Connect Hackney partner organisations recently attended an online Zoom meeting to discuss: what do we need to do to make our communications and online events more accessible?

The meeting, organised by Hackney CVS, considered the issues for a range of disabilities including visually impaired people and hearing impaired people. 

Some of the Connect Hackney partner organisations in attendance included: Shoreditch Trust, MRS Independent Living, Mind, Action on Hearing Loss and Core Arts.

Various organisations made suggestions on how to make online meetings more accessible, including:

• Zoom can be exhausting – so have shorter meetings or regular breaks
• Set out your groundrules at the start of the online meeting.
• Captions are good, Microsoft Teams has auto-captions, but participants need to speak slowly for these to work.
• Online meetings can be beneficial for those with hearing loss – if you have an induction loop or headphones.

If you have any comments or resources to share on this topic – please share with us in an email.