Access for All: ADA Considerations for Inclusive Public Meetings

As you work to improve the public meeting process in your community, accessibility is an area of focus that should remain top of mind. Residents living with disabilities in your community deserve your distinct consideration when accessing and participating in public meetings. This challenge has become more complex in recent years, with more meetings moving to a virtual or hybrid in-person/virtual model.  

It can be daunting to understand government-sanctioned ADA standards, especially when getting it wrong can mean costly fines, penalties or lawsuits. More importantly, getting it wrong can prevent a member of your community from equal access to participation in public meetings. In this free session, we’re bringing in Geoff Ames, an ADA accessibility expert, to provide insight on how to develop a compliant public meeting strategy for people living with a range of disabilities, including blindness, low-vision, deafness, and limited manual mobility. Geoff is a senior project manager at Meeting the Challenge, Inc., an accessibility compliance consulting subsidiary of CP&Y, Inc., a full-service engineering, architectural, and construction consulting firm.

This session will cover: 

• The requirements of the ADA 
• How to evaluate and identify both physical and operational accessibility barriers to government public meetings 
• The aids and services needed to provide effective, equitable communication for all people