Workshop Accessibility, Inclusion and Safety
Accessibility
Accessibility typically refers to all the ways in which the training environment, delivery and participation options, and materials are designed to allow for people from a variety of backgrounds, abilities, and learning preferences to participate fully. Your institution will likely have policies, resources and supports related to accessibility that you can build on as you prepare to deliver training on Transcultural Communication. Below is a list of strategies you may want to consider in order to make your training more accessible and inclusive.
Environment
- Are teaching and learning spaces physically accessible by those who use a wheelchair or other mobility aids? Are there chairs available that accommodate various body sizes?
- Are washrooms both physically accessible and designated as gender-neutral?
- If facilitating online, is the learning platform accessible to people using assistive technologies and a variety of devices?
Creating Safe Spaces
For Transcultural Communications to be successful, learners need to feel safe, and respected. As you prepare to facilitate, you will want to consider factors such as when and where to hold the training, key messages on promotional materials, the use of group guidelines, ensuring diverse representation, using icebreakers, whether activities require self-disclosure, and ways of working with co-facilitators or guests. In this section, we discuss several strategies for helping to create a positive learning space.
Opening with intention
Facilitators have an enormous role to play in setting the “tone” for a session. As people enter the space (online or in-person), you can welcome them and help them get oriented. You can let them know if you’ve started or whether you’re waiting for a few more people and share “housekeeping information” such as where the bathrooms are, where they can put their things, emergency escape routes and muster points or how to use online interactive features. If the workshops will include interactive or discussion-based activities, you may want to consider using an icebreaker activity to help people get to know each other ahead of time. As you begin your session, you can use opening questions that help create inclusivity such as correct pronouns, check-in questions, or information about accessibility needs and requests.
Community or Group Guidelines
Community or group guidelines for sessions may be an important tool for supporting safer discussion about difficult topics. You can remind learners of the guidelines at the beginning of each session or if the discussion is getting difficult. Important group agreements relate to listening to and showing respect for others (e.g., not talking when others are speaking, not making rude comments, or not talking on the phone), confidentiality, and participation.
Examples of Community or Group Guidelines
Community or group guidelines come in all shapes and sizes. Some groups have a few guidelines while others have many. Often, groups will change or add guidelines as ways of working together evolve. Here are suggestions of possible guidelines.
- Share the learning, not the names or the stories (confidentiality)
- Participants have the right to “pass” on activities/questions that feel uncomfortable
- It is all right to feel uncomfortable or not to know answers to everything
- Treat others with respect
- Be mindful of your language; respect everyone’s names and pronouns
- Speak for yourself. Use “I statements” to state opinions or feelings
- Seek to replace judgment with curiosity
- Take care of yourself
- Take space, make space (allow everyone a chance to participate)