[Chicago] DjangoCon 2013 Chicago

[sheila miguez]

I sent Steve some email about that location, but it may have been lost
in the shuffle. I never heard back.

This location can cause accessibility issues. I went to Worldcon there
last year, and they did not do a good job accommodating people with
mobility problems. I want to make sure this never happens at any
conference I attend.

I'm not attending DjangoCon this year, but I'd like for someone to
pass on this information to the organizers. Whoever is planning the
room layout for the conference needs to take a lot of care with
respect to accessibility. Here are some of the accessibility problems
I observed at Worldcon:

1) people with mobility issues did not have enough time to get to the next talk
2) one of the rooms could only be accessed via steps
3) people cut in front of people in scooters and wheelchairs when
using the elevators
4) people harassed and mocked someone who used a scooter.

I think that 3 and 4 may not be a problem with DjangoCon attendees,
but 1 and 2 could be problems if organizers aren't aware of the
logistical problems that can arise due to this specific venue.
Worldcon had talks in rooms distributed over multiple floors in each
tower. The organizers should try to get a set of rooms on the same
floor and in the same tower. If not, they should be mindful to give
people enough time to walk between talks, as well as set up each room
such that people who have mobility issues can walk in the door and
have plenty of room in aisles to get to good places in the room.


On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 10:36 AM, Brian Moloney <brian at imagescape.com> wrote:
> DjangoConUS is in Chicago, September 2-5 at the Hyatt Regency on East
> Wacker.  More information to follow in the coming weeks.
>
> Brian
>
> On Sat, Mar 23, 2013 at 9:08 AM, Brian Ray <brianhray at gmail.com> wrote:
>> awesome
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>
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>
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> Brian J. Moloney
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-- 
sheila