Planning for accessible volunteer training

A little-discussed area of volunteer training is accessibility.

The ability to fully access training is of vital importance, especially when that training is mandatory to being engaged as a volunteer. In most Western countries, accessibility is the law. Many organizations, though, are unsure how to design accessible volunteer training. This has lead to increasing numbers of lawsuits being filed against both for- and not-for-profit organizations by people who were not able to access required training at the same level as others.

What does “accessible” mean? It means all people are provided equal opportunity to obtain the same information and data, participate in the same interactions and trainings and enjoy the same experiences, regardless of their ability status.

There are four areas to consider when designing accessible volunteer training. The primary three ways of conducting training are: in-person instructor-led training, online instructor-led training, and online self-paced training. Most organizations today use some combination of all three.

With that understood, there are four areas of accessibility that need to be considered when designing training in all three forms. They are: physical, cognitive, auditory, and visual needs. By taking these areas into account, all learning and development programs will be much more accessible.

Physical accessibility

This is exactly what it sounds like. You need to consider both in-person and virtual environments. Can volunteers who use wheelchairs, for example, access the training rooms, break rooms and washrooms if the training is in-person? Does your digital environment support assistive technologies such as on-screen keyboards or speech-to-text voice recognition?

Cognitive accessibility

We all learn in different ways and at different rates. When it comes to a cognitive approach, you’ll want to make sure that your training is flexible and supports different mediums. Try to include a variety of speakers, images, videos, hands-on activities, and breaks. You will also want to have a certain amount of flexibility around deadlines for completing the training. Be respectful of the fact that not everyone learns at the same speed. Remember, too, that cognitive challenges, such as dyslexia, are often invisible, so don’t assume.

Auditory accessibility

One proactive method for those volunteers with hearing challenges is to create and send scripts in advance of the training. If that’s not feasible, make sure that closed-captioning is available, regardless of if you’re training live or the training is recorded. This will also assist any volunteers who are new to the language. Finally, having an accompanying sign language video can also be helpful, especially for online, self-paced training.

Visual accessibility

Visual considerations are a bit more involved. Everything from your images to your colour choices need to be thought about. If training is live, ensure that all text and pictures are big enough to be clearly seen from anywhere in the room. For any training that takes place on a computer, you’ll want to make sure that screen readers or similar programs will work with your training. In person or online, you’ll also need to take pictures and video into account. Are detailed descriptions of the images provided? Pay close attention to your colour combinations and contrast levels, too. Certain colour combinations can be difficult or impossible for some people to distinguish.

One last consideration that I want to mention for online training is keystroke accessibility. Some individuals who are visually impaired are unable to use a mouse and so they use their keyboard to navigate.

It’s important to ask questions

Just because a volunteer may have challenges should not preclude them from fully participating in all your training programs. Ask your volunteers what you can do to facilitate their learning. If you know that someone faces challenges, ask them to test your training programs ahead of time to make sure they can access them completely. Listen to your volunteers and accommodate their needs so everyone can be successful, and your organization will enjoy the results of having a diverse team.

Don’t wait to create accessible volunteer training

I know, it’s a lot to think about and some of it can be costly. But, as mentioned above, there are multiple lawsuits around the issue of inaccessible technology and training for people with challenges. Training needs to be available to all users, equally.

Even if you can’t see it, chances are one or more of your volunteers deals with a physical or cognitive challenge. Your training needs to account for that and even once you’ve made your training accessible, it will need to be reviewed regularly as technology advances.

It is quite simple, if your training is accessible to all users, your program will be at less risk, more inclusive and more effective.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.