Any interpreter accompanying and assisting a visitor who is deaf, hearing-impaired, blind, or partially sighted is admitted free of charge. 

When workshops feature handouts and texts, they are provided on the day of the event. If you need additional time with the materials prior to the workshop, please email publicprograms@ciis.edu and we will do our best to work with the workshop facilitator(s) to get them to you in advance.

If you use a screen reader, please let us know so that we can provide screen reader friendly materials and work with presenters to provide descriptions of any visual components. For in-person events, any interpreter accompanying a visitor who is blind or partially sighted will be admitted free of charge. For all in-person events we set aside seating for those who have low-vision. When events have reserved seating you can select your own seat, but contact us if there are no seats that are close enough to the stage. For open-seating events, designated low-vision seats will be marked with signs.

For visitors to our website, social media, and to our newsletters we provide Alternative Text for both images with text and for decorative images. 

For our live online conversations and talks, live captions are available during events, but we acknowledge that live transcription is often inaccurate. Fully edited captions are available on our YouTube channel within one week of the event. We provide ASL interpretation or live CART captions for live online conversations and talks upon request. For in-person events, we set aside seating for those who request ASL interpretations that allow a clear view of the stage and the interpreters. 

For workshops, we always provide automated captions, which can be inaccurate, so we encourage you to request live CART captions if you require captions to fully participate. We provide ASL interpreters and/or CART captioning upon request.

Each event is different, so we encourage you to carefully read the event descriptions prior to registering. For online events, we encourage participants to have their video on or off as needed for their personal comfort and to take screen breaks as needed. For in-person events, we encourage guests to take breaks as needed. We ask that attendees not wear scents or perfumes, but as with any group event we can’t control the actions of individuals. If you have a sensitivity and are planning to attend an in person event, please let us know so that we can assist you.

Many of our events take place live online so guests can participate from their own homes. For in-person events, accommodations may vary depending on the event location and workshop content. For all in-person events, we are committed to working with venues that have accessible entrances and we set aside seating for those who use wheelchairs. When we have reserved seating, accessible seats can be selected when purchasing tickets. For open-seating events, designated spaces will be marked with signs. 

While we provide automated live captions for all events, we recognize that technology is limited and live transcription is often inaccurate to the point of not being useful to those who are Deaf or people who are hard of hearing. We will provide live CART captions and/or ASL Interpreters upon request with at least one week advance notice. We also edit all event captions, which are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and a human editor, within one week of the live event, so if you were not able to request live interpretation services in advance, we invite you to watch the event with fully edited captions after the event.

Please note that due to how they are generated and edited, the captions may contain errors.

As of October 2020 we release a full transcript along with each podcast episode, but we have not yet uploaded full transcripts of past episodes. If you would like a transcript of an older episode, please email publicprograms@ciis.edu. We plan to add transcripts to all past episodes of the podcast over time. Our transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human editors. We do our best to achieve accuracy, but they may contain errors. If it is an option for you, we strongly encourage you to listen to the podcast audio, which includes additional emotion and emphasis not conveyed through transcription.

In most cases we record online workshops and make a copy of the recording available to all registered attendees for a limited time. Each workshop is unique and many deal with sensitive topics or content that is not suitable to record, so we work with presenters to determine a recording policy that makes sense for the content. Please refer to the event description to see the recording policy for the specific workshop or program.

We never record our in-person events or Certificate Programs.

We strive to find a balance between creating a safe and nurturing space for sharing and learning and accommodating the varying access needs of all audience members. If an event is not being recorded but you need access to a recording in order to participate fully, please email us at publicprograms@ciis.edu.

Please note that for any workshop offering Continue Education credits you must attend the entire event live and watching the recording does not count towards those credits. Attendees who do not watch the entire event live will not be eligible for CEs.

We present events at multiple venues which means that some accessibility information may vary by event. We will provide information about parking, requesting accessible seating, location of accessible entrances and more in our event confirmation emails and on event webpages when applicable. 

While we firmly believe that all events should be open to people of all abilities, occasionally workshops may have components that are movement-based. In these cases that will be clearly articulated in the event description. If you have any questions about what types of movement might take place at an event, please email publicprograms@ciis.edu . We will always do whatever we can to work with the presenter to find creative ways to involve all people.