Accessibility

Throughout this site, I give suggestions on how to make your project more accessible. When many people think of accessibility, they think of people with disabilities. While you definitely should think about how people experience the world differently, accessibility can be useful in so many different ways. Most of my suggestions are especially helpful for people who have disabilities, but they make your ideas more accessible to everyone. For example, you should definitely caption any kind of video you make. This is helpful for Deaf people, of course, but it can also be helpful to those learning English or to those who understand better when reading or those who watch videos without sound--as many people do on social media and other sites.

​

In other words, you need to consider your audience’s rhetorical situation and how that might affect how they experience your work.

​

There are ways to make your project, and thus what you want to say, more accessible to more people. My biggest suggestion, which you will see throughout this site, is to use as many modes of communication as you can, no matter what format you choose. When speaking, provide written text; when showing, provide written or spoken text. Ensure that no matter how your audience experiences your project, they can still understand what you're trying to say.

​

It’s best if you incorporate accessibility into your project from the beginning, so I’ll be pointing out accessibility concerns throughout. For example, when making a video or presentation, you can include descriptions of everything on the screen as well as your argument. Since what is on the screen should support your argument, it makes sense to translate that into another mode of communication. This takes forethought and planning, so you can see why it's important to think this through from the beginning.

While I do give suggestions throughout, there are ways to be more accessible that I have not mentioned. If you would like to know more, I suggest exploring concepts of universal design around multimodality. For example, you can visit this site from The Ohio State University, which gives suggestions on how to make presentations more accessible. Many of these suggestions would work for things like video essays as well.

​

Whatever format you choose, incorporate accessibility. Your audience cannot access your ideas if you do not make them accessible.