Hello, everyone!
It's great to see you.
Thank you for joining us at the American Anthropological
Association for the Accessibility at AAA Facebook
Live event we're hosting now.
I'll be switching over to slides here in a
moment, but at the moment, I just wanted to
give a visual of who is speaking and also
a visual of who our ASL interpreter is joining
with us.
Once we switch to slides, the focus, the spotlight
will only be on the ASL interpreter, and once
we get back to questions, we will go off spotlight
and... go back to this format, where you're
able to see both me as the speaker and the
ASL interpreter.
I'm going to go ahead and share my screen,
so please give me one second.
All right!
So here is our first slide.
It's just a quick introduction, and a reminder
that you can find accessible slides on americananthro.org/webinars.
And I want to start with an accessible introduction.
Hello!
My name is Nell.
I am actually, as of recently, a Certified
Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies.
I use she/her/hers.
I am a white woman with short black hair,
wearing a headset, thin-rimmed glasses, and
a white button-up shirt with a tan virtual
background that has the AAA logo, and I am
the Accessibility and Meetings Coordinator
for the AAA.
We also have other staff members who are on
this call with us today, but I'll be talking
us all through the accessibility we've been
-- initiatives we've had at AAA.
So this slide is just an example of what one
of those initiatives are, which is encouraging
people to provide accessible introductions
and the ways and the information we ask for
in those introductions.
Some quick access notes for today's event.
If you need slides for any reason, you may
find accessible slides, again, on AmericanAnthro.org/webinars.
You can find them in PDF and PowerPoint format.
ASL interpretation is provided and has been
prioritized during the screen share, so that
any deaf audience members may follow along.
There is, indeed, professional CART captioning
available by switching on Facebook closed
captions, and then, please, throughout this
entire live stream, we really encourage you
to ask questions.
Share comments.
Share your thoughts.
I'll be responding to them following the slides
presentation, and we've got AAA staff, Jeff
and Gabby, helping me out manage those questions.
So they'll share those through chat on -- to
me individually.
And finally, a recording of this live stream
will be available on the AAA YouTube channel
by the end of next week with captions provided,
of course.
So what are we talking about today?
I'm going to spend the next 15 minutes identifying
-- talking through three points, primarily:
accessibility and disability basics, a brief
history of accessibility at AAA, and what
is AAA doing?
And then the last ten minutes will be saved
for any questions and comments and discussion,
and I'm just really excited to be talking
to all of you about the amazing stuff going
on, and what we're doing at AAA.
So starting with accessibility and disability
basics -- there's two points that we're really
focusing on here -- is some language about
disability and accessibility, and types of
disabilities and access.
And I just want to give a reminder that the
discussion about language is going to be very
brief, and we could have an entire semester
of information about language, about disability
and accessibility and the types of disabilities
and access.
So to start off with language about disability
and accessibility.
You may notice that the material we share
with our members and with the public uses
both disabled people and people with disabilities,
which is both identity-first and person-first
language, because both of these terms are
used by different members of the disability
community, and so we honor that by using both
disabled people and people with disabilities
within the professional space of our anthropological
discipline and of our professional organization.
The next term that's really important to understand
is the idea of accessibility.
Accessibility is the commitment to an environment
being initially-designed so that the greatest
number of people can participate without needing
to later alter the space to meet individual
needs.
That is our goal at AAA.
We want to make things as accessible, as open,
as just... so that as many people can join
us for as many events and products and participate
with us in as many ways as possible.
That's why, for this event, we have provided
an ASL interpreter and CART, so that way that
there isn't a barrier, an access barrier.
This is something that goes hand-in-hand with
accommodations.
Many of us have heard of accommodations, and
these are individualized changes made to an
environment after the initial design of the
space upon a person's request to meet their
needs.
Accommodations are still important.
Accommodations will probably always be necessary,
but that doesn't mean we don't strive for
as-accessible a space as possible.
So we still provide and work through accommodations
to make sure everyone's individual access
needs are met.
Which leads me to the last point.
Access needs.
These are an individual's environmental, behavioral,
physical, attitudinal, and other needs as
related to accessibility and accommodations.
So for example, some access needs may include
requiring CART, so that's somebody who is
deaf or hard-of-hearing, can follow along
any kind of verbal spoken messaging.
So talking about types of disabilities and
access -- this slide has a lot of text.
I acknowledge that, that was intentional,
but this slide is intended to be an overview.
So on the left-hand side, we're providing
examples of disability categories, and these
are not all exhaustive.
There are so many other disability categories
out there, but you may be most familiar with
these, and these are Deaf and deaf and hard-of-hearing,
blind and low vision, mobility impairments,
psychiatric disabilities and mental illness,
autism spectrum, intellectual and developmental
disabilities, chronic illness and chronic
pain and chronic fatigue, and learning disabilities,
and it's really important to remember that
sometimes they overlap, and people can have
multiple disabilities, and of course, because
of all these disabilities, that means there's
multiple types of access.
There's examples of types of access, such
as physical, sensory, mental, emotional, cognitive,
and linguistic.
So it isn't just about the physical space.
And so when we're talking about accessibility
at AAA, we're talking about all of this.
We're not just talking about any one group
or any one type of access.
So for example, this webinar is probably a
really great physically-accessible space,
because a physically-disabled person doesn't
have to go out to a new space that may have
stairs.
And then -- but on the other hand, making
sure that we provide sensory access includes
providing CART, includes me reading the slides,
and the words on the slides, and includes
also, me speaking at an intentional pace so
that people can follow along.
So those are just some examples of the ways
I'm thinking about this and how we, as AAA,
want to be cognitive of all the different
types of support and access needs we may be
supporting.
So next, I'm going to talk about a brief history
of accessibility at AAA.
And just starting with some early disability
advocacy --- I, when I say this is a brief
history, I really do mean this is kind of
a run down of recognizing the work that has
been done up to this point, and so in 1992
and 1995, shortly after the Americans with
Disabilities Act was passed in 1990, the Commission
on Disability was developed and presented
a report on improving accessibility services
at the annual meeting.
Now fast-forward about 11 years, 2006, the
Disability Research Interest Group -- DRIG
-- of the Society of Medical Anthropology
actually sent a letter to the Executive Board
regarding meeting standards and outlining
demands at that time.
And so this is that early work that then led
to more-recent advocacy.
In 2014 and 15, the Disability Access Working
Group, or DAWG for short, was formed by Karen
Nakamura and Rayna Rapp, who were DRIG members,
who joined the Executive Board at that time.
Through DAWG, they developed a full report
regarding accessibility and disaiblity in
the anthropology the anthropology profession
with recommendations for AAA, and they also
ordered an independent audit of the Annual
Meeting.
This is work that I've been referencing to
make sure that what we're doing meets a lot
of these recommendations.
And then, in 2016 and on, the DRIG Accessibility
Advocacy Committee worked with Executive Board
and staff to address accessibility and disability
issues.
Now, moving on to the last two years -- in
2018, that was the first year we partnered
with the Kyle Duarte Company for interpreting
and captioning at the Annual Meeting, who
we are also working with to provide accessibility
features for the webinar today, and then,
finally, DRIG collaborated with AAA Director
of Meetings, Nate Wambold, to develop the
Accessibility and Meetings Coordinator position,
which was first hired in 2019, June of last
year, and that was the first time an Accessibility
and Meetings Coordinator was hired.
So... that moves us to what does all of that
mean?
What is AAA doing?
We keep hearing a lot of words and a lot of
talk about accessibility, but what are the
things we're doing?
I'm going start with talking about how we're
initiating cultural change in anthropology,
because in order to make more accessible spaces,
we actually have to really support the cultural
changes in our field and in our organization.
And to do that, one way we do that is by supporting
disability culture.
Disability culture is actually a part of my
job description, which is really cool, as
a member of the disability community.
It means that we're really trying to focus
on bringing disability culture into AAA and
into anthropology to see it as a completely
valid and welcome part of the work and of
our communities.
So a description -- or a definition we have
up here is by Steven Brown from 2002, and
disability culture is that "People with disabilities
have forged a group identity.
We share a common history of oppression and
a common bond of resilience, and most importantly,
we are proud of ourselves as people with disabilities.
We claim our disabilities with pride as part
of our identity.
We are who we are: we are people with disabilities."
And that's important because encouraging people
to be open about who we are -- about who they
are -- means that people may be more likely
to utilize accessibility resources and accommodations
and really encourage that as a non-shameful
thing to ask for and to ask for support.
Another thing we're doing -- especially this
year, with Raising Our Voices, which is our
virtual fall event series taking place in
November -- we are encouraging collective
access, and this is a term that was really
developed by disability justice advocates,
such as Mia Mingus from Sins Invalid, and
that is that there is "flexibility and creative
nuance that goes beyond able-bodied and minded
normativity, to be in community with each
other."
And so, what that practically means is we're
asking all members -- nondisabled and disabled
alike -- to really support accessible features,
to create an accessible environment through
things such as utilizing platforms that provide
captioning, by making sure that any videos
that are uploaded have captions, by making
sure we provide visual descriptions of anything
that is visual on a slide, and so many more
things, which you can learn about on the AAA
website.
There's a lot of resources that have been
developed recently.
And if you're interested in learning more
about one application of collective access,
go check out Dr. Aimi Hamraie's piece, "Designing
Collective Access: A Feminist Disability Theory
of Universal Design" for anyone that might
be interested.
Now continuing cultural change in anthropology.
We're really aiming to go beyond ADA compliance
or legal compliance to create a more accessible
anthropology discipline.
What we mean by that is, again, going back
to those earlier terms.
Disability culture, that's not ADA [chuckles]
-- collective access -- that's not in the
ADA.
These are things that are about cultural changes,
that isn't just about meeting legal standards.
I'm working closely with staff to build accessibility
and accommodation protocols in all of AAA
projects.
So for example, there's an entire protocol
to make sure that all of our webinars and
all of our virtual events are up to accessible
standards to make sure as many people can
join them as possible, and that's something
I've worked closely with the Communications
Department on.
And finally, there's -- I've been doing a
lot of collaborating with and learning from
Disabled, Deaf, Blind, Autistic, Neurodivergent,
Mentally Ill, Chronically Ill, Aging -- that's
not listed here, but I think that's also important
-- and other disability-adjacent community
members to make sure that, again, we're covering
as much of accessibility as possible, that
we're covering as much of these different
aspects of access needs and types of disabilities
as possible, and make these spaces as welcoming
and embracing and inclusive as possible.
So that includes a lot of accessibility education
and outreach, which includes developing and
distributing resources, for people to learn
how to create more accessible presentations,
events, documents, resources, materials, and
so on and so forth, and... there's a lot of
them on the AmericanAnthro.org/accessibility
page of our website.
It's an entire section that has been developed
to make sure that people from, not just our
organization, but in general, can learn how
to make accessible spaces, can incorporate
accessibility into our cultural norms.
So we really encourage you to go check those
out and learn more from them.
There's been a lot of guiding and supporting
AAA speakers in generating accessible presentations.
So for any of the webinars, there's a lot
of discussion with the speakers in advance
to make sure that they are speaking at a reasonable
pace, that there are visual descriptions for
any images that are incorporated, that the
slides are high contrast, and just making
sure that these presentations we're providing
in this very virtual time, is available to
as many people as possible.
And finally, with #AccessibleAnthro, this
was started to really get the word out on
social media via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,
and LinkedIn, and it also turned into a column
for Anthropology News, and also, occasionally,
shows up in highlights through Weekend Reads.
So these are ways we're trying to teach our
members and people in general about what is
accessibility and why we're doing it and why
it's important and different things to consider
in our cultural spaces to incorporate the
disability and disability-adjacent communities.
So let's talk more about the practical stuff.
How are we making AAA more accessible?
What are tangible things we are doing?
So for the first point, we're doing things
at in-person meetings.
We've developed a clear accommodations protocol.
We provide ASL interpreters and CART captions
for plenary events.
We've established a scent-free meeting space.
We've identified prayer and quiet rooms.
We've designated all-gender restrooms, and
we've provided accessibility tools, such as
yoga mats, earplugs, and stim tools.
So this list is really comprehensive and shows
the different layers of accessibility we're
trying to support, including more intersectional
approaches such as all-gender restrooms, which
ends up identifying that the disability community
is diverse also and that there's different
needs that go beyond just disability-specific
needs.
We're also doing things at webinars and virtual
events, as I mentioned earlier, training presenters
in accessibility standards and norms.
We're providing CART captioning, and we're
inquiring very openly about access needs and
fulfilling accommodation requests, and being
sure that those -- that people have an individual
to come talk to, so that they can confidently
share their needs and have those needs fulfilled.
And finally, in our publications and communications,
we're including alt text, but even further
than that, we're including image descriptions
in more sighted spaces, and we're including
those image descriptions both for sighted
individuals who are learning about image descriptions,
but more importantly, for individuals who
may not use a screen reader that will give
them access to the alt text, but still need
a written version of what is being presented
visually.
And so... with all of that, I just want to
really hit home some important points of the
approach that we're taking at AAA regarding
accessibility.
Accessibility is more than legal compliance.
It is an ongoing and changing effort.
There are needs and things and new technologies
developing constantly, and people have different
changes, so it's an ongoing and changing effort,
and it's not just one static stat -- checklist.
It is -- which makes it potentially challenging,
and that's okay, so long as there's a community
effort put into it, that leads to the cultural
change we're aiming for, which is honestly,
necessary for a more just and equitable AAA,
anthropological discipline, and the world.
So we really hope that this information gives
you a sense of what all we've been doing,
gives you a verbal way, a way to engage with
the material and information we're doing,
in a new way besides a lot of the text that
we have on our website.
And we are excited for you to join us in these
cultural changes and to support us as we're
making these changes and really putting forth
the effort to be more inclusive and accessible.
Which leads me to the next part.
Questions?
Before getting to questions and comments,
we encourage you, to, you know, learn more
about accessibility on the AAA accessibility
webpage, AmericanAnthro.org/accessibility,
but at this time, I'm going to stop sharing
my screen and we'll go back to two -- two
videos, and I'll answer any questions or comments
that have come in, and I'm really excited
to see what all your thoughts have been.
So, one of the things that we're doing, while
we're waiting for any questions or comments
is with Raising Our Voices -- which is happening,
again, early November -- we're encouraging
all of our presenters to go through and learn
about accessibility by reviewing our resources,
and one of the ways we'll be providing support
for those resources is through some accessibility
webinars, through Zoom directly, where we'll
talk through the different types of things
you need to consider as a view-on-demand presenter
or as a live-streamed presenter, and we really
hope that those of you who are going to be
presenters will be joining us for this, and
if you have any questions about those, then
feel free to reach out to me at accessibility@AmericanAnthro.org.
But I'm still going to give a few more seconds
for questions or for any kind of comments
-- comments are also welcome -- and if there's
nothing, we will call it a day and just say
thank you so much for joining, but we'll give
it a few seconds.
Oh... what has been my biggest struggle so
far?
That is a really excellent question.
Honestly...
AAA -- like... the environment we're in, there's
been a lot of support to make these things
happen, to make accessibility more present,
and to make it part of our cultural norm,
and so...
I think my biggest struggle is probably an
internal struggle, which is I want things
now [chuckles].
Which isn't actually a feasible or like...
really -- sorry... my brain is searching for
the right word -- it takes time.
These changes take time.
And...
I understand it takes time to learn -- it
took me a long time to learn a lot of these
things, and so I don't expect anything to
happen instantaneously.
So I think the biggest struggle really has
been more of an internal, like...
I just -- I want the world to be accessible
right now, at this moment, everywhere, always.
And that's just not happening yet, but that's
okay, because that's why we're doing this.
We're learning about this all together and
teaching other people to join us in on the
journey.
Thank you.
That's a really good question.
All right... so I think that's it.
Thank you, everyone, so much for joining us.
If you have any questions following the event,
you're more than welcome to e-mail us.
Again, if you have -- if you want to learn
more about the accessibility resources, go
to AmericanAnthro.org/accessibility.
If you want to learn more about Raising Our
Voices, go to AmericanAnthro.org/RaisingOurVoices.
If you have any e-mail questions, e-mail us
at accessibility@AmericanAnthro.org, and with
that, thank you so much, have a great day,
and we hope that you'll -- you've had a lot
of -- oh!
Wait!
There's a quick question.
Does AAA have a bibliography in its resources
so we can read more about best practices?
So glad you asked.
We've just -- I'm nearly done with creating
that kind of directory, a bibliography of
sorts, and so that's going to go live very
shortly, but as soon as it's live, you all
will know.
We will be posting it and sharing it and e-mailing
everyone about it.
So... oh, great!
What do you feel is the most efficient way
to introduce accessibility policy to an organization?
Where can other orgs start?
Oh, that's a really good question.
I think there's a few prongs of an approach
that has to occur with how to introduce accessibility
policy.
One of those needs to be addressing member
needs.
So having active disability members who are
bringing attention to the issues of like,
"We need these things, and please, you know,
make this more incorporated," but also, and
really importantly, is having a non-disabled
ally on staff in organizations or on volunteer
-- in volunteer positions such as on the board,
who are saying we have to focus on this.
We have to bring this to our attention.
We cannot keep ignoring.
I'm going to just say -- it's been 30 years
since the ADA has passed.
So... use that, [chuckles] use the legal landmark,
if you're in the volunteer position and...
be a really good ally and just talk about
this -- even if nobody is disabled is present,
because there's a likely opportunity nobody
is present who is disabled, because... they
can't get access to it.
In the same way that, if I were in a wheelchair
at this moment, and I couldn't walk into,
roll into a building, because there's stairs,
the same applies to an organization.
So talk about it, even if there aren't disabled
people present.
And where can other orgs start?
I'm going to the super honest.
Hire a professional in house.
I cannot say enough about how much of a difference
it makes that I'm doing this from a professional,
everyday position, instead of a consulting
position.
Because that means I can work with my team
members to teach and learn and work through
processes together.
So really... try to find a way to incorporate
accessibility into that kind of position.
Next question... have you or any others had
success with AI captioning in view-on-demand
or live?
I know MS Teams has this.
I work on the conference at CAA Advancing
Art and Design.
Thanks for this.
Well, thank you for joining!
I'm happy to provide support.
MS Teams does have this and so does Google
Meeting, and I want to be clear that AI captioning
isn't really -- it's not full access, by any
means, because there can be a lot of struggles
with capturing accurate words, such as, you
know, academic jargon, especially, AI captions
just don't, don't do well with that.
And so using Google Meetings for like, informal
meetings is really helpful and using MS Teams
can be really helpful, but when you're able
to, hiring a professional CART captioner is
absolutely the preference, and finding someone
who can work with the material and content
that your organization has is really important.
So... regarding for view-on-demand, honestly,
YouTube is really great.
Not for the AI captioning, it's actually -- the
AI captioning isn't that great on YouTube,
but the editing software provided on YouTube
is -- it autocaptions it for you, and then
you can download that transcript, and edit
it and update it accordingly, and then reupload
it and the captions can get auto-synced that
way.
So it takes a bit of time.
I don't want to negate that, but that's one
alternative for any kind of uploads you're
doing.
Other services might include Sonix -- Sonix.ai
-- or Otter.AI.
Both of those are transcript and captioning-kind
of programs that have a variety of services
for a variety of prices you can check out,
and Amara -- A-M-A-R-A is Amara, and you can
use that for public captioning, of YouTube
videos, especially since YouTube will be removing
community captions.
So... with that... we're going to go ahead
and wrap up.
We wanted to be really cognizant of the time
-- of the Zoom fatigue -- that's actually
a huge reason why we made this about a 20-30
minute event, because we want to be respectful
of your time, and we also want to be respectful
of the type of attention that all of us are
able to provide at this time, but it's also
an access need to make sure there isn't just
one person talking nonstop.
So... thank you so much for joining again...
all of those resources are available on the
AmericanAnthro.org website.
Have a fantastic day, and we're really excited
that you're joining us on this accessibility
journey.
Bye!
