Table of Contents

Summary

Collective Access* is Built into the Annual Meeting

The AAA and CASCA are dedicated to making the 2023 AAA/CASCA Annual Meeting as accessible as possible. Accessibility benefits everyone- as a presenter, it expands your audience, ensures that as many participants as possible can meaningfully engage with all program content, and gets the message of your work out to many more valuable connections. As an attendee, these practices ensure an equitable and comfortable environment that can be fully experienced by as many people as possible.

These accessible practices will address auditory and visual access needs, as well as allow English as second language participants and many other diverse colleagues to engage fully with materials. One in five people need accessibility accommodations of some kind, and by creating a culture of collective access, we can expand the reach of our work and our audience to as many people as possible and allow for more rich and diverse participation and more seamless inclusion.

Creating an accessible meeting is an ongoing process that we are constantly working to improve. It may be imperfect at times, but we as an organization are committed to constant awareness and improvement in this area.

Accessible Practices across Environments include:

  1. ASL interpreting is provided during meeting plenary and non-compete events (i.e. Opening Ceremony, AAA Business Meeting, and Presidential Address) and is available to attendees who need them for the duration of the meeting in either in-person or virtual environments.
    1. Note: Please inform AAA if you need ASL interpreting for other sessions or events to ensure we fully meet your access needs. We will best be able to support your access needs if this request is submitted by Wednesday, October 4th, 2023.
  2. CART captioning is provided during meeting plenary and non-compete events (i.e. Opening Ceremony, AAA Business Meeting, and Presidential Address) and is available to AAA/CASCA attendees who need them for the duration of the meeting in either in-person or virtual environments.
    1. Note: Please inform AAA if you need CART captioning for other sessions or events to ensure we fully meet your access needs. We will best be able to support your access needs if this request is submitted by Wednesday, October 4th, 2023.
  3. French language live translation will be present this year plenary and non-compete events (i.e. Opening Keynote, CASCA Weaver-Tremblay Award and Address, and Presidential Address), and captioning and LSQ can be made available to attendees who need them for other sessions of the meeting. Please send us a request if you require French language accommodations.
  4. All presenters have been requested to provide visual descriptions, read slides where applicable, and speak slowly during their sessions. They are strongly encouraged and are expected to review and prepare their presentations and posters using the AAA/CASCA In-Person Presentation Accessibility Guidelines, Virtual Presentation Accessibility Guidelines, or Poster Preparation & Accessibility Guidelines as appropriate. Specific requirements are outlined for presenters on the Collective Access as a Presenter page.
  5. Screen reader-friendly versions of the program are available upon request. Please contact us to request your reader friendly program.
  6. Wheelchairs will be available for rent at the convention center, and power chairs upon request (details coming soon). Please inform AAA if you need a power chair before Wednesday, October 4th, 2023.
  7. There will be accessibility-designated rows of seating available in the meeting rooms. These rows will have a number of chairs removed for mobility assistive devices as well as seats that are reserved for individuals with accessibility needs, including but not limited to mobility, ASL signers, and CART users.
  8. There will be quiet rooms, prayer rooms, nursing parent rooms, and accessible bathrooms.
  9. We are a scent free meeting.
  10. Attendees are asked to refrain from taking pictures of people navigating the conference, or screenshots of presentations without explicit consent.
    1. Presenters who do not wish to have pictures taken of themselves during their sessions will include this information at the beginning of their presentations. AAA/CASCA requests attendees to respect the presenters and to not take pictures of either the presenters or their presentations if requested.
  11. If posting presentation content on social media following the explicit permission of the presenter, please provide content warnings where appropriate and credit the work of the presenter.
  12. When posting on social media, please avoid using derogatory language, which includes language expressing ableism, racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, xenophobia, etc.
  13. If you have a safety concern, please find and connect with a AAA/CASCA staff member, who will provide you further assistance, or complete this form.

* ‘Collective Access’ is a term that was coined by Mia Mingus and Sins Invalid and has been used in the disabled community since 2010. Collective Access is access that we intentionally create collectively, rather than individually. The goal is to create a culture where the norm is that accessibility needs are built into the fabric of an event, in this case the Annual Meeting, automatically, rather than having to be requested and individually and/or separately added on. This creates a space that is more seamlessly inclusive to more people with diverse needs. This is an ongoing process that we are constantly seeking to improve.