Announcement: Group for Deaf Participants at OFFDEM (Brussels, Belgium)

Welcome
1

Announcement: Signal Group for Deaf Participants at OFFDEM (Brussels, Belgium)

Join our new Signal group dedicated to Deaf participants at OFFDEM 2025! Communicate in sign language, share information, and take part in discussions for a more bilingual experience.

How to join? Use the link:

Make OFFDEM an accessible event for all by joining us!

3 Likes
2

At first OFFDEM we had splendid note takers who would take notes at every session, making it very useful for deaf participants. Note taking is very hard to keep up with, so it must be organized in advance. When one is taking note they cannot participate in the conversation, and vice-versa, if one participates actively, they cannot take notes for their own speech. When that happens, scribes should be careful not to change the meaning of the speech. Sometimes it’s difficult not to do so, especially when we exchange deep knowledge, so every session should have at least two or three scribes.

Signed interventions can be relayed either by someone who can understand LSF, or typed on the pads and be spoken out – but here again, this requires discipline to keep an eye on the pad and relay the speech, but it’s fine as long as we respect turns to speak.

Anything else to take into account @seejayer?

1 Like
3

Thank you for your ideas on accessibility at OFFDEM. I suggest adding awareness about Hearing Privilege to better include deaf participants. Here are two useful articles:

What do you think?

Best regards,

1 Like
4
5
6

This topic was automatically closed 14 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.

8

Hello, indeed in 2022, note taking on pads was great, it gives the possibility to understand well

  • to hard of hearing people like me ,
  • to foreigners who can use a translator on their computer
  • to people who follow remotely

In 2023, that wasn’t the case: no notes at the AGMs, so I didn’t understand a thing.
Fortunately, some people took notes in small groups :slight_smile:
This year, it would be a good idea to get organized beforehand and put out an ad to find out who would like to volunteer to take notes, because the more people who volunteer to take notes, the easier it is :slight_smile:
What are your ideas for organizing and making this announcement in the most efficient way?

2 Likes