Accessibility for Sacred Ground Curriculum

Accessibility of Sacred Ground Curriculum and Circles

Improving the accessibility of our Sacred Ground programs is an opportunity to care for one another, which is at the heart of the journey. As a facilitator, it is important to work alongside participants to make sure that all members can participate fully and no one feels excluded or marginalized during conversations, breaks, downtime, or any other part of the journey.

Before or during the first session, invite participants to let you know if they have any accessibility needs or would benefit from accommodations. You can then have a one-on-one conversation with anyone who chooses to share this information about how they would like to approach this topic with the group, what accommodations would best support them, and how those accomodations should be implemented. Follow-up conversations will likely be needed to ensure the circle is working well for everyone.

As with any group, participants will have different levels of experience and comfort with assistive technologies. Do not assume prior familiarity or proficiency.

This guide will be continually revised to add information about accessibility needs and update existing recommendations. As part of the updates to the curriculum and website made in Summer 2026, the Sacred Ground team is working to ensure that the necessary accessibility features are in place as soon as possible.

As always, your feedback is welcome!

Recommendations for Maximizing Accessibility for Blind Participants in Sacred Ground 

MATERIALS: 

  • Facilitators should share all course materials for each session well in advance. This gives blind participants the time they need to fully engage with the materials in preparation for the session, whether using a screen reader, braille, or both). It is important not to add materials at the last minute or make curricular changes in real time.
  • The course’s visual materials, including videos, images, and maps, are particularly challenging for blind participants, since they can’t fully be captured by screen readers. However, we do have a wonderful set of written descriptions of these visual materials, created by facilitator Laurie Williams, that can be downloaded here. Additionally, we obtained or commissioned audio descriptions for the main films in the curriculum. These descriptions are being rolled out on an ongoing basis as we determine the best way to provide them for each film. You can access the descriptions by turning on “AD” in the video player or clicking the designated link above the embedded film.
  • When sharing documents, ask blind participants which file format works best for them. Word documents (.docx file extension) may be the best for screen readers; however, it is good practice to approach this on a case-by-case basis depending on the screen reader a participant uses. There may also be formatting considerations to keep in mind (e.g., columns can be challenging for certain screen readers). 

CIRCLE EXPERIENCE:

  • At the beginning of each session, have everyone introduce/re-introduce themselves to connect names to voices and to seat locations, if in person.
  • When sharing as a whole group, use mutual invitation. This ensures that a participant’s name is said before the person begins speaking and that all group members are actively included. Paired breakouts may allow for more free-flowing conversation. 
  • If participants are asked to read aloud (e.g., a prayer or parts of a passage), blind people should have the chance to be included in the process if they want to. Make sure to provide advanced notice on what section they will read and where it falls in the presentation so they can be prepared.
  • Zoom can make it much easier for blind participants with transportation challenges to attend Sacred Ground sessions. Your church may have a Meeting Owl that you could use to more fully include a remote participant in an in-person group.
  • During a Zoom meeting:
    • If you project any materials, stop and read all text aloud and describe any visual materials, such as maps or image).
    • If you use a PowerPoint document to organize your session, send out a text outline in advance or read the slides during the session.
  • There are many ways for participants to indicate that they have something to contribute: raising hands, clicking the “hand” icon on Zoom, or using the chat function. If holding sessions online, become familiar with Zoom’s features and encourage others to as well to help create a more inclusive space. 

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES:   

  • Screen-Reading:
    • JAWS (Job Access With Speech) – subscription-based screen-reading software; the Picture Smart AI feature can describe images on the screen
    • Phone/iPad/Computer Screen Readers
    • Apple Devices – VoiceOver
    • Android – TalkBack
    • Many third-party applications can also be downloaded 
  • Accessible Books:
    • BARD – National Library of Congress’ braille and audio library is freely available for eligible users (folks need to apply and be granted access)
    • Audible – subscription-based audio books service. Typically have promotional offers for a certain number of months for free or $0.99 per month.
    • Bookshare-reader – subscription-based service with access to many audiobooks and eBooks that are readable by screen-readers

*Many thanks to Laurie Williams, Ann Foxworth, and Glenda Born for their input during the creation of this guide. 

Recommendations for Maximizing Accessibility of Sacred Ground for those with Hearing Loss or who are Deaf

NOTE: The recommendations below are primarily intended for participants who communicate comfortably in written and/or spoken English. If you are interested in participating in a Sacred Ground circle using American Sign Language, please email sacredground@episcopalchurch.org.

VIDEO CLOSED CAPTIONING:  

  • Most of the curriculum’s videos have built-in English closed captioning, which can be turned on by clicking the “cc” button on the menu bar at the bottom of the video.
  • For videos without built-in closed captioning, most browsers now have a function that produces real-time captioning for any video. Here are instructions for several common browsers (for browsers not listed, search “live captions” and the name of the browser):

ZOOM CLOSED CAPTIONING: 

  • Before the meeting begins, the Zoom host should turn on automatic captions: Instructions for Enabling Automatic Captions.
  • Once the host has enabled captions, group members who wish to use the captions must set their device to view captions. Do not assume that people know how to do this; you may want to dedicate 5 minutes before each session to helping everyone get set up: Instructions for viewing captions.

OTHER ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY: 

  • Many current hearing aids can connect directly to computer audio via Bluetooth, which can make a big difference in sound quality for both videos and Zoom meetings. Some participants may not be aware of this feature or may need help setting it up. 
  • A small remote microphone can be passed from speaker to speaker. It can be connected directly to a participant’s hearing aids or to a phone where it can feed into a speech-to-text app so the participant can read the comments in written form. 

Below are important points to emphasize as you establish and reinforce group norms and procedures. They will likely need to be reinforced throughout the program.

MAXIMIZING COMPREHENSIBILITY OF SPEECH

  • Have only one person talk at a time. 
  • Ensure the speaker’s mouth is fully visible and well lit. 
  • Speak loudly enough to be heard.
  • Speak slowly and articulate words clearly, but not in an exaggerated way.
  • Limit background noise. 

ZOOM GROUPS

  • All group members should position themselves close to and directly in front of the camera, making sure there are no shadows or objects blocking their face, including their hands.
  • Screen-sharing drastically reduces the size of a speaker’s face, making it harder to read lips and facial expressions. If screen-sharing, use the setting that splits the screen in half to show both the speaker and the shared screen.
  • There is often a lag in Zoom captions, so it is important to allow an extra “beat” after each speaker throughout the conversation so those using captions can stay up to speed.

IN-PERSON GROUPS

  • Sit closely together 
  • Passing around a “talking stick” helps discourage interruptions, reminds people to pause between speakers, and encourages everyone to speak more slowly—perhaps because they aren’t worried about being interrupted!
  • Ask participants when they are speaking to face anyone who is hard of hearing. Without this guidance, participants will generally speak toward the facilitators or the most recent speaker. You will probably need to reinforce this practice several times over multiple sessions.
  • If a few people are hard of hearing, they might consider sitting next to one another to make it easier for other group members to speak in their direction.

*Many thanks to David Miller, the Rev. Tricia DeBeer, and the Rev. Gene Bourquin for their input during the creation of this guide.

Written Descriptions of Select Films

Session-2-THE-MYTH-OF-RACE-Written-DescriptionDownload
Session-3-EPISCOPAL-CHURCH-EXPOSES-THE-DOCTRINE-OF-DISCOVERY-Written-DescriptionDownload
Session-3-WE-SHALL-REMAIN-EPISODE-1-Written-DescriptionDownload
Session-4-EPISCOPAL-PILGRIMAGE-TO-GHANA-Written-DescriptionDownload
Session-4-THE-AFRICAN-AMERICANS-EPISODE-1-Written-DescriptionDownload
Session-7-RACE-THE-POWER-OF-AN-ILLUSION-Written-DescriptionDownload
Session-7-SLAVERY-BY-ANOTHER-NAME-Written-DescriptionDownload
Session-9-HEALING-JUSTICE-Written-DescriptionDownload
Session-9-NATIVE-VOICES-SPEAKING-TO-THE-CHURCH-Written-DescriptionDownload
Session-10-DAWNLAND-Written-DescriptionDownload

Contact the Sacred Ground team

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