Accessible Virtual Outreach: Where do I Begin?

For many people — especially those with mobility, hearing, or vision challenges — the inability to get to an in-person meeting at a specific date and time made them unable to participate in public discussions of important neighborhood projects. Virtual and hybrid engagements, when thoughtfully implemented, allow planners to increase accessibility by providing information and collecting feedback in multiple formats.

The presentation introduces Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, two documents that define standards for web accessibility. Presenters share their experience preparing an accessible Virtual Meeting Room web platform to support community engagement for the reconstruction of I-95 in Philadelphia. They highlight easy ways to create accessible materials and discuss challenges and lessons learned.

NPC Peer Reviewers assigned this presentation a learning level of Intermediate. For more on learning-level descriptions, visit our General Information Page.