Marian Vessels Director, Mid-Atlantic ADA Center

1. Marian VesselsDirector, Mid-Atlantic ADA Center Ensuring Inclusion: Accessible Conference and Meeting Planning

2. Accessible Conferences • Maximize attendance and participation through assessment, planning, and preparation • Sites and facilities • Transportation • Communication

3. Sites and Facilities

4. Location, location, location! • Choosing accessible sites and facilities • Ask the venue staff (hotel, convention center, etc.) • Ask the locals (people with disabilities, disability organizations) • Check it out yourself • Get professional help (consultants)

5. Think globally … • Assess the community, not just the facility • Navigating the surrounding area • “Walkable”? • Sidewalks, street crossings, etc. • Restaurants, attractions, shops, etc. • Service animal relief areas • Local transportation options

6. Local transportation • How will people get to the conference facility or around the community? • Public transit (city bus systems, streetcars, subway systems, etc.) • Private transportation (taxi companies, airport or hotel shuttles , etc.) Are these systems accessible??

7. Accessible transportation • Accessible communications • Stop announcements • Route/destination information • Accessible practices • Non-discrimination (e.g. stowing mobility devices) • Reasonable modifications (e.g. service animals, boarding assistance)

8. Accessible vehicles • Rail: one car per train • “Street” systems (e.g. city bus, shuttle service van) • Most systems, public or private, must have accessible vehicles or ensure equivalent service • Private transportation provider running only automobiles (e.g. taxi company) does not have to acquire accessible vehicles • Stations, terminals, stops! • If you can’t get to it, you can’t get on it

9. Equivalent transportation service • Hours, days of operation • Response time • Service area • Fares, etc. EXAMPLE: Hotel with inaccessible shuttle van contracts with local company to provide lift-equipped van when needed; service must be equivalent to what is available to other guests

10. Check it out! • Use the right checklist • Use the right tools • Invest in good quality, basic tools • Tape measure, level • Use them the right way • Follow the checklist instructions

11. Checklists: Hotels • Accessibility Checklist for Hotels (BluePath) • ADA Checklist for New Lodging Facilities (Department of Justice) • Readily Achievable Self-Evaluation Checklist (from Accommodating All Guests: the ADA and the Lodging Industry by John Salmen, AIA)

12. Checklist: Big Daddy • ADAAG Checklist • Organized by sections which can be used in various combinations or as supplements to more basic checklists • Includes sections on spaces and elements not always found or addressed in detail in other checklists, for example … • Assembly areas, including those with fixed seating • Bus stops • Transit terminals and stations

13. Checklist: Little Guy • Readily Achievable Checklist for Existing Business Facilities (Department of Justice) • Short, easy • Can be used at any type of facility • Addresses only basic spaces and elements • Parking • Entrance • Public restrooms, etc.

14. 2010 ADA Standards • New 2010 ADA Design Standards will be required for use on March 15, 2012 (can be used now)

15. New facility standards • 2010 Standards include many additions, for example … • Kitchens and kitchenettes • Laundry machines • Saunas and steam rooms • Exercise machines • Swimming pools and spas • Golf courses • Playgrounds • Boating and fishing facilities

16. Revised facility standards • 2010 ADA Standards also include many revisions to current standards, for example … • Parking • Toilet facilities • Assembly areas • Transient lodging guest rooms

17. Accessible Guest Room: EXAMPLE

19. Hotels: Reservation Policies and Practices

20. Hotel policies and procedures • New ADA regulations, effective March 15, 2012, establish new requirements for places of lodging to facilitate people with disabilities making reservations for accessible rooms …

21. Hotel reservation practices: #1 • Enable individuals with disabilities to make reservations during the same times and in the same manner as others • By telephone • In person • Through third parties

22. Hotel reservation practices: #2 • Identify and describe accessible features of hotel and guest rooms in enough detail that an individual with a disability can independently assess whether the facility meets his/her needs

23. Hotel reservation practices: #3 • Hold back accessible guest rooms until all other rooms of that type have been rented

24. Hotel reservation practices: #4 • Reserve accessible guest rooms and remove them from the reservation system to eliminate double-booking

25. Hotel reservation practices: #5 • Guarantee and hold specific rooms reserved by individuals with disabilities, regardless of whether specific rooms are held for others

26. Communication

27. Be proactive • Establish non-discrimination, equal opportunity policy and include in conference promotions and materials • Establish and publish a reasonable deadline for participants to make requests that will require individualized response • Remember presenters, speakers, and guests

28. Be prepared • To establish a reasonable deadline, and to respond effectively to requests, you will need to learn about the resources and procedures available to obtain various goods and services • Interpreters or CART providers • Assistive listening devices (if not already available at conference facility) • Braille or audio-recording services

29. What you can do • Design and create materials to be as accessible and user-friendly as possible • Brochures and promotional materials • Registration materials • Conference programs, maps, handouts, etc. • Temporary signs • Web sites

30. Print communication • Simple, easy-to-read fonts • Good contrast between text and background • Non-glare finish • Uncluttered designs … will be more user-friendly for everyone

31. Electronic communication • Electronic materials are not “automatically” accessible • Web sites, electronic files on CDs or flash drives, etc. must be designed to be accessible, especially for people using computer screen-readers (assistive technology that converts text to mechanized speech)

32. Accessible electronic communication • Alt tags (simple text descriptions) on images and graphics • Description for video • Captions for audio • Meaningful hyperlink text (Mid-Atlantic ADA Center, not click here or www.adainfo.org) • Consistent, meaningful styles (heading 1, heading 2, etc.) • Simple tables

33. “Insist and assist” • Insist that your sub-contractors, trainers, and speakers follow guidelines and meet deadlines to ensure accessibility • Assist and support them • Presentation practices and tips • Designing, producing accessible materials

35. Putting It All Together

36. Train the trainers • Train event staff • Disability awareness • People-first language • Offering assistance • How to communicate effectively • Working with interpreters, CART providers • Accessible presentation practices • Not an option!

37. Set-up • Accessible routes, accessible counter and table heights, reachable self-serve items • Displays and booths • Registration and information areas • Refreshment and food service stations • Tables and seating • Integrated wheelchair seating options

38. Temporary fixes • Temporary accessible parking spaces • Temporary signage • Portable ramps • Prop open heavy doors • Place detectable warning objects

39. Tax Incentives • Tax credit for small businesses (30 or fewer employees OR $1 million or less revenue) • Up to $5,000 to offset costs of hiring interpreters, producing accessible materials (Braille, etc.), removing structural barriers in existing buildings • Tax deduction for businesses of any size • Up to $15,000 for removing barriers in buildings or vehicles

40. Resources • ADA National Network Hospitality Initiative • www.ADAhospitality.org • 1-800-949-4232 V/TTY • U.S. Department of Justice • www.ada.gov • 1-800-514-0301 V • 1-800-514-o383 TTY • U.S. Access Board • http://access-board.gov • 1-800-872-2253 V • 1-800-993-2822 TTY