Communicating physics and astronomy to a visually impaired audience

Physics and astronomy can be extremely difficult to access for people with visual impairments (VI). A reliance on images, diagrams, graphs, and other visual representations of data means that people with VI can easily feel excluded from these subjects. However, there are several initiatives and projects in the UK that are working to make topics within physics and astronomy more accessible for this audience. The 3rd in a series of meetings held before the pandemic, this meeting will showcase these projects and their resources, allowing participants to share best practice, and explore future collaborations and other opportunities.

The morning of the meeting will be devoted to short presentations by different projects. The afternoon will have a more open format, with the programme being set by the attendees in an 'unconference' style. The meeting is open to anyone who is interested working with members of the VI community in an outreach/public engagement/teaching environment, and we expect the audience to be a mix of physics researchers and academics, outreach and public engagement professionals, teachers, and informal educators.

If you would like to give a talk, please send a short abstract to the meeting organisers Jen Gupta (jen.gupta@port.ac.uk) and Nic Bonne (nicolas.bonne@port.ac.uk) no later than 5 PM on Monday November 24th. We will do our best to accommodate as many talk requests as possible. If you would like to showcase any resources or project assets in the second half of the day, please let the organisers know and we will work out how to best accommodate you.

Registration for the meeting is free, but please note that lunch will not be provided (there are plenty of places to buy lunch in walking distance of Burlington House where the RAS is situated). Please contact the organisers if you have any specific accessibility requirements for hte meeting.

Overview of schedule:

10.00 - 10.30 Arrival and registration

10.30 - 11.30 Invited Talks

11.30 - 11.45 Break

11.45 - 13.00 Invited Talks

13.00 - 13.45 Lunch Break

13.45 - 15.45 Unconference

15.45 - 16.00 Wrap-up and depart