The Hybrid Challenge

We’ve been holding our local church services using a videoconferencing platform for quite a while now, due to the COVID virus.  I found those services pretty accessible. The videoconferencing platform works pretty well for me, with my hearing loss, especially now that we have access to captions.  The speakers have their webcams on so I can read their lips, and I can turn the volume up on my laptop.  There's also been very little background noise since the speakers were talking from quiet spaces. 

As the pandemic seems to be ending, we moved to hybrid services, with both remote and in-person attendance.  A limited number of people, all at healthy distances, were allowed to be present in the sanctuary.  I've continued to participate remotely.  Halfway through the service, a person in the sanctuary was speaking from the podium wearing a mask.  Great!  No lipreading and the auto-captions are struggling.  I need to email our minister and re-up our discussion about accessibility.