Hi All,

There has been quite a bit of criticism of disability's role at the Diversity Conference, from people who were not actually there. 

I think it's very important to plan for accessible conferences and to incorporate insights from those who are disabled before and during conferences.  There is a great list of ideas for how to do this at http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/2011/08/29/accessible-conferences-where-to-start/

Some of what was done for the recent Diversity in Philosophy conference held at University of Dayton and co-sponsored by the APA included:
Consulting, from the outset, with a member of the APA inclusiveness committee familiar with and working on disability issues.
Inviting, from the outset, a disabled philosopher to arrange a panel on disability and advertising this invited panel from the outset.
Making it clear in the original call for abstracts that disability was one of the topics about which an abstract could be submitted. 
Arranging for American Sign Language interpreting for every session of the conference, breaks, and the banquet where such interpreting was needed.
Arranging for wheel-chair accessible transportation between room accommodations and the conference location.
Asking about accommodation needs of any sort as part of online registration and then making every requested accommodation.

All my best,

Peggy DesAutels

Professor
Department of Philosophy
University of Dayton
http://www.peggydesautels.com






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