[Chicago] DjangoCon 2013 Chicago

[sheila miguez]

No worries, from what I experienced, the facilities weren't
inaccessible. The problems arose due to the schedule being too tight
for people to be able to get to other talks and due to some people not
being aware that they need to allow extra time for people to get on
the elevators, etc.

With respect to the rude people I saw, I think that the work people
have been doing to try and make conferences more welcoming will help
with making everyone more mindful that they shouldn't  take over
someone's scooter. I was too stunned to do much for the person getting
mocked when she came to reclaim her scooter from them. I'm glad she
had a friend or two with her. I had to get advice from friends on how
to handle situations in the future. It takes practice for me to be
able to interrupt people when something awkward is going on.

Anyway, rude people aside, I think conference organizers could design
affordances in to the physical layout of rooms and in the time slots
such that things will naturally fall in to place so that everyone will
be able to get to places on time. And if everything is flowing
smoothly, then there is less stress in the air and people will also be
nicer.

I searched around online for accessibility recommendations for
conferences. If anyone here is involved in planning djangocon, I would
like to pass the information along. To be honest, I am not the best
ally since I have only basic info, but sharing some basic 101 level of
suggestions is maybe a good starting point. If we are lucky, someone
with more knowledge can provide information for the organizers.



On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 11:15 PM, Randy Baxley <randy7771026 at gmail.com> wrote:
> As a former 547 pound person and a former Pride mobility technician this is
> atrocious behavior.  I may stop by between now and the conference just to
> get a feel for the palce then toddle down to city hall if I do not like what
> I see.
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 26, 2013 at 11:12 AM, sheila miguez <shekay at pobox.com> wrote:
>>
>> 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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>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > --
>> > Brian J. Moloney
>> > Managing Partner
>> >
>> > Imaginary Landscape, LLC
>> > Web Design | Development | Strategy
>> > (877) 275-9144 toll free
>> >
>> > http://imagescape.com
>> > http://chicagodjango.com
>> > http://twitter.com/Brian_Moloney
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Chicago mailing list
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>> > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/chicago
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> sheila
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>
>
>
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-- 
sheila