One in four people in the United States has a disability, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One fifth of those 61 million Americans are people of color. Yet despite a growing focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion work at many nonprofits, experts say most still aren’t doing enough to ensure events are inclusive and accessible to everyone.
For example, only 14 percent of charities use video captions to enable people who identify as deaf or hard of hearing to participate. This figure is based on a survey of nearly 1,000 nonprofit and foundation workers in 2018 by RespectAbility, a disability-led advocacy organization. Fewer than one third of groups ask donors if they need accommodations like American Sign Language interpretation as part of their registration process, the study shows.
Organizations that don’t prioritize accommodations like these at their events convey the message that donors who have a disability don’t matter, says Ingrid Tischer, director of development at the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, a nonprofit led by disabled people and parents who have children with disabilities. “No access means you don’t think I need to be there. It says you think I don’t have anything to give,” she said in a written response to the Chronicle.
Plan Early
Many nonprofit leaders want to improve accessibility at their events but don’t know how, says Bridget Hayman, communications director at Access Living, which serves people with disabilities and helps companies and nonprofits include this population in their work. “Usually what I tell them is to factor accessibility into your planning from the very start,” she says. That means thinking about how to ensure that as many people as possible can join, she says, not necessarily considering only those with disabilities.
For example, take advantage of features your online event tools already offer, such as video captions. Sometimes it’s simply a matter of turning these features on, Hayman says.
Before you commit to a venue or online platform, Tischer says, create two budgets for accessibility: one for expenses and one for time. Allocate at least 1 percent of total dollars spent to accessibility if you can.
Include a line item for access in your budget no matter the amount, Hayman says. “Simply thinking about it and setting a little money aside, just like you would for anything else, is a good start.”
Separately, build a budget for the time you think you’ll need to do the work related to making your event accessible, Tischer says. Approach it like an expense budget with line items for specific tasks and the amount of time each requires.
Consider the potential learning curve you’ll face, especially if focusing on accessibility for the first time, she says, including learning how to make documents accessible and sharing this knowledge with your team. Often when groups seek her help, Tischer shares tools created by disabled experts to make events and information more accessible. But too often she is pressured to implement the tools for these organizations, she says, because they don’t have the time. “And if I do it, you’ll be coming back to someone like me again and again because you haven’t given yourself time to do the work of learning.” She urges nonprofits to plan ahead and avoid this negative cycle. A thoughtful time budget helps you stay on track to meet your goals and better understand how much — or how little — time these efforts require, Tischer says.
It also helps to protect your event’s bottom line. “When you haven’t budgeted enough time to properly implement an access plan, you’ll probably end up needing more money to execute it,” she says, because last-minute expenses usually cost more.
Factor accessibility into your planning from the very start.
Another key step to take: Plan how to build support among your board and staff for accessibility efforts, Tischer says. Do this early because it often takes longer than you expect, she says, but it is crucial. “If people you count on don’t really understand how integral access is, it’s unlikely you can pull it off on your own,” she says.
To win leaders’ support, frame access as an equity issue, Tischer says, rather than as a “nice extra” for people who aren’t yet part of your audience.
Foster Inclusion, Not Just Accessibility
It’s often easy and inexpensive to make virtual events accessible to people with disabilities, says Jennifer Mizrahi, president of RespectAbility. But adding access features such as video captions or sign-language interpretation to these events after they’ve been organized is not the same as including and welcoming this community, she says.
True inclusion means ensuring that people with disabilities are a visible part of an event as you would for other racial and ethnic groups and genders, she says. For example, enlist individuals to help with planning who are known to have a disability. If you are hosting a conference, include disabled people on your panels and consider this community’s needs and interests when selecting discussion topics.
The Chronicle spoke with several nonprofit leaders and fundraisers who shared advice to help your organization create more accessible and inclusive virtual events and better engage people with disabilities in your work. Here’s what they said.
Add captions to every video you create. Live captioning by a human is best if you can afford it, says Lauren Schrero, executive director of the Nora Project, a nonprofit that promotes the inclusion of people with disabilities through education. The organization uses Vitac, a captioning company, to provide this service at live events and meetings when needed. The group pays roughly $150 per hour for a total of 60 hours of live captioning per year, Schrero says. But fees for this service vary depending on the company and the volume needed, she says.
If your nonprofit has a smaller budget, use the built-in captions offered by Zoom and other virtual event platforms, Mizrahi says. “You literally just click a button and the captions happen automatically for no extra cost.” This service will benefit not only people who identify as deaf or hard of hearing but also others, such as nonnative English speakers and those with cognitive disabilities. Keep in mind that the lattergroup often includes older donors who may leave your organization a significant bequest, she says.
A third option is to provide a transcript before or after the event. Zoom, for example, now has captioning and transcripts built into its webinar software. (The Chronicle uses these features and is prioritizing adding captions to its webinars for its 2022 lineup.)
Ask donors in your online registration form if they need accommodations. Including this question is an important way to signal that people with disabilities are welcome, Mizrahi says.
Designate a point person to handle reasonable accommodations. Include this individual’s name and contact information in your event invitations, registration page, and promotional materials, Tischer says, so donors will know whom to contact regarding their needs. Give people different ways to get in touch based on their needs and preferences for communication, she says.
Don’t use euphemisms when talking about people with disabilities. “It seems like a lot of folks will turn themselves into a linguistic pretzel in order to avoid saying ‘disabled’ because they perceive it as being not a nice word,” Tischer says. “You have to understand that it’s not an insult.” For example, don’t say “differently abled” or “special needs” instead of “disabled,” experts say. However, do be thoughtful and don’t refer to individuals as if they were a disability, such as calling them “the wheelchairs.”
Take a “more is better” approach when deciding which access features to offer rather than making these decisions based solely on needs you are aware of. “One obvious reason is that so many disabilities are invisible,” Tischer says. “What you’re trying to do is be prepared to welcome new people about whom you may not know anything at all.” For example, take Access Living’s recent virtual gala, which Hayman says sought to model accessibility. The event offered a wide range of access elements that the group explained to the audience at the beginning of the program, including:
- Open captioning, which can’t be turned off, unlike closed captioning. The organization chose open captioning to demonstrate accessibility, Hayman says, but either option is good.
- Audio descriptions of video content, which also were automatically turned on for the audience.
- American Sign Language interpretation. The group enlisted a certified deaf interpreter, which added credibility and ensured a high-quality service, Hayman says.
- Spanish audio translation.
- Accessible web portal for the event. The page included built-in elements such as alternative text — tags that describe images — to help people using assistive technologies like screen readers understand the content.
Make sure your event invitations, web page, and other communications materials are accessible. To get started, become familiar with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Hayman suggests.
There are also lots of online guides and tutorials that can help you make your content visually accessible to more people, Schrero says. The Nora Project overhauled the look of its promotional materials this year to ensure that as wide an audience as possible could understand them. This is easy to do and often is “just good design,” she says, such as using simple, high-contrast colors and fonts that are easy to read. For example, the group picked purple and orange as its accent colors and uses black and white for everything else because they are easy to see.
Include people with visible disabilities in your marketing materials. Don’t portray those individuals only as recipients of your services, Mizrahi says, but as contributing members of your community, as leaders, and as caregivers.
If your event includes an in-person component, pick a location that’s fully accessible. For instance, don’t use a venue that lacks an accessible entrance or has one that’s next to a dumpster, Mizrahi says.
Choosing a site that enables everyone to attend doesn’t necessarily require a bigger budget, she says. “If you use a space like a public library even or a hotel that’s accessible, it’s no extra money.”
Another suggestion Mizrahi offers for hybrid events: Put appropriate restrictions in place to prevent the spread of Covid among those in attendance. Some people with disabilities may face a higher risk of getting the virus or experiencing more serious symptoms, she says. Requiring in-person attendees to be vaccinated, present a negative test, or wear masks, for example, can help ensure more donors can join your event.
Provide audio descriptions for videos to help people who are blind or have other vision impairments understand the content. There are technical ways to do this, Schrero says, or you can work these descriptions into your scripts, which is what the Nora Project does. “It’s as simple as just describing yourself and the video content in a sentence or two,” she says. (The organization’s recent virtual event offers an example. Links to the transcript and a version with audio descriptions are included.)
Write scripts in plain language. The Nora Project uses online tools such as Ink for All to assess the reading level of its scripts, aiming for a sixth-grade level or lower for any that will be shared with a wide audience. This exercise helps with accessibility and pushes the organization to streamline its messages and make them clearer and more compelling, Schrero says. “There’s no need to be fancy really ever in order to communicate,” she says.
Share a recording of live events. This lets people watch at their own pace, replay sections, and take breaks as needed, Schrero says.
Make your event affordable for anyone who wants to join. Charging for tickets can exclude many disabled people and make those who need to request complimentary tickets feel inferior, Tischer says. Instead, focus on selling sponsorships to companies and individual donors, she suggests, and include underwriting tickets for others among the benefits. This will help sponsors fill their seats, streamline your registration process, and eliminate the need to ask for free or discounted tickets.
To encourage donors to become sponsors, offer your cheapest sponsorship package for 25 percent more than what your most expensive ticket used to cost, she says, and provide recognition as a benefit.
Build relationships with people with disabilities and allies of this community who can help inform your efforts. If you need help, reach out to RespectAbility or Access Living which provide training to help with inclusion efforts. You also could do online research to identify and connect with disabled people interested in specific issues, Mizrahi says.
Be sure to compensate disabled people for their time and expertise if they helped you, Tischer says. Include this cost in your event budget.
While these relationships are critical, experts say, online resources and tools can help you create a plan to get started. Here are some examples:
