Photos taken by Tom Fuldner.
This April, I had an opportunity to work with the Catalyst program at its second-annual "Reach for the Stars, Be a Star!" STEM resource fair for students with disabilities. I had an incredible experience both as a featured speaker for the event and an independent table host. I was honored to have a view of my table featured by the NASA / North Carolina Space Grant.
The opportunity to share my perspectives and answer questions as a featured speaker were incredible. Speaking on "Pathway to Success and Growth Mindset in College for People with Disabilities" opened doors for parents and students with disabilities to have real conversations about experiences in higher education.
However, I was most excited to see if my table would be successful. I had agreed to host one as a small business, under my recently established private practice in consulting.
While there were 68 other tables providing resources and activities, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of attendees that stopped to learn more about my work.
I developed my activity with the intent of showing what accessibility considerations can do for education and presentation. To prepare, I created an accessibility checklist with considerations of a variety of physical and mental needs.
I knew the checklist strategy might look great on paper, but did it actually work?
To find out, I developed an activity meeting all of its criteria in one of the scariest STEM topics there is -- chemistry. I wanted to pose real, critical thinking questions that might seem daunting. If I could communicate clearly, hopefully, answering them correctly would be a rewarding challenge to any that interacted with them, regardless of age or ability.
I built 3D models of the chemical compounds addressed in the questions, as having accurate, tangible, and colorful models allowed attendees to interact and answer in their preferred ways. In addition, text-to-speech software repeated any questions if needed.
Most importantly, easy-to-read questions related to the physical models. There were graphic representations that presented each in a different way than the written versions. While there were clear correct answers, there were multiple ways to respond that counted as correct. Numbers, colors, shapes, and chemical names could all be used to compare molecules.
Most importantly, none of the questions were "filler". Participants explored real chemistry, reasoning the order of chemical reactions or predicting impacts of hormones on the endocrine system. The questions inspired spin off questions from students, caregivers, and educators who were curious to explore potential connections to their own interests.
Ultimately, my activity was more successful than I anticipated. Individuals of all ages, ranging from children (who needed to be picked up to see the table) to experienced STEM educators, took on the chemistry challenge. Adults and educators were often more scared of the concepts than students themselves!
One moment that stood out to me was when an educator warned me their students were not going to be able to understand the material as they had intellectual disabilities. I walked through the activity anyways, and saw surprise on the educator's face as each of their students responded with correct answers.
That embodied my goal in developing an activity using the accessibility checklist. Whether through learning something new in a difficult STEM field or seeing that difficult topics can be presented successfully to any audience, I hoped all the attendees who passed by would be able to understand the material at hand.
As I was leaving the event, I walked past a different table leader who had been excitedly telling a peer about the way my activity was developed.
I was not sure what to expect as I began my business in consulting, as my drive for identifying and addressing accessibility concerns seemed difficult to present as more than a passion. However, I am excited to continue to share my techniques to allow information to reach any audience more effectively.
This is why I have decided to make the accessibility checklist free for others to use in their own work. Use it to assess and improve presentations, lectures, websites, and more, attached below!
For more detailed consulting or review of your materials, contact me directly through my website with any thoughts or questions you may have regarding accessibility in your own practice.
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