vividcon open policy, complete new draft
NOTE: THIS POST CONTINUES DISCUSSION AND COLLABORATIVE DRAFTING BEGUN IN MY PREVIOUS POST -- please refer back there to see the original draft and other details.
At this point, it looks like we have a pretty good draft with consensus on virtually all of the accessibility policy except for the issue of warning for triggers in vids. To make it easier to continue conversation, here is the policy draft as it stands now, with all the previously posted edits in and a little bit of polishing.
If I have missed any threads or left stuff out that had reached consensus, please let me know!
VI. Accessibility Policy
Fundamentally, the concom wants to make the con work for anyone who wants to attend, and asks that any members with accessibility concerns that are not completely addressed here please contact access@vividcon.com before the con. Our goal in this policy is to offer a high level overview of the event space and answer some of the accessibility questions that might arise. Naturally, people's needs and accommodations will vary, so please contact us if you have questions in areas we have not covered here.
If for any reason a member can't contact the concom beforehand or finds there are unexpected difficulties at the con, the concom will try and address issues as they arise at the con itself as quickly as possible; any concom member can be asked for assistance.
If you wish to remain anonymous when discussing any of your accessibility concerns, please feel free to create an anonymous email account to write to the concom; you do not need to identify yourself, just say that you are an attending member and explain your needs. If a member does share their identity, it will be kept confidential except for those concom members who are working on any accommodations.
The access@vividcon.com address will be checked regularly leading up to and during the con so members can request help even while the con is ongoing, and all requests will be responded to as soon as possible.
About The Hotel Area
The hotel is about a five minute taxi ride from O'Hare Airport. (We strongly advise flying in to O'Hare rather than into Midway, which is much further away.) Wheelchair-accessible taxis can be ordered by calling Chicago Central Dispatch at 1-800-281-4466. More details are available at http://www.easyaccesschicago.org/transportation, which also has details for how to get discounted vouchers ($5 each way) for anyone who is a registered paratransit rider.
The hotel is located at 8101 West Higgins Road (link goes to Google Maps where you can zoom in to see more detail of the area). The hotel is on a busy four-lane road with no sidewalks on that side of the road, which unfortunately makes the grocery store, most of the nearby restaurants, and the nearby CTA station inaccessible. The hotel shuttle (which is not wheelchair-accessible) will sometimes be willing to provide a ride, but this is sporadic.
The hotel does have a fully accessible Outback Steak House, which offers gluten-free options, and the front desk will provide menus of local restaurants that deliver. The rooms come equipped with a fridge and microwave.
The hotel also has a small convenience store, and when it is closed, the front desk can also sell sundries including painkillers, antacids, menstrual supplies, toothbrushes and toothpaste, razors, and a limited selection of snacks and beverages. (edit per this thread)
In addition, if you need specific help (a ride, a grocery run etc), please let us know. While we cannot provide services directly, our convention is small and friendly and we will do our best to help you get the word out about your specific needs or point you to resources being organized by other attendees.
About The Hotel Rooms
The hotel has a smoke-free policy throughout and can provide hypoallergenic pillows on request.
The hotel's guest rooms generally have wheelchair-accessible front doors but not bathroom doors. Members with strength or mobility issues may want to avoid those on the second floor, as the guest room areas on this one floor are separated from the elevators and function space by heavy doors that do not open automatically. On the other floors, there are no such doors.
The hotel has some rooms classed as accessible which have a larger bathroom with handrails, an adjustable showerhead that can be hand-held, and a shower chair, some with a standard tub and others with a shower stall, and a light signal on the room door for the hearing-impaired. Room doors are not self-opening; you may want to bring a doorstop or the concom can provide one if notified in advance. If you ask, hotel staff will also move end tables out of your room to make more space for your equipment.
The hotel has public men's and women's restrooms near the event space which both have a wheelchair-accessible stall. While these restrooms are open to other hotel guests, historically the majority of people you encounter are fellow VVC members. We ask that all members use the bathroom they feel most comfortable using, and assume that any other members they encounter in the public bathrooms are doing the same.
For any members uncomfortable with using one of these public bathrooms under this policy, one possible alternative is requesting a room on the second floor (as long as the heavy doors are not a problem) or a room close to the elevators on another floor, or making private arrangements to use the bathroom of another con attendee who is staying in such a room. There are also unisex public bathrooms available on each of the guest room floors started with the third floor, located at one end of the hotel wing.
About The Con Space
Nearly all con events take place in the second floor function space in five meeting rooms that are in close proximity to one another and the hotel elevators. Here is a floorplan that may help in planning (click for larger size):
During the high crowding times of registration and Club Vivid (including the cocktail hour), tape will be put down to mark off a "mobility line" as seen on the floorplan. We ask that no members congregate below the mobility line, in order to keep a clear path open between the elevators, restrooms, con suite, and quiet hangout room. At these times, a volunteer will be on duty in the quiet hangout room to bring registration packets or drinks and snacks as available to any members sitting here.
A line usually forms in the second floor area for the first vidshow and the premieres vidshow. There can be crowding and a rush when the vidshow first opens. Any members for whom these conditions (edit per discussion in this thread and others) may be an issue can be let into the Premieres show and other major events early.
Each year we set aside dedicated seating space in the vidshow and panel rooms for our members with disabilities, including space for wheelchairs and scooters, based on the needs of that year's attending members. Because the number of people who use this space changes from year to year and because the seating layout may change between panels and vid shows, we appreciate advanced notice from members who know or think they might need space so that we can plan accordingly. Please let the concom know of your needs at access@vividcon.com.
The concom will be happy to describe the space in more detail for new attendees and to work out any accommodations you might need. If additional needs arise at the con, they will be addressed as quickly as possible.
Other Issues
All service animals are welcome at the hotel and the con.
Aides are welcome at the con, they just need to be over 18. The concom asks that any member who will have aides attending with them let the concom know in advance how many aides will be coming; special badges will be made up for them to ensure access throughout the con, and included in the member's registration packet.
Some large-print programs are printed up each year. If you let the concom know in advance that you want one, we will ensure that one is put in your membership pack; more copies will also be available on the reg table and in the con suite. Most of the information in the con program will also be posted on the con website starting Thursday after registration.
The con rents most of its audio/visual equipment from outside vendors and the configuration often changes from year to year. Any members with hearing limitations are asked to contact the concom as early as possible so we can provide a good solution.
All vidshows are available on videotape as soon as the show begins, and all of the hotel rooms come equipped with a VCR. Vidshow tapes can be signed out for viewing in the con suite or in private hotel rooms for full control over the viewing experience and/or more comfortable conditions. If alerted in advance, the concom can give priority access to the tapes of particular shows for members who are unable to see them "live". If you have brought a laptop or DVD player, you can also sign out the DVD copies of the vidshow as well.
Vividcon is an adult-only space and children are not appropriate in con spaces. The exception to this is that breastfeeding is welcome at the convention. Nursing moms are asked to be mindful of the quiet atmosphere preserved in the vidshow room and the adult environment of the con; we ask members to trust that a mom is best able to judge her infant's likelihood of causing a disruption.(edit per discussion in this thread and others)
The vidshow room is normally kept quiet and darkened in the style of a movie theater, and members are asked not to leave in the middle of a vid under normal circumstances. However, this does not at all apply to a medical or other emergency. Members should feel free to leave immediately when necessary.(edit per this thread and others)
Members, particularly those concerned about causing a disruption or needing to leave the vidshow room, are also welcome to watch the vidshow in the con suite instead, which is lit and can be entered and left freely, and where normal conversation-level noise is expected. We ask that all members give priority over the con suite TV to any member who wishes to watch the current vidshow, since many vidshows are synchronized with subsequent panels or lead to immediate post-show discussion.(edit per amilyn's comment)
The concom will also do our best to address all other accessibility issues, whether visible or not. In particular members are encouraged to contact the concom about emotional triggers that may be hit while viewing vids. The VJs know and have seen all the vids in the vidshows in advance, even the premiering ones, so the concom can alert members to those vids which might be problematic for them. Please write to access@vividcon.com with questions and feel free to use an anonymous email address for any of these.
Vidders and VJs are further invited to provide general warnings about their vids and vidshows, either in the blurbs printed directly in the con program, or as additional sheets which will be made available in the con suite.
Extra notes about changes that don't go into the policy itself (eg form changes for next year):
On the warnings: I haven't made any edits yet to that section (except tweaking the order a tiny bit for flow). Tomorrow I am going to make a separate post specifically for the warnings discussion, to try and sum up some results of conversation and outline some hopefully useful alternatives to help focus discussion, and will then kick it over to the concom, who have the awesome fun of making the final call on all this.
Please use this post to make comments and suggestions on everything *else* in this draft!
And thank you to everyone for keeping things civil and productive! ♥
You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth (
comments)
At this point, it looks like we have a pretty good draft with consensus on virtually all of the accessibility policy except for the issue of warning for triggers in vids. To make it easier to continue conversation, here is the policy draft as it stands now, with all the previously posted edits in and a little bit of polishing.
If I have missed any threads or left stuff out that had reached consensus, please let me know!
VI. Accessibility Policy
Fundamentally, the concom wants to make the con work for anyone who wants to attend, and asks that any members with accessibility concerns that are not completely addressed here please contact access@vividcon.com before the con. Our goal in this policy is to offer a high level overview of the event space and answer some of the accessibility questions that might arise. Naturally, people's needs and accommodations will vary, so please contact us if you have questions in areas we have not covered here.
If for any reason a member can't contact the concom beforehand or finds there are unexpected difficulties at the con, the concom will try and address issues as they arise at the con itself as quickly as possible; any concom member can be asked for assistance.
If you wish to remain anonymous when discussing any of your accessibility concerns, please feel free to create an anonymous email account to write to the concom; you do not need to identify yourself, just say that you are an attending member and explain your needs. If a member does share their identity, it will be kept confidential except for those concom members who are working on any accommodations.
The access@vividcon.com address will be checked regularly leading up to and during the con so members can request help even while the con is ongoing, and all requests will be responded to as soon as possible.
About The Hotel Area
The hotel is about a five minute taxi ride from O'Hare Airport. (We strongly advise flying in to O'Hare rather than into Midway, which is much further away.) Wheelchair-accessible taxis can be ordered by calling Chicago Central Dispatch at 1-800-281-4466. More details are available at http://www.easyaccesschicago.org/transportation, which also has details for how to get discounted vouchers ($5 each way) for anyone who is a registered paratransit rider.
The hotel is located at 8101 West Higgins Road (link goes to Google Maps where you can zoom in to see more detail of the area). The hotel is on a busy four-lane road with no sidewalks on that side of the road, which unfortunately makes the grocery store, most of the nearby restaurants, and the nearby CTA station inaccessible. The hotel shuttle (which is not wheelchair-accessible) will sometimes be willing to provide a ride, but this is sporadic.
The hotel does have a fully accessible Outback Steak House, which offers gluten-free options, and the front desk will provide menus of local restaurants that deliver. The rooms come equipped with a fridge and microwave.
The hotel also has a small convenience store, and when it is closed, the front desk can also sell sundries including painkillers, antacids, menstrual supplies, toothbrushes and toothpaste, razors, and a limited selection of snacks and beverages. (edit per this thread)
In addition, if you need specific help (a ride, a grocery run etc), please let us know. While we cannot provide services directly, our convention is small and friendly and we will do our best to help you get the word out about your specific needs or point you to resources being organized by other attendees.
About The Hotel Rooms
The hotel has a smoke-free policy throughout and can provide hypoallergenic pillows on request.
The hotel's guest rooms generally have wheelchair-accessible front doors but not bathroom doors. Members with strength or mobility issues may want to avoid those on the second floor, as the guest room areas on this one floor are separated from the elevators and function space by heavy doors that do not open automatically. On the other floors, there are no such doors.
The hotel has some rooms classed as accessible which have a larger bathroom with handrails, an adjustable showerhead that can be hand-held, and a shower chair, some with a standard tub and others with a shower stall, and a light signal on the room door for the hearing-impaired. Room doors are not self-opening; you may want to bring a doorstop or the concom can provide one if notified in advance. If you ask, hotel staff will also move end tables out of your room to make more space for your equipment.
The hotel has public men's and women's restrooms near the event space which both have a wheelchair-accessible stall. While these restrooms are open to other hotel guests, historically the majority of people you encounter are fellow VVC members. We ask that all members use the bathroom they feel most comfortable using, and assume that any other members they encounter in the public bathrooms are doing the same.
For any members uncomfortable with using one of these public bathrooms under this policy, one possible alternative is requesting a room on the second floor (as long as the heavy doors are not a problem) or a room close to the elevators on another floor, or making private arrangements to use the bathroom of another con attendee who is staying in such a room. There are also unisex public bathrooms available on each of the guest room floors started with the third floor, located at one end of the hotel wing.
About The Con Space
Nearly all con events take place in the second floor function space in five meeting rooms that are in close proximity to one another and the hotel elevators. Here is a floorplan that may help in planning (click for larger size):
During the high crowding times of registration and Club Vivid (including the cocktail hour), tape will be put down to mark off a "mobility line" as seen on the floorplan. We ask that no members congregate below the mobility line, in order to keep a clear path open between the elevators, restrooms, con suite, and quiet hangout room. At these times, a volunteer will be on duty in the quiet hangout room to bring registration packets or drinks and snacks as available to any members sitting here.
A line usually forms in the second floor area for the first vidshow and the premieres vidshow. There can be crowding and a rush when the vidshow first opens. Any members for whom these conditions (edit per discussion in this thread and others) may be an issue can be let into the Premieres show and other major events early.
Each year we set aside dedicated seating space in the vidshow and panel rooms for our members with disabilities, including space for wheelchairs and scooters, based on the needs of that year's attending members. Because the number of people who use this space changes from year to year and because the seating layout may change between panels and vid shows, we appreciate advanced notice from members who know or think they might need space so that we can plan accordingly. Please let the concom know of your needs at access@vividcon.com.
The concom will be happy to describe the space in more detail for new attendees and to work out any accommodations you might need. If additional needs arise at the con, they will be addressed as quickly as possible.
Other Issues
All service animals are welcome at the hotel and the con.
Aides are welcome at the con, they just need to be over 18. The concom asks that any member who will have aides attending with them let the concom know in advance how many aides will be coming; special badges will be made up for them to ensure access throughout the con, and included in the member's registration packet.
Some large-print programs are printed up each year. If you let the concom know in advance that you want one, we will ensure that one is put in your membership pack; more copies will also be available on the reg table and in the con suite. Most of the information in the con program will also be posted on the con website starting Thursday after registration.
The con rents most of its audio/visual equipment from outside vendors and the configuration often changes from year to year. Any members with hearing limitations are asked to contact the concom as early as possible so we can provide a good solution.
All vidshows are available on videotape as soon as the show begins, and all of the hotel rooms come equipped with a VCR. Vidshow tapes can be signed out for viewing in the con suite or in private hotel rooms for full control over the viewing experience and/or more comfortable conditions. If alerted in advance, the concom can give priority access to the tapes of particular shows for members who are unable to see them "live". If you have brought a laptop or DVD player, you can also sign out the DVD copies of the vidshow as well.
Vividcon is an adult-only space and children are not appropriate in con spaces. The exception to this is that breastfeeding is welcome at the convention. Nursing moms are asked to be mindful of the quiet atmosphere preserved in the vidshow room and the adult environment of the con; we ask members to trust that a mom is best able to judge her infant's likelihood of causing a disruption.(edit per discussion in this thread and others)
The vidshow room is normally kept quiet and darkened in the style of a movie theater, and members are asked not to leave in the middle of a vid under normal circumstances. However, this does not at all apply to a medical or other emergency. Members should feel free to leave immediately when necessary.(edit per this thread and others)
Members, particularly those concerned about causing a disruption or needing to leave the vidshow room, are also welcome to watch the vidshow in the con suite instead, which is lit and can be entered and left freely, and where normal conversation-level noise is expected. We ask that all members give priority over the con suite TV to any member who wishes to watch the current vidshow, since many vidshows are synchronized with subsequent panels or lead to immediate post-show discussion.(edit per amilyn's comment)
The concom will also do our best to address all other accessibility issues, whether visible or not. In particular members are encouraged to contact the concom about emotional triggers that may be hit while viewing vids. The VJs know and have seen all the vids in the vidshows in advance, even the premiering ones, so the concom can alert members to those vids which might be problematic for them. Please write to access@vividcon.com with questions and feel free to use an anonymous email address for any of these.
Vidders and VJs are further invited to provide general warnings about their vids and vidshows, either in the blurbs printed directly in the con program, or as additional sheets which will be made available in the con suite.
Extra notes about changes that don't go into the policy itself (eg form changes for next year):
- The reg form next year will add the following options:
- I'd like to reserve dedicated seating space at the con
[] for the vidshow room
[] for the panel room
A staff member will get in touch about the best placement for your needs. - [] I'd like a large-print program.
- [] I have some other accessibility concerns
A staff member will be in touch shortly! (per this thread)
- I'd like to reserve dedicated seating space at the con
- The concom will put up a post on LJ/DW with screened comments and anonymous commenting allowed saying: "If you have any accessibility concerns about the con, please post a screened comment here with an email address where we can reach you, and we will get in touch."
On the warnings: I haven't made any edits yet to that section (except tweaking the order a tiny bit for flow). Tomorrow I am going to make a separate post specifically for the warnings discussion, to try and sum up some results of conversation and outline some hopefully useful alternatives to help focus discussion, and will then kick it over to the concom, who have the awesome fun of making the final call on all this.
Please use this post to make comments and suggestions on everything *else* in this draft!
And thank you to everyone for keeping things civil and productive! ♥
You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth (
comments)