The ways you communicate directly with your audiences - on social media, through email, on your website, and in your printed materials - can say a lot about your commitment to accessibility.
In this practical, interactive session, we'll explore how you can reach a wider audience with accessible marketing content. Emma MacLean, Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies and A.B.L.E. Curriculum Consultant, will lead you through context and best practices for making your online presence accessible and building trust with disabled audiences. Participants will interact in the chat and utilize a range of testing tools to create alt text, test color contrast, and write captions, link text, and plain language guides. You will come away with actionable ways you can make your content more accessible and free resources to keep learning!
Who is this session for?:
This session is ideal for marketing managers and content creators interested in reaching to disabled audiences. But, anybody who uses a computer to create content - whether that’s social media posts, emails, or anything in between - is welcome to join us and learn something new!
Accessibility At this Session
Live Open Captioning will be provided.
ASL interpretation will be arranged as requested by registrants.
If you have additional access needs, please let us know!
A social story for this session will be sent closer to the event
Registration
Due to the interactive nature of this session, space is limited. Please register early to avoid disappointment.
Emma will audit a few materials in real time to test for things like color contrast, alignment and readability, and crafting image descriptions. If you have a work sample you would like to share, please upload them at registration. We will randomly select submissions.
As part of our commitment to ensuring the arts are accessible to everyone, these sessions are pay-what-you-can. You can pick the pricing tier that works for you ranging from $25-$60. A limited number of free spaces are available. Please contact us for information.
[ID: Emma, a white woman with curly brown hair stands infront of a white wall with dramatic lighting. She looks at the camera with a confident smirk.] - photo by Joe Mazza/BraveLux
Meet the Presenter, Emma MacLean
Emma MacLean is an educator and disability advocate. Her path to accessible work has included being a paraprofessional at a school for children with disabilities, being a steering committee member of the Cultural Access Collab (formerly Chicago Cultural Accessibility Consortium), and being a teaching artist with a theatre group in Chicago called A.B.L.E. - Artists Breaking Limits and Expectations where she works with actors with developmental and intellectual disabilities. She is currently the Accessible Apprenticeship Program Manager at Apprenti where she works with apprentices, training providers, employers, and community partners to ensure accessibility and inclusion. Emma is a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies recognized by the IAAP, and consults with organizations seeking to strengethen accessibility by offering speaking engagements, digital remediation, and customized trainings.
“Emma is such a stellar presenter. Her enthusiasm and passion shine through the screen!”
ABOUT A.B.L.E.’S CONNECT & CREATE SERIES
Since 2016, A.B.L.E. has been creating innovative theatre, film, and digital projects for, with, and by actors with a range of disabilities including Down syndrome, autism, and cerebral palsy. A.B.L.E. has built a methodology rooted in fostering agency and independence, and celebrating the creativity of individuals of all abilities, both in person and virtually. In addition to our contracted Professional Development Services for organizations, A.B.L.E. is proud to offer our public Masterclass series for individual artists and leaders interested in furthering their practices for inclusion and accessibility. A.B.L.E. hopes these sessions will inspire more responsive, adaptable, and empathetic leaders in our community.
“This was a truly excellent workshop. I sometimes leave short (2 hours or less) PDs and think “well that was interesting but there were so few practical takeaways” or “well I already knew everything they talked about!” This felt incredibly relevant, applicable, and engaging the whole time. I learned new vocabulary as did our teaching artists. I’ve already recommended A.B.L.E. trainings to peers at other theatres, I wish it was a training every Teaching Artist in Chicago took.”
