Feedback on "How to Make Presentations Accessible to All"

Hi,

I had the chance to read this document, and I think it contains a great deal of advice that's relevant not only to accessible presentations, but to good presentations in general. In fact, I think the W3C Internationalization Activity and admin team may have even more to contribute, should you be interested in broadening this into a general best-practices document.

Here are my comments:

As usual, I chafe at statements that hint at absolute accessibility. The title "How to Make Presentations Accessible to All" is such an expression. There are several ways to improve this:


*         Use "more accessible" rather than "accessible" (showing that you are further along the continuum from where you started);

*         Use "barrier-free" instead of "accessible to all" (showing that you are working to eliminate architectural constraints, not practice magic);

*         Choose an example audience question other than "If you make your sites fully accessible..."

While this is not strictly about human language, speakers of languages other than that of the presenter exhibit most if not all of the same traits as someone with a cognitive disability. I would add that to Additional Benefits.

The term "raising the bar" isn't the most confusing of expressions (and is eerily similar to the name of a major accessibility initiative). I would suggest something like "jumping the shark" instead.

For presentations incorporating captions or interpreters, I would make it clear that both should be visible to the greatest possible portion of the audience, to avoid ghettoizing people who need them. That could be incorporated under "Arrange for good visibility of the speaker and interpreters."

Thanks,
m