Dedicated to Improving the Lives of Blind and Visually Impaired People

Story Seeds Goes the Extra Mile to Make Virtual Camps Accessible

Our June 18 issue featured the Story Seeds learn-to-podcast camps for kids on Zoom. The camps appeared to be fully accessible, but we weren’t sure, so we contacted them. Sandhya Nankani, founder and executive producer at Literary Safari, the company that produces Story Seeds, responded that in addition to verbal interaction with instructors and audio components of all slides, no print materials will be used during the sessions. Sandhya asked her instructors and received this response about the August weeklong camp for teens. “I will have some visual slides with text and images, but I can …make sure they are readable by a screen-reader and share them at least the day before. I will also be cognizant of describing what is on each slide so kids with low or no vision can be in the moment and not need to rely on a screen reader all of the time…The course platform, Padlet, is basically compatible with screen readers according to their site, but I am going to talk to some folks about that…” Register by July 6 for the 4 session Mini Camp ($150); and by July 30 for mid-August weeklong intensive camp ($520). Amazing to find such a company so responsive to the needs of blind and visually impaired future podcasters. Is there a chance for a partnership here?