Originally written by Buzz Harris

What worked:
The Braille Pocket Program was very well-done this year. Thanks to Paul Selkirk for his help in getting the text to our outside Braille vendor, Jennco Productions, in a timely fashion. Jennco did a great and very timely job.

There were also plenty of well-done copies of the Large Print Pocket Program this year, as usual. An FYI - Large Print should be at least an 18-point, sans serif font (Verdana and Arial are good examples). I know that if you look up large print on the web it will say at least 14-point, but I can tell you from working with low vision people at the Perkins School for the Blind that the real answer is at least 18-point.

Challenges:
There were requests for a PDA-compatible version of the publications this year, and I did not have them. In years past Skip, Ben, and perhaps others have created these. I would suggest that Accessibility take this on formally in the future.

We might want to provide info on scooter rentals for people that need them. We could even set up links on our website for people to click through.

We did nothing to accommodate hearing-impaired people at the con this year, as far as I am aware. I would like to strongly suggest at least two things on this score.

One, could all events that take place in the Main Tent and other large space please set aside an area near the front and (if possible) near an exit for people with mild to moderate hearing, and vision deficits.

Please also set aside spots on the ends of the rows in these areas for people with scooters, wheelchairs, canes, etc. Think about where handicapped parking spots tend to be located, and use that as a model. I would be happy to work with Events, Masquerade, and Programming on this next year.

Two, I hereby hop up and down and make a loud fuss over Arisia dropping ASL interpretation services for the third year in a row! I am happy to arrange for interpreters. I am happy to see about getting a lower cost by seeing if the ASL Interpreting program at Northeastern Univ. will make us part of their field learning for their interpreters-in-training. I am happy to make the service known among the deaf community, who have mostly given up on local SF cons paying any attention to the desire of deaf fen to attend. I would be happy to be happy about this as opposed to cranky. Take me up on my offer to help.

Dealers Row has proven to be a real challenge for the mobility-impaired in this hotel. Getting up and down the halls on the third floor and getting into and around the rooms is, at best, very hard. I know that a Dealers Room in this hotel is very unlikely, and I understand and support the decision to have only a Dealers Row. We do, though, need to sit down and think of ways to make the Row an area of the con that some elders and the disabled can attend.

Some suggestions based on my observations.

1. Keep large 3-D publicity items (like the Giant Robot and tripod stands) out of the hallways. Placing these at the very end of hallways might work, if there are dealers desperate in their hearts to have them. When they are in an already-narrow hall, though, they are major obstacles to people with wheelchairs, scooters, walkers, and canes. Get them out.
2. Setting up the door of a dealers room as a counter, which one or two did, and thereby generating a big crowd around the door also creates a major mobility obstacle. Please let people come into the rooms to avoid this.
3. Thanks to Security for their efforts to keep knots of people from blocking the halls and making it impossible for any of us, mobility-impaired or not, to get around. Please keep this good work up, and we know that this will be an issue every year. Perhaps some signage to remind people of this might also be useful?
4. Getting the beds and other large furniture out of the dealers rooms would go far to making them easier to access. I know from phi's report that this was an issue for other reasons this year. Please add accessibility to the list of reasons why this is important.
5. It would be very helpful if the Dealers Liaison could make the dealers aware that there will be people in scooters and with walkers and canes, etc. who want to patronize them. In order to get their money, they have to be able to get into the room and look around. Please ask them to take this into account when they design their set-up. I know that this is challenging.

   Please, though, at least ask them to keep this in mind as one of the issues that they consider when they are setting up.

Last, I have an easy suggestion that applies to Registration and Publications/Web. Can we please add a small section to the registration form that asks people if they need Braille, Large Print, and (if available) ASL interpretation? This will serve two purposes. First, it will make the wider community aware that we have these things, which many people do not know right now. Second, it will tell Publications and other parts of the con about how many copies of things that need to be produced and avoid spending money to make more than we need.

Whatever services we offer, we should place the appropriate little disability access bugs on the website and in a prominent place in our fliers and other ads. I can easily provide the icons for services that we decide to offer.