Your Accessible Training
http://www.copower.org/tools/youraccessiblemeeting.htm


Prior To the Training: 

Meeting site

Any site you chose must be physically accessible to people with mobility 
impairments and have accessible restrooms close by.  Pay attention to 
parking.  Does the building have enough designated parking areas close by 
your meeting room? Are there stairs? If so, is there an alternative route like a 
ramp or elevator?  A helpful rule to follow when determining room size is to 
plan for 20-30 percent additional space to accommodate people who might 
use mobility devices. Your best bet is to make plans to visit the potential site 
prior to scheduling your meeting. See the web page linked to the top of the 
page to find a checklist you can use to make sure the site is physically 
accessible! 

A consideration for people who are taking certain medications which cause 
dry mouth is the availability of water during the meeting. You would not 
want to hold the meeting in a location that did not allow for this.  Plan to 
have straws available.

You also will want to see if the site is free of background noise. This can 
greatly help people who are hard of hearing and people using hearing aids or 
people with attention issues. 

Work with the site to insure that scented cleaners, pesticides and other 
chemicals not be used right before or during your conference for the comfort 
and safety of people with environmental illness or chemical sensitivities. 
Painting, installation of new carpets, wallpapering and painting also should 
be avoided. 

Another site consideration is to be inclusive of people who use public 
transportation. (See “Transportation” below). 



Transportation

One of the first things you should establish is whether participants have 
transportation to the training site.  This includes questions like: 

*	Is your training site served by public transportation service?
*	Do the hours of your training fall within public transportation service 
hours?
*	Are there people who want to take the training in your area that live 
outside the public transportation service boundary?

If you do not know the answers to these questions, talk to you local 
transportation agency to find out.  If the answer to any of these questions is 
no, your may wish to either change the site or times of your training, or work 
with project participants to ensure that transportation is available.


Asking about Accommodations prior to the training

You should not ask potential participants what their disability is, since 
disability is only relevant to you as a trainer in terms of making the meeting 
site and materials accessible to everyone.  For example, it isn’t important to 
know that someone is blind.  It is important to know that they want Braille, 
or a material in a text format on a disk, or large print.  You would never 
assume, based on a diagnosis, what accommodation is desired.  

Your registration form should ask people about accommodations people 
might need to take part in the training.  Accommodations can range from 
Braille handouts, to interpreter services, to a water dish for a service dog.  
You’ll want to leave room for people to fill in comments too, since you can’t 
anticipate in a check-off list every possible accommodation.  You can ask 
that people register in enough time for you to arrange appropriate 
accommodations.  If you don’t understand what the person is asking for, it is 
OK to contact them for more information.  For more ideas and sample 
registration form language, please visit the website listed above: 
http://www.copower.org/tools/youraccessilbemeeting.htm.




Publicizing the Training

Let people know the meeting will be in an accessible location!


The Registration Form

Give alternatives to people in how to register. You may want to consider if 
you can allow people to call to register. If you do, of course, you’ll want to 
be sure to have a form ready to fill out when they do call so you can get 
needed information.  You will want to have the form available in alternative 
formats, such as a digital version in Word and plain text and large print. You 
can save some work by making all your registration forms have a larger print 
(such as at least 14pt) instead of having multiple versions.

On the registration form, please ask people to not wear scented products in 
order to accommodate people with chemical sensitivities. 


Arranging Accommodations

Give yourself time between the registration deadline and the training to 
make sure you have the appropriate accommodations arranged. The amount 
of time needed depends in part on your familiarity with resources for 
accommodations and availability of various accommodations in your area. 
Finding out about resources in your area prior to setting the deadlines will 
help you estimate how much time you will need. 


Equal Participation
Accommodations should make it possible for everyone to participate equally 
in the training session. If you are giving handouts at the session that people 
need to read during the session then make sure everyone is able to really 
access the material.  Some people might ask for materials in advance in 
order to have the time they need to process the information. Others will need 
material in an alternative format like Braille. Regardless of the format, all of 
the participants should have access to the same information. 



At the Training

Language and Disability Etiquette

The web page at the top of this document has links to some excellent 
resources on how to refer to and interact with people who have a variety of 
disabilities in a respectful way. You may wish to review the attached 
brochure from the Michigan Commission on Disability Concerns called 
“What’s in a Name”.

Remain open to requests for accommodations and remember that people 
with disabilities - like all people - should be treated with dignity and respect. 
Avoid treating people with disabilities as though they are childlike, tragic, 
sick or pitiable. Be kind, but never patronizing. People with disabilities are 
first of all people with abilities and have much to offer. Expect them to 
contribute and participate like anyone else. 


Use of Accommodations
The web resource at the top also has links to help you interact with various 
accommodations that people might request. Some examples:  

*	Tips on how to set up a room if you are using an interpreter,
*	Describe visual cues, (don’t point if you have people who are blind as 
participants),
*	Don’t rustle paper or tap the table in front of an assistive hearing 
device microphone.

If you aren’t familiar and comfortable with a particular accommodation, tell 
the person and ask them for tips in using the accommodation. You might ask 
the participant who requested the accommodation if there is anything they’d 
like you to share or if they’d like to have the opportunity to share, with the 
other participants, like “Please look at Sue when you are speaking and don’t 
cover your mouth because Sue reads lips.” It is good practice to ask the 
person who requested the accommodation if it is meeting their needs.  




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