New resources to help community radio better include people with disability

Covers of new guides: one entitled Access for All with a smiling woman in glasses on the cover. The second cover is called Volunteer Stories and shows two radio producers who are blind in the studio.Community radio exists for everyone to have a voice. While there are some really great radio producers with disabilities in the community radio sector,  a real opportunity for voice still exists for many more!

For this reason, the Ability Radio Project’s Kim Stewart produced these guides with RPH Australia, the radio network providing Radio Reading services to the 34% of Australians with print disability. We want to encourage more people with disabilities to participate in community radio, and to help radio stations prepare for new volunteers.

Continue reading “New resources to help community radio better include people with disability”

Reading radio scripts out loud with a screen reader

In my work with the CMTO I’ve been developing techniques to best assist learners in community radio who are using screen readers – ie.  people who are blind or have a vision impairment. Screen readers convert written text into voice, so that a user who is blind can ‘read’ the text, from top to bottom (as long as that text is formatted to be accessible, more about that here). Using a screen reader to read back a pre-written script in real time can be a challenge for some screen reader users, but worth the effort to become confident on-air.

Continue reading “Reading radio scripts out loud with a screen reader”

From the makers of the DAT now comes the WAT for accessible web dev

Those canny developers at Vision Australia last year made my life easier with their Document Accessibility Toolbar for MS Word that you can find here: https://www.visionaustralia.org/services/digital-access/document-accessibility-toolbar/

Now web developers  can try out their Web Accessibility Toolbar for Internet Explorer here: https://www.visionaustralia.org/services/digital-access/resources/web-accessibility-toolbar-ie

“Diversity and inclusion” amongst a range of new one-day training courses from the CMTO

Four radio trainees at 4ZZZ stand together in a room with graffiti and posters
Trainees at 4ZZZ

Get some fresh training! The Community Media Training Organisation are offering a range of new short one-day training courses that can be adjusted to suit the accessibility needs of your volunteers.

If you are a station manager or decision maker, now is the time to write your applications for training funding.

Have a look at what’s on offer here:

http://www.cmto.org.au/courses/pathways-courses.html

Train your volunteers to be “disability aware”

The National Disability Co-ordination Officer program and ADCET offers free online training for workers and volunteers for “awareness of disability and the impact that societal attitudes and inherent stigma and discrimination have on the lives of people with disability” called Introduction to Disability Awareness. The course is FREE!

They also provide a screen reader version for people with vision-impairment or blindness

About the training:

This disability awareness eLearning training resource seeks to challenge the ingrained cultural and attitudinal barriers that perpetuate this discrimination and provides participants with a general overview of the legislative framework which supports the inclusion of people with disability in Australia.

The training consists of four modules which must be completed in successive order. Each module ends with a short quiz to allow participants to demonstrate their understanding.  You can complete the disability awareness eLearning training at your own pace – you do not need to finish the training in one sitting and the entire course should take an average of 60 minutes to complete.

Access the course here:  https://disabilityawareness.com.au/elearning/

 

Checklist for accessible events

Organising an event?  What do you need to know about making an event that welcomes everybody?

The Australian Digital Inclusion Alliance (ADIA) offer a checklist to help you be sure you’ve covered all the bases regarding accessible infrastructure,  language, catering and tech.

ADIA say, “Meetings and events are critical for presentation, consultation, sharing information, gaining insights and feedback, and mediation.  This checklist provides a simple way to ensure everybody can attend and participate in your event or meeting, irrespective of how formal or informal.

… The best way to ensure you are catering for audience needs is to ask them and consider many alternatives to cater for different needs. And remember the best method of preparation is to run through the event proceedings first with colleagues.”

The checklist was developed by the Centre for Inclusive Design.

EVENT: National Arts and Disability Strategy consultation d/l Dec 3

People with disabilities, mental health issues and organisations are invited to write a submission to the National Arts and Disability Strategy, deadline is December 3. https://www.arts.gov.au/have-your-say/national-arts-and-disability-strategy

You can fill in a survey, or make a formal submission.

Surveys here:

They have a discussion paper for you to read here:

Plus some useful research:

Alternatively you can email your completed submission to Arts.Disability@arts.gov.au or send it to:

National Arts and Disability Strategy
GPO Box 2154
Canberra ACT 2601

You can also make a submission over the phone. Call the Department of Communications and the Arts on 1800 185 693. You can use the National Relay Service to call. Find out more at relayservice.gov.au