Videoconferencing Accessibility

Make your meeting or event accessible to all participants by choosing the right tools and learning best practices.

Different meeting platforms have different accessibility features. For all platforms, you have to take the right actions to plan and host an accessible meeting.

Choose a Platform

Zoom provides the best set of accessibility features for online and hybrid meetings. This includes:

• Support for automated captions and professional live captions (CART)
• Support for American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation
• More accessible controls for people in the meeting
• More customizable options for people using Zoom

Google Meet provides some accessibility features.

Provide Equitable Access

Meetings or events hosted at U-M are required to provide equitable access to people with disabilities. Equitable access is required by laws and regulations that apply to the university.

This includes meeting digital accessibility standards and, when necessary, providing accommodations to people with disabilities who need them.

Accommodations Statement

When advertising or inviting people to your event, include an accessibility and accommodations statement that:

• Communicates your commitment to creating an accessible meeting
• Provides basic details about the event format and accessibility features
• Tells people how to request accommodations

The statements below give example language you can use. There is more than one way to write this kind of statement.

• "Please let us know how we can ensure that this event is inclusive to you. The Zoom webinar will include auto-captions. What accommodations or access needs can we help facilitate?"

• "We aim to make this meeting accessible to all participants. During the meeting, we will get into breakout rooms and work collaboratively on shared documents. Contact us if you may need accommodations to fully participate."

Arrange Accommodations

Be prepared to work with people to arrange accommodations. It is your responsibility as an event organizer to make sure that accommodations are effective.

Common accommodations include professional live captions (CART), American Sign Language interpretation (ASL), and other services or modifications. There may be a cost to such services, and this cost is part of the responsibility of hosting meetings and events.

If you have additional questions on the university’s legal responsibilities, please contact the Disability Equity Office.

About Auto-Captions

While automatic captions are a valuable accessibility feature for many people, they are not a substitute for American Sign Language (ASL) or professional live captioning (CART).

If an employee (faculty, staff, instructor, GSI), student, or guest with a disability requests live captioning or ASL as an accommodation for an event, the unit leading the event is responsible for providing these services as a reasonable accommodation.

Auto captioning is not sufficient to meet this need, unless an individual specifically requests auto captions.

Accessibility Terminology for Videoconferencing

American Sign Language (ASL) Interpretation

is required by some Deaf individuals for whom captioning is not an effective accommodation. As with CART, a separate window is used where an ASL interpreter signs what is being said in real time.

Auto Captioning

can be useful to hearing individuals who benefit from audio prompts, such as some people with learning disabilities and some people who speak English as an additional language. It can also be useful in situations where audio quality is not optimal. Depending on a number of factors, the accuracy may range from impressive to hilarious. Microphones can greatly improve audio quality and all speakers should be encouraged to use them.

CART

(Communication Access Realtime Transcription) involves a human typing a transcript in real time while someone is speaking or while a video is playing. Most Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, and some individuals with visual processing disorders, require the level of accuracy that CART provides. The CART text usually appears in its own window.

For more information, see the National Association of the Deaf discussion of CART.

Keyboard Accessibility

is the capability for an application, system, or content to be navigated through and interacted with via keyboard alone. If the features of a videoconferencing system are keyboard accessible, they are also more likely to work with the touchscreens on mobile devices.

Screen Reader Accessible

means that blind individuals can interact with the system to retrieve information and navigate all features — chat, buttons, hand raising, etc.

Transcripts

provide an asynchronous text version of audio. They are seldom a first choice, but may be useful when synchronous captioning is not available.

Video Captioning

involves adding captions after a video has been completed. Although auto captioning can be an option, it usually needs to be cleaned up by hand to address any errors or missed material.

The term “closed captioning” is often used to refer to any type of video captioning. In practice, “closed captioning” refers to captioning that requires an opt-in, usually by clicking on a “CC” button. “Open captioning”, by contrast, is always visible.

CART Implementation

When working with a CART provider, follow these general best practices:

• Plan well in advance, to allow enough time to find and work with an available provider
• Give the CART provider details in advance of the event including:
  • Names of presenters
  • Slide decks or documents
  • Specialized names, terms, or titles that will be used
  • General information about the event
• Schedule a tech setup to test and troubleshoot before the start time
• Turn off automated captions and assign CART provider as captioner during meeting

Accessibility for Individuals with Physical or Visual Disabilities

U-M has assessed the current status of videoconferencing accessibility in various platforms, including workarounds for known issues:

• Zoom Accessibility
• Google Meet Accessibility

If you have any questions or comments about these documents, please contact the accessibility team.

Consider providing resources (e.g., speaker notes, copies of slide presentations) to participants in advance as an accommodation.