Barrier-Free Meetings: How To Make Your Event All-Inclusive
Author: Carolyn Koenig
October 2008
Features
As a meeting professional, you’ve likely dealt with accessibility challenges for one or several attendees at your various functions.
Imagine, then, the experience of Bally’s hotel in Las Vegas, which annually hosts a Guide Dogs of America convention with more than 200 attendees—plus their service dogs. The planning...the signage...the outdoor space needed for these wonderful animals to run, relax and, well, take care of their bodily functions.
“We do a good business with Guide Dogs of America,” says Don Ross, vice president of catering, conventions and events for Las Vegas Meetings By Harrah’s Entertainment, the umbrella organization for Bally’s. In addition to providing water bowls and wastebaskets, Bally’s “re-sods a whole area behind the hotel for the dogs when [the group] comes to the property, then we re-sod it again after they leave,” he says.
Barriers for full attendee participation and benefit are often equated with wheelchairs, but they can also relate to vision, hearing, dietary restrictions and allergies, among other considerations. Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 guarantees equal access to functions held in places of public accommodation. But, says Laurel Van Horn, research director for Open Doors Organization, a Chicago-based nonprofit, “the extent to which this mandate is actually met rests squarely in the hands of the meeting planner.”
The issue here is both awareness of the challenges and knowledge of possible solutions. “But meeting planners are a group I know,” Van Horn says. “They’re very detail oriented. If they learn the basics about access and the resources available out there, they can [do what] they need to do.”
The approach is holistic—looking at the big picture with an empathetic perspective—then zeroing in on the details. Following are some planning tips from industry experts; see also our resource sidebar on page 37 to help you make your next event the kind of accessible function you need it to be.
BEFORE THE MEETING
Make sure the property and guest rooms are ADA-compliant.. For instance, says Elaine Hoffman, general manager of the Santa Fe Hilton, “Do they have roll-in showers and grab bars [in the guest rooms], ramps, accessible parking and easy accessibility to sleeping rooms, restaurants and meeting/banquet rooms?” Are there areas that aren’t accessible? Is there a safety/security and evacuation process program in place, in case of fire or natural disaster?
Physical access “goes beyond asking the hotel if they are ADA-compliant,” says Lisa Dyson, CMP, director of conference services for TE-SOL, the professional association for English language educators.
Other considerations are “simple things like lowering some of the registration or help desks to allow a person in a wheelchair to reach them; making sure there is space in the back of each room, no matter what the room set is, to be accessible to those in wheelchairs; and making sure there are ramps or elevators into each meeting space you are using.”
Include accessibility information in your marketing materials. Your brochures and other collateral should note this information, such as TTY availability, etc.
Assure that your hotel or event website is accessible. People with disabilities are big Internet users, Van Horn says. But, she says, “You can find out if there’s an iron or a coffeemaker in a guest room, but not how many rooms are accessible and what they offer.”
Distribute your e-mails in text-only formats. Pdf attachments (and pdf downloads from your website) should be compatible with accessible soft-ware programs.
Survey your attendees prior to the meeting regarding any mobility or hearing challenges, dietary restrictions and allergies. Include the in-formation with your detailed rooming list and in your discussions with the banquet manager or chef. “No request is a big deal as long as you know about it in advance,” Ross says.
Ensure you provide the right type of assistance. Provide signage in Braille, for example, and be sure to inform your guests. And, “If you know you need hearing interpreters, make sure you hire the correct kind. In our case, we need American Sign Language Interpreters,” Dyson says.
Sensitivity training. “Sensitivity training is key for all hotel personnel, and the meeting planner should ask if this is part of the team members’ training,” says Hoffman, of the Santa Fe Hilton. If a guest is in a wheelchair, says Wilson Prado, director of group sales for Sheraton Univer-sal in Los Angeles, “a staff person should come around and sit down, to be on the same eye level.” He also advises that hotel staff should check to see how self-sufficient the guest may be, as some guests might not require—or desire—additional attention.
DURING THE MEETING
Have an assistance mechanism or plan. Provide a phone number for attendees to contact a staff member when necessary. Make sure your hearing interpreters are where they are supposed to be during the meeting (and at check-in), Dyson says. And if there’s a visual presentation, have someone read it aloud. (You should let your speakers know ahead of time who’s in the audience, Van Horn suggests.)
Follow-up with attendees with special needs during the event. Check to see if their needs are being met, and if not, what can be done to cor-rect the situation.
Work with the hotel or venue on dietary and food-service issues. Ideally, all preferences, such as vegetarian, vegan and kosher, and allergies are known ahead of time. But, last-minute changes may be required, say, if a person with a peanut allergy can’t even sit at a table where they’re pre-sent. Larger hotels, like Bally’s, have a special hot cart geared up for menu swaps, Ross says, and staff are on their hand-held radios to the kitchen at all times. If you’re serving buffet meals, provide staff to help with food service to those whose vision is impaired.
AFTER THE MEETING
Communicate, communicate, communicate. Just as you would review and assess other types of meeting results, connect with the hotel and your at-tendees regarding their experience. Talk to the property about issues that arose in meal choices, access to meeting facilities with ramps and accessible (or not) public restrooms near the meeting rooms. Survey your attendees to see what worked and what didn’t, so you can improve in the future.
The hospital industry has invested more awareness (and funding) into ADA-compliance over the past decade; in fact, according to a recent survey commissioned by the Open Doors Organization, overall satisfaction with hotels has increased since 2002.
But there’s more to be done—from addressing physical and service-related obstacles to communication obstacles. For a meeting to be truly successful, Van Horn says, “it must accommodate the needs of all attendees.”
North Carolina Office on Disability and Health/Center for Universal Design
Removing Barriers: Planning Meetings that are Accessible to All Participants (PDF)
www.fpg.unc.edu/~ncodh/pdfs/rbmeetingguide.pdf
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Section 504 Programs and Activities Accessibility Handbook
www.fcc.gov/cgb/dro/504/504_handbook.pdf
National Assistive Technology Technical Assistance Partnership (NATTAP)
Arranging Accessible Meetings
www.resna.org/taproject/library/bulletins/tapaug.html
New York State Department of Health
How to Plan Events that Everybody Can Attend
www.health.state.nv.us/nysdoh/promo/events.htm
Canadian Abilities Foundation
See Through Barriers: Making Conferences & Events Accessible to People Who Are Blind
http://e-bility.com/articles/feb00.shtml
Association of Science and Technology Centers
Accessible Best Practices (resources for accessible science centers, museums, exhibits, displays, presentations, tours, and meetings)
www.astc.org/resource/access/best.htm
Education Resources Information Center/Office of Special Education Programs
Planning Accessible Conferences and Meetings:
An ERIC/OSEP Information Brief for Conference Planners
www.hoagiesgifted.org/eric/e735.html
Information about ordering A Guide to Planning Accessible Meetings, which is a very comprehensive guide, as well as a companion checklist and guidelines for speakers (scroll to find)
www.jik.com/resource.html
An on-line tutorial on planning accessible meetings is posted at
www.section508.gov
Click on the link to “508 Training”, then the link to “REGISTER”, where you will need to enter a user name and password to access the tutorials in the “508 Universe.” Once you have entered the system, you will see on the left side of the page a link labeled “508 Training Courses” under the heading “My 508 Universe.” Follow this link to find a list of the courses, including “Accessible Conferences.”
http://www.adainfo.org/hospitality/planning-accessible-meetings.doc
— Open Doors Organization
PUTTING PEOPLE FIRST
Using disability-friendly language is easy—just use the “people first” rule. (It’s more than PC; it’s common courtesy and respectful.)
Do Say:
person with a disability, or has a disability, people with disabilities
non-disabled, able-bodied
uses wheelchair, uses assistive device; i.e., wheelchair, crutches, walker, etc.
person with a physical disability
person who is deaf, hard of hearing
person who is blind, has low vision
has a speech disability, unable to speak
birth irregularity, congenital disability, birth injury
person with an intellectual, cognitive, developmental disability
person with epilepsy, seizure disorder
person with psychiatric disability
Don’t Say:
the disabled, handicapped, physically challenged, differently abled
normal or healthy
wheelchair bound, confined to a wheelchair
crippled, lame, deformed, invalid, gimp
the deaf, hearing impaired, deaf mute
the blind, blind people, visually impaired
has a speech defect, is dumb
birth defect, birth affliction, or deformed
stupid, retard, slow, birth defect, mentally deficient, mentally challenged
epileptic, has fits, spastic
crazy, nuts, loony
— Open Doors Organization
