"If I'm supposed to be the facilitator, I should be the host": Understanding the Accessibility of Videoconferencing for Blind and Low Vision Meeting Facilitators
Taslima Akter, Yoonha Cha, Isabela Figueira, Stacy M. Branham, Anne Marie Piper · 2023 · ASSETS '23: Proceedings of the 25th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility · doi:10.1145/3597638.3608420
Summary
This paper investigates how blind and low vision (BLV) professionals facilitate meetings using videoconferencing tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet, and the unique accessibility challenges they face in leadership roles. While prior research has examined videoconferencing accessibility for meeting participants with disabilities, this study is one of the first to focus specifically on facilitators — people who must simultaneously lead meetings, manage technical hosting responsibilities (waiting rooms, screen sharing, recording, chat monitoring), and maintain awareness of attendee activity. The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 BLV professionals who use screen readers and regularly facilitate virtual meetings. Participants ranged from 18 to 64 years old, held diverse professional roles including directors, program managers, consultants, and language facilitators, and used a variety of platforms with Zoom being the most common (16 of 18 participants). The study was conducted between December 2022 and March 2023. The analysis reveals six key themes in BLV facilitators' experiences: extensive preparation and rehearsal required before meetings, challenges ensuring meeting security and privacy, difficulty maintaining awareness of attendee activity while moderating, heavy reliance on sighted co-hosts to overcome accessibility obstacles, concerns about maintaining professionalism when technology creates barriers, and ongoing advocacy work for accessible meeting practices within their organizations. The findings are grounded in the theoretical framework of interdependence, which examines how access is achieved through collaboration between disabled and non-disabled individuals rather than through individual accommodation alone.
Key findings
BLV facilitators perform substantial "invisible work" to compensate for inaccessible videoconferencing features. They create practice meetings to learn platform interfaces, memorize keyboard shortcuts that differ across platforms, and prepare all materials in advance because they cannot easily adapt on the fly. Screen sharing is particularly inaccessible — participants rely on co-hosts to advance slides, confirm camera positioning, and verify what is being shared. Monitoring multiple information streams simultaneously (chat, participants, raised hands, speaker identification) is extremely challenging when all must be accessed through a single screen reader audio channel. Participants described being forced to choose between listening to chat and listening to who is speaking. The reliance on sighted co-hosts, while practical, creates discomfort: participants described it as "demeaning" to relinquish hosting responsibilities due to accessibility barriers, with one stating "if I'm supposed to be the facilitator, I should be the host." Finding reliable co-hosts is itself burdensome, requiring training, trust-building, and back-channel coordination via Slack or text messaging during meetings. Several participants reported Zoombombing incidents that were particularly stressful because they could not quickly identify and remove intruders. The study reveals that inaccessible videoconferencing tools create real barriers to career advancement, as the ability to effectively lead meetings is closely tied to perceptions of professional competence and leadership capability.
Relevance
This research has critical implications for both videoconferencing platform developers and organizations employing BLV professionals. The findings demonstrate that "technically accessible" software — tools that can technically be operated with a screen reader — is not truly accessible when it imposes disproportionate cognitive load, preparation time, and reliance on others. For platform developers, the study identifies specific improvements: standardized keyboard shortcuts across platforms, audio notifications for speaker identification and participant actions, OCR-based access to shared screens, gesture detection for raised hands and nodding, and better separation of audio channels for chat and conversation. For organizations, the research highlights the need to understand the hidden labor BLV facilitators perform, train co-hosts effectively rather than treating their role as ad hoc, and give BLV leaders choice over which platforms they use. The finding that inaccessibility directly impacts perceived professional competence connects videoconferencing design to workplace equity — a critical concern given the employment gap between disabled and non-disabled workers.
Tags: blind and low vision · videoconferencing · remote work · screen readers · workplace accessibility · career advancement · interdependence · meeting facilitation
Standards referenced: WCAG · ADA