're an organization or business, having accessible social media content helps you to broaden your audience. Um, it helps you foster inclusion be , and so more people can interact with your content. Accessible content helps to create an inclusive environment , uh, that isn't alienating to users who have a disability.
Sara Brown:Talk about some of the challenges that users might face if they're disabled. Talk about some of those challenges they might face when or run into when using social media.
Caitlin Stewart-Wilcox:One of the barriers that many people run into , um, are, is a lack of alt text on images without alt text . Someone who's blind can't fully experience your content, and there's a chance that they won't be able to understand it depending on what the content is. Like, if you include key details in an image, like the date or the time of your event. And then don't use alt text , to explain the image. You fail to reach everyone who uses all text. Lack of audio description or lack of closed captioning. It's very similar. Without that context , uh, users who are disabled probably won't be able to understand or fully experience your video, especially if the video is silent or, and has no, no one talking. It's important to at least explain what's going on in the video.
Abby Pullis:Something that we know that causes social media to not always be universally , um, usable, is that the platforms change so quickly, and a lot of those companies aren't including accessibility in the , um, beginning of the, the process of creating new features. So oftentimes we'll want to maybe use a feature on Facebook or on Twitter or on Instagram, but then we look into it and it turns out like it's not accessible. Um, there are a lot of issues with , um, certain ad types and, and reels and things like that that make it a little more difficult for us to fully utilize those in an inclusive and accessible way. So we know that, you know, those platforms are changing , um, and they're not necessarily baking in that accessibility at the beginning. And that can really lead to , uh, you know, feelings of alienation. You know, it's a lack of access to, to information under resource. So , um, making sure that the parts of social media that you are utilizing do have accessibility features built in that you are fully utilizing.
Sara Brown:And what are some ways social media can be more accessible?
Abby Pullis:What would make the biggest difference would be if platforms, social media platforms would bake that accessibility into the beginning of every project that they take on , um, creating fully accessible platforms. Um, and while we know that that is what we would love to see in a perfect world and what we can advocate for , um, you , you know, we have to keep pushing them because they, they don't always do that. Uh, they do have some accessibility features , uh, that can really make a difference , um, in, in individuals day-to-day posting to create a more , uh, inclusive social media environment for your followers. Um, you as a business, an organization, an individual , uh, can take a couple of steps to make your social media more accessible. Um, probably the biggest one , uh, to be inclusive of users who are blind or low vision would be to include alt text . As Caitlin mentioned earlier, alt text is a description that lives kind of underneath the photo or behind the scenes. For those of us who are cited , um, and is accessed through screen reader technology for users who are blind, it gives , uh, an opportunity to explain , uh, what is happening in the image to create that needed , um, that needed context for, for users. So, you know, if it's a picture of , uh, for example, your engagement and , uh, it's, you know, the person proposing to you on the beach , um, you know, the per , somebody may post that photo and just say, "the best day of my life," and they wouldn't give any additional context. So for someone who uses a screen reader, if there is no alt text , they don't know what that image is of. And so by adding alt text and saying, "my partner kneeling on, on a sun , you know, on a beach at sunset , uh, holding a ring in their hands , um, and my hand , you know, and, and I have my hands on my chest and I'm smiling," would really give them that needed emotional context. The, the important need to know information there that will , uh, make that a meaningful experience. Similar. Again, this is something that Caitlin mentioned earlier. Um, audio description , uh, including that in any video that you take , um, can really be important to, to creating inclusive and accessible content. Uh, if say , uh, you went to the zoo , uh, with your family and it's a video of, you know, your child or your niece or nephew , um, uh, face-to-face with a , um, you know, acute animal behind , uh, uh, the glass and their , you know, both have their hands on this , you know, glass or something like that, you know, a cute moment , um, people will take a video of that, but then they won't tell you what's happening. They may just say, like, you know, "my niece made a new friend today in the text," but the video doesn't actually give you any context. So incorporating , um, by , by either speaking about what's happening in the moment that you're recording, recording it, or utilizing features that are available through a lot of social media platforms like Instagram or TikTok to record audio after and kind of pipe that over the video to, to describe what's happening , um, really creates a lot of additional context.
Caitlin Stewart-Wilcox:It's also important if you use hashtags in your personal or professional life , uh, to use camel case hashtags, which are hashtags in which every word in the hashtag is capitalized. When hashtags aren't constructed in this way, screen readers can get confused and read the words in the hashtag incorrectly, mushing together the wrong words or missing words, that sort of thing. Interestingly, it's also been shown that camel case hashtags are actually easier for cited readers to read as well. Cause you can identify each individual word more easily. It's also important not to overuse emojis. I know emojis are fun <laugh>, but screen readers will read out the name of each emoji, like "Red Heart" or "American Flag," or smiling Face every single time that emoji appears, which can be annoying, especially if a bunch are used in a row. It can also be confusing if the emojis are interwoven with the caption of the post, because like I said, it will read every single one of them <laugh> .
Sara Brown:Once you know better and do better in one field, I feel like it always bleeds over into other fields and other areas and avenues. How does social accessibility translate into other forms of communication?
Abby Pullis:In the digital world there are a lot of different kinds of communication. Um, there are a lot of , um, uh, laws and guidelines for how accessible websites have to be. Um, we know at APH that that's just the bare minimum, and we can do even a lot better than those standards. Um, and that those standards are really just, again, the , the bare minimum and we should really strive to do more, or we want the world to strive to do, to do even better than that. But , uh, something that you can do on a day-to-day basis. And the kinds of communications you may send out, like emails, or if you write blogs, or even if you have your own kind of like , uh, website , um, through WordPress or one of those , uh, different crm , uh, platforms , um, would be to just, like we said with social media, include alt text with your images. You can add alt text into a Word document. You can add it in an email, you can do it on your website. Um, and , um, another one that is less applicable to social media, because there isn't , um, you usually can't hyperlink , um, your text in social media, you kinda add the link after, but in Word documents or in emails, if you're hyperlinking, if you're adding a hyperlink , um, to, to navigate to another page , um, don't use language like "click here ," um, or "learn more" as your hyperlink. Add context to that link. It's important. Um, it allows people using screen readers who may be jumping to find the, you know, oh yeah, I do wanna sign up for that webinar that I read about at the top of this newsletter. As they jump through those links, they won't know which link is exactly the one they need to sign up for if there are multiple options. So adding that , um, additional context to like, "sign up for our webinar on coding 101," we'll really let them know that they're clicking the correct link before they go to that, to that website. Especially, like I said, if there are multiple links that may have different calls to action , um, that, that could be confusing. So those are just two examples.
Sara Brown:Now from my final question, I always like to ask, is there anything else you would like to say or add to the conversation of accessibility?
Caitlin Stewart-Wilcox:I think that social media is very important because it has brought about a level of international connectivity that would not otherwise be possible. It gives advocacy groups a stronger voice and enables them to find a community and reach a broader audience because of this connectivity. Uh, and on a personal level, it allows people of all walks of life to share their stories and personal experiences with the world. And it get , and in that way, we're able to get a lot of different perspectives from people that we otherwise would not have connected with or met with. And I think that's a really great thing.
Abby Pullis:I would just say that implementing accessibility , uh, these practices that we've talked about today, incorporating them in your, in your communications , um, via social media or email or however , um, it might seem a little daunting. Um, it might seem like , uh, a big task to take on or something that that's hard to learn. But Caitlin and I can tell you, it's, it's not, and it's something that we , um, both picked up very easily and have been able to advocate , um, amongst our fellow coworkers and, and educate them. We've educated people outside of our organization, and once you start taking these small actions, they become second nature, and it just really creates , um, uh, an inclusive space where everybody feels like they belong.
Sara Brown:All right , Caitlin and Abby, thank you both so much for joining me today on Change Makers.
Abby Pullis:Thank you for having us. It was great.
Caitlin Stewart-Wilcox:Thank you so much.
Sara Brown:I've put a link in the show notes to an APH blog titled "Take Action Today, 2022 GAAD Social Tips." There you can find a list of tips to make your social media more accessible. Now I have Sina Barhiam, President of Prime Access Consulting. Prime Access Consulting is heavily involved with the new DOT Experience that just broke ground here at APH. So we've talked about accessibility in the workplace and on social media. Now we're talking about how universal design is at the forefront of this new experience that's coming in 2025. Hello, Sina, and welcome to Changemakers.
Sina Bahram:Thank you for having me.
Sara Brown:So, just off the top, would you mind to just explain who you are and what it is that you do?
Sina Bahram:Sure. Um, so my name is Sina Bahram. I use He/ him pronouns, and I live in Cary, North Carolina. Although the more appropriate answer is Delta Airlines these days. And , um, you know, I'm really privileged to be working with a collection of incredible humans that work at Prime Access Consulting or, or PAC, for, for short. Uh, we're an inclusive design firm that helps make spaces welcoming to the widest possible audience, whether those are virtual spaces like websites or apps or augmented reality experiences, or physical spaces like an entire museum, like the Dot experience.
Sara Brown:Wonderful. So thank you and thank you for all your work that you do.
Sina Bahram:Absolutely.
Sara Brown:So we just broke ground on the Dot Experience Museum and we're so excited, but explain why accessibility is an important aspect in a museum, and it's more than just braille.
Sina Bahram:Sure. Um, and you know, it's, it's more than just accessibility, right? Uh, accessibility are those things that we do predominantly for access technology , uh, users, right? So somebody who's blind like myself or , uh, deaf or uses a walker, et cetera , has a , you know, cognitive differences. What, what have you. And, and, you know, we lump a lot of things under accessibility there, but what we concentrate on and what the dot experience is concentrating on is actually something called inclusive design. And so, inclusive design is a methodology whereby we wanna design things thinking about all the different vectors of human difference and the spectrum of abilities that we all have, right? And so , um, if you think about engaging with a video, for example, that video may have visuals and it may have audio, but what if you're standing really far away? Or what if you're unable to hear the audio? Or what if you're blind and can't access the visual information? How do we make something like that usable, inclusive, and accessible? That's where inclusive design comes in. So we, we realize, "okay, that's a video. It's in a, it's on a screen. It needs to be viewable from a seated position. It needs to be viewable from a standing position. Uh , it needs to be viewable from far away or close up . Um, it should, it must have captions and a transcript, American Sign Language and audio description at a minimum, because these are the mechanisms," or, you know, we use the word "affordances," which is just a fancy way of saying those things that we're surfacing in the environment to make that video accessible to the widest possible audience. And so, when we're thinking through an entire museum, we're first thinking, how can we make it inclusive? And that is what yields accessibility. It's what yields , uh, sustainability. It's what yields repeat visitation and all of these other , uh, things that museums and cultural venues value. And it also leads to a more welcoming, and this is really important, a more comfortable environment, especially for disabled visitors, because museums as a whole have generally and typically not been very welcoming to disabled visitors.
Sara Brown:Now, including accessibility in a museum. How do you do that when some artifacts might not be for touching?
Sina Bahram:Sure. Um, well, a again , um, you know, looking at inclusivity instead of accessibility, we first want to think about the artifact, right? So what, "what is the artifact in question?" "What, why is it there?" "Is it visually rather striking?" Or "is it significant for a historical reason?" Right? So we would break down what is the design intent behind having that artifact there? And then what we would do is say, all right , well, that design intent, let's say it's historical significance, or being able to see Stevie Wonder's piano or something like this. You know, there's some, there's some level of design intent there. Now how are we surfacing it? Are we surfacing it visually? Great, but what other ways are we surfacing it? What about orally? What about tactally? What about , uh, through text? And so if something for preservation and conservation reasons is not able to be touched, that doesn't mean that a tactile reproduction can't be made. That doesn't mean that detailed visual descriptions can't be offered. That doesn't mean that an audio recording of the thing can't be made, right? There's all of these options we have available to us if , uh, the artifact can't be touched. And what's really important, and really I think rather lovely about the Dot Experience, is that so many things can be touched. So the cases in which there's something behind glass is incredibly minimal.
Sara Brown:Okay. Now I just thought of a couple of questions. So for example, if you're looking, if, if there's a photo of the Mona Lisa mm-hmm. <affirmative> to make that accessible, that would just have a very detailed audio description or the statue of Michelangelo. Maybe it's a mini statue for someone, along with audio as well, to feel and touch and hear what they're, what's being touched?
Sina Bahram:That That's right. And so, so let's, let's, let's think through that, right? Like the statue and the photo are a little bit different because the statue is a , is a physical thing, right? So if it's like a reproduction of Michelangelo, what we would do is something called a Guided Tactile Description. As you're touching it, you're being described what the textures mean, what the relief means. Maybe you're giving , giving a guided tour, like let's start with, you know, his head and work our way down the torso, right? Right . You're giving a , a guided description that has visual description built into it, but also has tactile description built into it. That's in that particular case. Now, we would also, of course, wanna make sure that is high contrast and accessible from a seated position, and is well lit and has good edge detection, and, you know, all the various facets of the inclusive design ecosystem that Pack works with , um, uh, to , to make these things inclusive. Now, if we turn our attention to the photo of the Mona Lisa , that's a little different. That's a photo. So you can't really touch a photo and get anything out of it. So then we have some questions to answer. "Are we gonna do a tactile reproduction of the Mona Lisa ?" And if we do, is it gonna be to scale, or is it gonna be not to scale? Because we wanna overemphasize certain pieces to make them easier to discern by touch. And then additionally, as you mentioned, there would be a description. Now, it wouldn't be an audio description because an audio description is for video and for movies, you know, it's for time-based content, but it would be a visual description that would tell you what's going on visually in, you know, in that photograph. So you can then combine these things. You can have a tactile reproduction that has a guide , a tactile description. It would have braille on the reader rail . The text would be easy to read. There would be no all caps, right? And it would have a visual description along the way as well. And that visual description, by the way, that can be surfaced in a variety of ways. It could be text, but it can also be audio. And that's really important because if you think about it , um, people access information in different ways. I, I use a screen reader and I use a screen reader at a very fast speech rate. So for me, I would rather prefer to access that text and have my screen reader on my phone read out everything. Whereas I have a friend who prefers audio, and they would want to listen to that as a human recording. And that's totally fine. So it's about giving people choice and, you know, restoring the agency of the visitor, especially for disabled visitors that so often don't get a choice on how they access information.
Sara Brown:Wonderful. Thank you for explaining that. That makes a lot of sense. It's really interesting just to hear and think about. Now, do you feel accessibility plays a role for museums at the beginning or end of construction in planning?
Sina Bahram:Yeah, I , so definitely as early as possible. And, and in these stages, in these capital projects, we like to concentrate on inclusive design first, right? Because accessibility is that byproduct. It's that it's that output of an inclusive design methodology. So when we're thinking about the architecture of a building, we want to understand the flow, the visitor flow, is there enough room in a hallway for two wheelchairs to travel side by side ? What about pinch points? You know, when you have a turn, is there enough of a turning radius? You know, those kinds of considerations. But then also, what are the choices we can make during architecture, during design, during fabrication, where we can increase the inclusivity of the space? For example, is the carpeted region of the hallway different than the hard tile version of the portion of the hallway? And that's important because that could be a wayfinding tactic. You could know that the hard tile version , uh, portion of the hallway, that's where you travel. And the carpeted region, that's where all of the content is. Or you could understand that in the layout of a space, we would prefer right angles as opposed to a curved path, because that may be easier to navigate, right? So we think of all the different facets of what we call the inclusive design ecosystem, where the experiential design ecosystem at the very beginning, architecture all the way into design, all the way into, you know, concepting and all of these things so that we are able to layer in inclusivity along the way. And then what you get is the answer to your question, which is an accessible museum, right? You get one that is usable by a variety of audiences and by people who may not even identify as being disabled, but just have different needs and preferences and their, their needs are serviced as well. And that's what's really important.
Sara Brown:Now, I do know The Dot Experience is gonna be the most inclusive, and accessible museum. How is that gonna make it stand out from other museums?
Sina Bahram:Well, as we talked about earlier, museums have typically and historically not been very welcoming, inclusive, or accessible, especially for visitors with disabilities. And so the difference here with the DOT experience is that the goal is to be inclusive. The goal is that we want to welcome people , uh, independent of where on that spectrum of human difference. They may, they may fall. And so that refers to everything from operational considerations, like how you're greeted at the door, and , um, what kind of assistance is offered and the kind of material choices that are made, and what kind of content is available, like a sensory guide, a large print guide, braille materials, tactile diagrams, audio descriptions, you know, all, all these different affordances that we talk about. And the other thing is that it really is about a methodology being implemented. So The DOT Experience is a museum, and it's going to open on a given day. Um , you know, as my business partner, Corey Timpson likes to say that's, that's the end of day zero, right?" And the rest of the days are yet to come. So when we think of an inclusive design methodology, it's a sustainable approach. It means when we refresh an exhibition, when we bring in new content, when we have an evening program that we haven't even thought of years into the future, those should also be born inclusive. They shouldn't be designed. And then, "oh, okay, let's go figure out how to make this accessible." That's how you know you're doing it wrong, when you have to say, "oh, let's go figure out how to make this accessible." Instead, we want things to be born accessible. And that's the unique difference here, is that museums that center inclusivity then have a sustainable approach for achieving that for their entire lifecycle.
Sara Brown:Now, what do you hope other businesses and museums learn from how the dot experience is being planned?
Sina Bahram:Well, I hope that they take away a few things. Um, the first is that there's often this misconception that , uh, all you have to do is follow the ADA, a , a predominant majority of the buildings and , uh, websites and digital applications and things like this that we all encounter on a daily basis, the most you can really hope for is, oh, it's ADA accessible. And almost always when, you know, when somewhere is claiming that they're ADA accessible, they're not even that, right? So the bar is, is unfortunately very low in that space. And what we're trying to do at PAC and what The DOT Experience is trying to do, you know, with, with APH and, and with all of our partners around the world, is we need to raise that bar. These expectations need to be much higher than they are. If you're a blind person visiting this museum, you should have a delightful, enjoyable, wonderful time. You shouldn't just have an accessible time. That is, is not, that's not a good goal. The goal should be that we should all have a truly enjoyable, delightful experience. And so we wanna raise the bar for businesses, for educators, for museum professionals that are out building other museums and working in other cultural institutions to raise this expectation of what the visitor experience should be when it comes to accessibility, comfort, and inclusivity.
Sara Brown:And from our last question, I always like to ask this, is there anything else you would like to say, whether it be about the museum and its accessibility, or just accessibility overall, or anything you want our listeners to know?
Sina Bahram:Well, I want to thank people for spending their time listening to this segment. Um, you know, how we spend our time is really important. And , uh, it's really important to learn about these things and to talk to other people about these things, to socialize these concepts of accessibility, of inclusive design so that we can normalize this practice and not have it be a, a one-off, not have it be a, a rare thing, "oh, that museum is really accessible." They all should be. And the only way we can get to that world is by building it together. So I want to encourage people to really double down on your expectations of inclusive design, of accessibility, and of the experiences that all of us should have so that they're equitable, they're welcoming, they're comfortable, they're inclusive, and that they're just, you know, they inspire joy. That they spark joy. Um, if we're able to have a group of people that have different abilities and some disabled folks, some non-disabled folks, and they're all getting the same emotional impact at the same time, I think we've done something right. And that's the goal with The DOT Experience.
Sara Brown:Wow . Very well said. Sina, thank you so much for joining me today on Change Makers.
Sina Bahram:Thank you for having me.
Sara Brown:Now, here's my interview with Joe Strechay. He was the emcee for the groundbreaking for The DOT Experience. Joe is an entertainment accessibility and inclusion expert, and again, he was in town to emcee this wonderful event, celebrating the groundbreaking. <Cut to audio> So we just did the groundbreaking for The DOT Experience, and you were the emcee. Can you tell us what it means to, to emcee this event that's gonna be such a beacon in the world of inclusive design and accessibility for everyone?
Joe Strechay:It was such an honor to assist , uh, the American Printing House for the Blind in hosting and emceeing their groundbreaking for The Dot Experience. The Dot Experience is, is like kind of, it's on my bucket list that have some kind of museum like this out there in the world , uh, where universal design is bringing full accessibility and not just the mandated , uh, accessibility that you find in most buildings and, and museums. And this, this , uh, museum is gonna be an experience. You go into it and have access to so many things, including the history around the blindness field , uh, around Helen Keller, around the organizations and the , and, but it's also gonna share personal stories from individuals who are blind or low vision called , uh, these Cast Members. And I'm lucky enough to be one of those 20 cast members.
Sara Brown:And what are you looking most forward to when the museum is finished? When the , when The Experience is finished, you know, because it's going be so much, it's gonna make you, it's going, it's going to educate, but it's also gonna motivate. So what are you looking most forward to?
Joe Strechay:I'm really looking forward to , uh, the completion in 2025 of The DOT Experience, because it's gonna change perspectives on blindness and, and show people who are blind or low vision, as full individuals who are , uh, in employment and life and doing things and making things happen. And I think it's only gonna help people see individuals who are blind, and most people don't believe they've met someone who's blind or low vision, even if their grandmother has macular degeneration and is losing vision. Um , so it's gonna change their perspective, but also , uh, uh, I I think those individuals will go on out into the world and maybe they'll hire persons who are blind or low vision , uh, at their companies and their businesses. And , um, yeah, I , I , I think that's a huge opportunity and , um, I'm really excited about it.
Sara Brown:Okay. Is there anything else you'd like to say?
Joe Strechay:I , I'm really grateful to the American Printing House for the Blind , really creating such a , uh, uh, forum or, or platform to share these stories and, and , and change perspectives around blindness.
Sara Brown:All right , Joe, thank you so much. Thank you so much for talking to me.
Joe Strechay:Thank you so much.
Sara Brown:I hope you've enjoyed that bit of coverage from The Dot Experience groundbreaking, and it is expected to open in 2025. Thank you for listening to this episode of Changemakers. Again, I have put links to GAAD, APH's Accessibility Hub, our APH blog, and more information about The Dot Experience in the show notes. As always, be sure to look for ways you can be a change maker this week.