Accessibility and Geosciences: reality or illusion?

Despite ongoing community's efforts to create accessible environments (and ensure equitable opportunities for participation and growth in geosciences) accessibility remains a persistent challenge for underrepresented and underrecognised groups, such as people  with disabilities, dyslexia or ADHD. The path towards a fully recognised professional identity often requires self-awareness as well as assertion of one's needs and rights. In this context, accessibility must be understood not only as the removal of physical barriers but also of communicative, sensory and cultural barriers. It therefore becomes a structural element in rethinking the overall geosciences sector. 

Today, critical problems remain in educational and academic environments, workplaces, and conferences. Inadequate training of educational and faculty staff, a lack of tools that take a variety of needs into account, and a model of excellence based on standardised skills and performance compromise the establishment of a society that ensures equal participation in the STEM field. To improve the accessibility of the aforementioned environments, systemic strategies need to be adopted, such as the Universal Design for Learning, the creation of multisensory teaching resources, the use of universally understandable  visual codes, the promotion of environments that value individual differences, and the ongoing, cross-functional training of permanent and temporary academic staff.

This contribution aims to provide an open discussion on barriers for people with sensorial disabilities, dyslexia, ADHD and colour blindness, showing possible resources aiming for a more inclusive environment. 

In this framework, a  series of best practices were presented during a cross-disciplinary training day for students and staff of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Turin (Italy). Experts in the field and individuals with first-hand experience discussed the above topics and emphasised the importance of best practices to achieve equitable opportunities for participation and growth in geosciences to all. The aim of this training was to emphasise the importance of raising awareness in academic settings.

A concrete example in the field of geosciences is the development of accessible geotouristic maps, designed with layouts that facilitate attentive orientation, tactile reproductions, videos in sign language, colour-blind friendly palettes, and high-legibility fonts. This approach demonstrates how accessibility is not an add-on, but a design principle capable of improving everyone's experience.