Recently, I was able to publish a correspondence in Nature on the needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing researchers. After having read several published pieces in Nature that advertise virtual conferences as being more inclusive (see R. Joo, Nature 598, 257 (2021) and K. Powell, Nature 598, 221–223 (2021)), I felt that I had to clarify that virtual conferences can be exclusive to people with other disabilities as needs vary. Technological limitations concering camera quality particularly constrain deaf and hard-of-hearing researchers from participating in virtual conferences. Inclusiveness could thus be bolstered by meeting organizers including live captions during presentations and discussions. The article has already garnered attention on international social media.
Find the full article here: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-03487-2
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