[color=blue]The following text has been extracted from a document at the School where I work FAO any internal or external parties that wish to do staff training using PowerPoint slides. These are some basic guidelines that address the issue of accessibility for the visually impaired participants.
MAKING TRAINING ACCESSIBLE
Our school has staff who are visually impaired and some who have mobility difficulties. In order to comply with DDA regulations it is important that internal and external trainers bear the following points in mind.
If using technology (PowerPoint/OHP etc) to convey information to the audience paper copies should be made available to visually impaired staff.
Designing accessible PowerPoint’s
Many people tend to ‘go to town’ with this presentation software. You can add many ‘bells & whistles’ to convey your information in an interesting way, however all this entertainment will be lost to a visually impaired person, in fact it will confuse them!
The following tips should be addressed when creating presentations.
i)Know your audience, find out who, if anybody would require adapted materials/presentation
ii)Choose simple backgrounds, preferably ones that are NOT textured, or have a pattern – this complicates the presentation.
iii)Use contrasting and simple colours. E.G. black background and white text or white background and blue text.
iv)Don’t over complicate a slide. Don’t pack them with huge amounts of text and images. If you have to, go onto another slide.
v)Avoid using shadows on text, PowerPoint tends to apply this style automatically.
vi)If you are copying text from an external source e.g. a word document, then it would be a good idea to use the source in the following way: Add a title of SLIDE 1, underneath that add the content. So it would look like - SLIDE 2 content, SLIDE 3 content..... etc
vii)When moving between slides say so, Very complicated when your are using a hand out and a LVA to keep up!
viii)To print off the slides (what you seen when you run your slideshow), go to FILE ----- PRINT. Choose ‘slides’ from the PRINT WHAT box and then choose GREYSCALE from the COLOR/GREYSCALE box, then click OK.
ix)You can SAVE A COPY of your presentation as an RTF file. This is a text version of your presentation; you can then open it in MICROSOFT WORD and edit the size and style (see below) so that it’s accessible for needs of its users.
x)Explain your diagrams/graphs don’t assume that people will be able to interpret what is on the screen.
xi)Make the PowerPoint available electronically, after the presentation so that users can look at the information at their own pace.
Materials provided in print should be adapted to suit the needs of visually impaired staff in the following ways:
i)Print size of point 16
ii)San serif font e.g. Arial
iii)Clear, easy to follow layout
iv)Avoid colour or use highly contrasting colours
Ideally, printed materials should be circulated to visually impaired staff the day before the training so that they have chance to familiarise themselves with the content. This is particularly important where the delivery is pacey.
Bear in mind that visually impaired staff will not necessarily access body language. If you are running a question and answer session they may not see you 'select' them by pointing only.
Look for visible clues yourself. If a member of staff is using a monocular (small telescope) to access your input or if they are in receipt of your large print materials they will need additional help to take part in Q&A's.
If group work is part of the training process ensure that tasks are accessible to all
The accessibility of the venue will need to be considered, particularly if you are expecting participants to move around from place to place.
Some staff have difficulty getting upstairs – ensure that they are timetabled or lower floor rooms.
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