Deaf news: Arts Council conference falls short on online access for deaf arts professionals

Of all the organisations in all the world that you’d expect to fall short in offering equal access to one of their events, Arts Council England wouldn’t be one of them.

In an article for the Huffington Post titled If this is the state of the arts then it’s not access for all, deaf arts professional Jo Verrent has told how last week’s State of the Arts Conference failed to offer deaf people full access to their online blog, live stream and webcast.

Verrent (who is currently a fellow of the prestigious Clore Leadership Programme) couldn’t attend the conference, but decided to follow it online. She wrote that there was a “fantastic Twitter feed yesterday (#SOTA12). Provocative, entertaining, illuminating. Great stuff. Well done. But not enough.” When she tried to access the conference’s online resources, she was forced to give up after half an hour.

Verrent goes on to say: “the whole point of providing online access is to gain wider coverage, to get more people to engage.” She felt let down, and she wasn’t alone: “A number of tweeters added their voices to the call for better access, not moaning but pointing out the universal benefits of getting it right. It shouldn’t be advocated, but should be done automatically.”

You’d really expect an organisation whose acronym is ACE to do better.

Read her article in full – click here for the full story.

Posted by: Charlie Swinbourne (Editor)

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