Accessibility 

The following document provides information on a number of appendices covering advice and guidance on access issues.  All our Policies can be viewed & downloaded from ‘Docs & News’ on our website.

 Appendices:-

• Guidance for Group Leaders and Deputies 
• Ten top tips to make yourself heard clearly 
• Top Tips on Improving Access to the Written Word 
• Guidelines for presenters at U3A meetings 
• Dementia Awareness 

Guidance for Group Leaders and Deputies

 Invite all members of your group to provide you with details of any medical or other condition that might be relevant in terms of their full and comfortable access to the group’s activities; conditions such as: eye-sight or hearing loss, physical disability, mental disability (e.g. dementia), medical condition (e.g. diabetes or allergies), cultural need (e.g. language).

• Make it clear that these details will be confidential to the group leader(s) and are for the purposes of aiding access. 

• Request members to provide you with an emergency contact number which can be kept with the group register. They may wish to record one on their membership card as well. 

• Encourage members to update their own details on the U3A website, giving any access needs. 

• Encourage use of the buddy system to help those who do not have access to the internet. 

• If members leave your group due to access issues, the access group can work with you and them to try and resolve the problem. 

• Inform members that there are some aids to access available or soon to be:
  • a carer can accompany a member free of charge
  • voice amplifying systems may be available 
  • doorbells at main venues, for those in wheel chairs to summon help for access.

        Note on medical emergencies

• Leaders should be aware that their first resort should be to the Emergency Services. Ring 112 or 999.
• If leaders or group members wish to have First Aid training, there are courses from time to time in the area and there is a Red Cross smartphone 'app'.

Ten top tips to make yourself heard clearly

• All members of your group will benefit from this simple advice, including the more than a third who are likely to have some degree of hearing loss!! 

• Don’t start speaking until you have quiet and people’s attention. 

• Be aware of background noise. Try and reduce this by keeping doors windows shut and stop talking if an emergency vehicle with siren goes past, or mobile phone goes off!  

• Remember that the listener will get clues from seeing your face Don’t cover your mouth with your hand or a leaflet. Have the sun /light in your eyes – therefore on your face, rather than the listener’s. 

• Try and stand still and not walk around the room, as it is much easier for lipreading and watching facial expressions. 

• Remember to try and talk clearly – don’t mumble - a bit slower, but not too slow as it distorts the lips for lipreading, and upsets the rhythm and intonation, which are also useful clues. 

• Use the technology. Set up the amplification system before hand, and check it works properly. Ask both the speaker and audience to use the microphones if available. 

• If no second, pass around, microphone is available for questions from the floor, repeat/summarize the question so that everyone knows what has been said. 

• Appreciate that people with hearing difficulties need to concentrate more and this can be difficult. Cue them in at the beginning by gaining their attention, so that they don’t miss your introductory statement. Announce when you are changing subject. Don’t talk for too long without a break/activity. 

• Try and leave some spaces for those with hearing difficulties to sit nearer the front. But remember they may need to see who is speaking. Small groups could sit in a circle. so that everyone can see everyone else.

                    FACE ENVIRONMENT EQUIPMENT DISTANCE  BACKGROUND NOISE

'FEEDBACK'

Top Tips on Improving Access to the Written Word

 To Provide the best Written Words for our U3A Members, especially those who have low vision

From RNIB guidelines, for Power Point Presentations, emails, Handouts, Web Site, Newsletter, etc

• Use font without Serifs like Arial or Helvetica
• Use bullet points and 7 lines of text, 6 words a line.
• Presentations: use a text size that can be read easily at back of the room e.g.32 point
• Handouts, e-mails and all written text: use a large text size: 16 point in bold.
• Use ‘Bold’, and high contrasts on the colour wheel. E.g. Black on off white and Dark Colours on light colours
• Never use italic text or different styles in one document      
• Check lighting for reading books
• Advise on use of Kindle Books and stretching and enlarging text on computer
• Encourage those with visual problems to sit near the front

 Guidelines for presenters at U3A meetings

 Guidelines for presenters at U3A meetings

Many of our members will have sight and/or hearing difficulties.

Please consider the following to enable better access for all.

PowerPoint Presentations

• Use font without Serifs like Arial or Helvetica
• Use bullet points, if appropriate and limit lines of text to around 7/8
• Use a text size that can be read easily at back of the room e.g.32 point, depending on the venue and audience size
• Use ‘Bold’, and high contrasts on the colour wheel. E.g. Black on off white and Dark Colours on light colours

Handouts - print a few as below for those with visual difficulties

• Try and keep to one font/style – without Serifs, and don’t use italics
• Use a large text size: 16 point in bold, if possible.

Being heard whilst addressing the group

• Use the technology, if provided. Check it is switched on and working.
• Wear microphone in correct position.
• Pass around the second microphone for questions and contributions from the floor, if available
• Gain quiet and people’s attention before starting presenting.
• Talk clearly and a bit slower, with good rhythm and intonation
• Stop talking if sudden noise occurs e.g. emergency vehicle siren, mobile phone
• If no second microphone, repeat/summarize the question/comment so that everyone knows what has been said.

Being lipread whilst addressing the group

• Stand still and face the audience.
• Don’t cover your mouth with your hand or a leaflet.
• Stand with the light/sun on your face

Dementia Awareness 

 Dementia is a condition from which people suffer.  It is not the sum total of a person.  It is possible to live well with dementia, and particularly so if the person can go on participating in activities they enjoy with others.

The label dementia covers several diagnoses which all entail some degree of loss of mental function.  Individuals may have a specific diagnosis which they acknowledge, or they may have one which they deny.  Alternatively, they may not yet have been diagnosed but have begun to show signs of dementia which are increasingly making life difficult for them and often for those around them, particularly their main carers.

People are affected in many different ways, to many different degrees and the condition can progress at many different speeds.  In other words, no two dementia sufferers are the same and their needs will be individual.

Strange or challenging behaviours can arise just from the increased anxiety that is felt by a person with dementia.  From their point of view, the world has stopped making sense. 

• A calm and cheerful response from others is required which acknowledges the person’s distress and seeks to reassure them.
• It will be important to establish with the sufferer how they can best contribute to and benefit from the activity.
• It may be appropriate to request that they bring a companion along who is more familiar with their needs. This carer can accompany them free of charge.
• The safe and coherent functioning of the group is the leader’s paramount concern and if, after reasonable attempts, no suitable adjustments can be made to include an individual, they can be asked to leave the group.

Further information about dementia and how to help people with the condition can be found in publications by the Alzheimer’s Society www.alzheimers.org.uk