Virtual Meeting Platforms and Accessibility Features

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Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Teams is the standard meeting platform for virtual meetings.

Meeting

• Record a meeting in Teams

• Live closed captioning for meetings

• Captions are available only in English (US) for now.

• Live captions in French (July 2021)

• Teams doesn't save captions or create transcripts.

• There is currently no way to turn on captions automatically or by default and this is most likely by design considering all the various disability groups that could be impacted by having open captions.

• View and download live transcription in a Teams meeting

• Blur background or use a background image

• Set the noise suppression level to high

• Pin a meeting participant's video

• MS Teams does not allow pinned videos to be resized. Feature request has been sent to Microsoft.

• Dedicated chats for each meeting

• Add someone, like a coworker or interpreter, to a call

Chat

• Limit distractions with Do Not Disturb mode
• Minimize communication barriers with language translation
• Customize the reading and viewing experience for different visual and cognitive needs
• Send audio messages on Teams mobile and use Windows dictation on Teams desktop

More features

• Navigate with a keyboard

• Magnify screen content

• Dark, light, and high contrast theme

• Zoom in and out of Teams

• Use text telephone (TTY)

• Search for messages and more

• Compatible with assistive technologies, like

• Screen readers

• Dictation software

• Eye control (on Windows 10)

• Voice control (on iOS and Android)

• Screen magnifiers

• Switch access (on iOS and Android)

Zoom

Zoom is not the recommended tool for meetings internally, however it is an accessible option to use with external partners for unclassified information. In certain situations, detailed in Proposed meeting types with accessibility features section, it is the recommended tool when dealing with Canadian citizens due to the various integrated accessibility features.

Meeting

• Automatic transcripts are generated and synchronized to make it easy to search and review meetings recorded in the cloud.
• Integrates seamlessly with 3rd party closed captioning providers through our Closed Captioning REST API.
• The host can spotlight the interpreter and speaker videos so everyone sees them, no matter who is speaking.
• Individuals can pin multiple videos and can click/drag videos to a different position for a custom view.

Chat

• Customize the font size of chat and closed captioning in the accessibility settings.

More features

• Zoom with a screen reader, focus on what you hear with granular control over screen reader alerts.

• Easily manage all major workflows with just your keyboard. Zoom also supports Keyboard Shortcuts to navigate features.

• The latest accessibility standards are followed to ensure that the product is fully accessible to the latest screen readers.

• Zoom products are compliant, with exceptions, with the following standards:

• WCAG 2.1 AA Standards

• Revised Section 508 Standards

• EN 301 549 Accessibility requirements