DEI Toolkit

In meeting and program spaces (in-person and virtual/video conferences):

• Ensure there is a safe entry and exit point for people who may have mobility challenges.
• Assess meeting and program plans for sensory considerations.
• Use a microphone whenever possible.
• Engage an American Sign Language interpreter whenever possible, especially for public programming.
• Engage language interpreters to meet the needs of your community’s spoken and written languages other than English.
• At smaller gatherings, announce everyone present at the beginning of the meeting. At larger gatherings, announce presenters and facilitators.
• State your name before each time you speak in the meeting.
• When sharing information (agenda, slides, etc.), check in periodically to make sure everyone can access the information.
• For virtual/video conference meetings:
  • Enable auto captioning.
  • Periodically read comments in the chat aloud so participants with visual impairment can hear them.
  • If screen sharing, describe what is shown and share the file if possible (ideally in advance). State what page you are on so others can view the accessible version they downloaded. (This is also important for folks joining by phone or those with a poor internet connection.)
  • If you’re sharing web-based content, share the link so that participants using screen readers users can navigate to and access the content.
  • Send any links from the chat to all participants by email after each meeting.
  • Consider using Zoom polls in addition to reactions to record opinions or experiences, as reactions can disappear before everyone is able to see them or respond in time.

For digital materials meant to be read by a Screen Reader:

• Use Styles in Word or Google Docs to generate structured headings and table of contents.
• Use Styles instead of Bold, Underline, All Caps, Italics.
• The use of Styles generates the table of contents that supports navigating the document, especially for users using a screen reader.
• Title - only one thing can have this style then follow the structure, H1 for main sections, H2 for subsections, H3 and so on.
• You can "modify" headings to change font, color, and overall look and feel of that heading. It will change all items with that heading.
• Use outline view to check the heading structure.
• Links
  • Consider if the document will be used digitally or printed.
  • Text should be descriptive about the link and make sense on its own. Avoid using directions like "Click here" that do not describe the link and, without other context; it's not clear where the hyperlinked "Click here" will go. Try “click here to go to the [title of document]” instead.
  • If a user might print this out, include the entire text of the URL in addition to the descriptive hyperlink.

• Images
  • If you have a photo or illustration meant to communicate something specific, include alternative text (alt-text).
  • Decorative images such as lines, dots, things that do not communicate anything specific, should be marked as such.
• Color contrast
  • Color contrast rules are specific and expressed in ratios. It's helpful to use a tool to check such as WebAIM color contrast checker.
• Charts, graphs and data tables
  • Do not use color as the only way to communicate information. Labels should be included in the document and large enough to read.
  • Include alt-text to describe graphs, charts and tables.
  • Generating graphics in Excel? Do all the work in Excel and right click it to save it as an image. Create the alt-text in Word.
  • A note about data tables: Make sure every column has a header and avoid merged cells or columns. Blank cells are fine, merged cells are not easily understood by screen readers.
• Bulleted lists and numbered lists are fine if you use the built-in formatting tools provided by your application.
• Headers, footers, and page numbers: Watch out for color contrast, especially if it's smaller text. Use the built-in tools and this should be fine.
• All done with your Word document and ready to convert to a PDF? From Microsoft Word, click the "Save as Adobe PDF" as this process preserves accessible formatting. Do not click “Print to PDF” as this process does not preserve accessible formatting.
  • Once the document is converted to a PDF, check for accessibility in Adobe Acrobat.
  • Check the title.
  • Tables may need to be fixed.
  • Accessibility Checker in Adobe requires reviewing the region tags. For example, you may need to delete empty paragraph tags.