Information shared around the coronavirus pandemic, and particularly the current government guidelines, should really be the most important information shared at this time. However, a lot of safety-critical instruction and advice – at least here in England – has so-far been communicated in a fashion which overwhelmingly excludes hearing and visually-impaired communities.
A prime example of this would be the lack of a sign language interpreter at government briefings over the past few weeks, which has understandably aggrieved a large number of BSL-fluent people in England. Especially galling when interpreters are being utilised so effectively in briefings given out in other countries; most notably just over the border in Scotland, and Wales.
Likewise, frustration with the lack of printed materials and information shared on social media by Public Health England being not as accessible as it should be in such heightened times is fairly rife: eg a lack of audio on videos and coded image descriptions in Alt Text.
What are YOUR thoughts on this?