Align communications, events and staff onboarding

Include access needs in event planning

At event intake, record the program owner, purpose, audience, venue or platform, registration method, date, publishing deadline, content formats, caption or interpretation needs and a contact route that has been confirmed as monitored. Ask what participation options are needed without asking attendees to disclose a diagnosis in public. Route accommodation details through the approved private process.

Before sending an invitation, publish the essential information as page text rather than only in a flyer. Include date, time zone, location or access instructions, registration steps, accessibility information and a working link with a meaningful label. Confirm the form works by keyboard and at increased zoom, and test the confirmation or cancellation steps. Use the guides for events and flyers and forms and registration.

For live or recorded media, decide who will prepare captions, transcripts and any description of meaningful visual information, when they will be reviewed and where the accessible materials will be published. Confirm that speakers’ slides and handouts arrive in time for review.

Check access before, during and after the event

Before the event, verify the public page, registration journey, venue or joining instructions, media controls, access contact and event materials. Confirm that suppliers and presenters know their assigned tasks. During the event, give attendees a way to report a participation barrier and assign someone to receive and route it. Avoid making a person repeat access information in front of the group.

Afterward, publish captions or a transcript when appropriate, check the recording and linked materials, and review feedback for follow-up. Log barriers and improvements without publishing private information. If a public recording or document is replaced, update the event page and preserve the current version details.

Set an internal accessibility communication plan

The Content owner proposes an audience, schedule and resource needs for recurring messages, then seeks District approval. A starting plan is a monthly editorial update on current barriers, changed guidance and upcoming work; a quarterly invitation to role-based practice or refresher training; an annual summary of the improvement plan and results; and a targeted notice when an owner, tool, approved procedure or assistance route changes. Set intervals for the approved audience and covered teams.

For each message, record audience, purpose, owner, approved channel, scheduled date or trigger, accessible format and review responsibility. After distribution, retain the exact version, date, intended recipients and available delivery confirmation. Review feedback and missed audiences at the next program meeting. Track completed distribution separately from scheduled messages.

Teach new staff the actual publishing route

For each staff role, onboarding should identify the approved request route, required owner and reviewer, accessible templates, guide links, test environment, evidence location and help escalation. Give new editors a short practice task using sample content before their first high-impact publication. Explain where public-facing feedback is routed and how urgent issues reach the responsible owner.

Record onboarding date, role, materials version, practice task, result, follow-up owner and date. Check access to approved tools and templates with the manager. When a person changes roles or a publishing tool changes, update their training and permissions through the normal internal process. Record practice results and check that the production workflow is in use.

Each quarter, compare scheduled communications and events with published pages, accessibility requests and open issues. Use recurring problems to update templates and training. Add decisions to the monthly or quarterly governance review so that communications and event owners can request needed resources before deadlines.

Use a working record

Complete a record when the activity occurs, download it and retain it in the approved team location.

• Communication or event accessibility review
• Role onboarding and accessibility responsibilities
• Training attendance and practical assessment