Livestream | Democracy is a Disability Issue

*Livestream will begin 5 minutes before 7:00 pm Eastern program start time.

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Event Information 
When: Thursday, April 17, 2025 | Program Start: 7:00 pm Eastern 
Featuring: Kim Charlson, Helen Michaud, Santiago "Santi" Garces, and Ethan Zuckerman

The Museum and Perkins School for the Blind team up for this program highlighting how end-to-end accessibility is crucial for civic engagement.

In a true democracy, everyone can participate equally. Explore how end-to-end accessibility — of media, voting processes and more — is essential for full civic participation of people with disabilities.

How might — and should — systems enable::

  • People with blindness / low vision to engage with political information from maps/data visualizations?
  • People with auditory and / or language processing issues to participate in community forums, town halls, and meetings with policymakers, amid the lack of standardized, real-time, high-quality captioning?
  • People with neurocognitive disabilities to discern mis/disinformation, in order to make informed civic decisions?


Join the Museum of Science and Perkins for this vital evening of conversation examining how democracy truly is a disability issue.