Ministers, Lay Leaders and Church Council members are invited to attend workshops in September exploring how best to prepare content for people with a disability.
The workshops are part of the Uniting Church’s ongoing commitment to improving accessibility for people with disabilities, with staff members from equipping Leadership for Mission undertaking a half-day training session this week.
During the four-hour session, conducted by the Centre for Accessibility Australia, eLM staff were introduced to topics including:
- How people with disability engage with content
- Remote meeting accessibility
- Document accessibility
- Social media accessibility
- Future standards and considerations
In attendance were all available staff from eLM, including Pilgrim Theological College, as well as a number of staff from our Presbyteries.
Centre for Accessibility Australia co-founder and CEO Dr Scott Hollier took those present through discussion and activities aimed at moving towards making sure that content was as accessible as possible for people with disabilities.
Later this month, a full-day workshop will be held specifically for the Communications teams from the Synod, Uniting VicTas, and Uniting AgeWell.
In this session, teams will consider deeper issues to ensure that all content is easily accessible across platforms, whether they be websites, word documents, PowerPoint, PDFs, social media, or print materials.
In September, four-hour workshops on accessible worship, designed specifically for Ministers, Lay Leaders and Church Councils, will explore how people with disability engage with content, and policy and legislation around making content accessible.
The workshop will also focus on making the worship service accessible, and how best to make content accessible, including websites, newsletters and the promotion of church activities on social media.
To try and fit with schedules for as many people as possible, the training will be available as both a single afternoon (four hours) session, or alternatively as two evening (two hours each) sessions.
Full details of the workshops will be available on the Synod website, via Synod e-news and in the August edition of Crosslight.
The Synod’s Disability Action Plan 2023-26 aims to ensure that all aspects of the Uniting Church are more accessible for people with disabilities.