Accessibility Services at General Assembly
In developing events for General Assembly (GA), the Planning Committee holds as an ideal the concept of Universal Design, seeking to make GA events usable to the greatest extent possible by everyone, regardless of their age, ability, or status in life.
We also recognize that some General Assembly participants may have disabilities that are not apparent. Such “hidden” disabilities include: traumatic brain injury, some effects of chemo therapy, heart ailments, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, epilepsy, fibromyalgia, many mental health conditions, and others.
Even though they may not appear disabled, some people are more affected by fatigue than others. General Assembly can be a fatiguing experience for anyone. Even if you are someone who doesn't usually use mobility or other assistive equipment, you might really be helped by the available services (see below).
The General Assembly Accessibility Services team works with the GA Planning Committee, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) administration, and GA attendees to coordinate services and accommodations for members of the GA Community, and to seek out opportunities to raise awareness around inclusion and accessibility.
The GA Accessibilities Service Committee will make every effort to provide you with assistive equipment to enable or enhance your GA experience.
An Accessibility Services Coordinator will be available before and during GA to provide information and coordinate assistance to individuals with special needs (mobility, hearing, vision). This includes arranging for wheelchair rentals and sign language interpreters, if used.
Requesting Accessibility Equipment and Services
Please use the Accessibility equipment and services online request form (available here March 1) to request assistive equipment and services during General Assembly.
Persons requesting rental equipment will be asked to contribute a minimum amount up to the actual cost. Services available include, but are not limited to:
- Electric Scooter
- Electric Wheelchair
- Manual Wheelchair
- Walker
- Cane
- Mobility orientation for visual impairment
- ASL interpretation (some events)
- Captioning (some events)
- FM receiver system
- Braille program
- CD text file of GA Program for screen reader
- PockeTalker
Persons with vision, hearing, mobility impairment or other special needs will find information about various kinds of assistance and accessibility at the Accessibility Table in the Phoenix Convention Center.
Local Accessibility Information
If you have trouble reading the print in the Program Book or Business Agenda, you may purchase a page magnifier for $2 at the Accessibilities Services table in the convention center. While supplies last; one per person, please.
As always, you may call the General Assembly Office at (617) 948-4209 or email gahousing@uua.org for clarification or assistance with any questions you may have.
Reserving Accessible Housing
Those in need of accessible hotel accommodations will be making their reservation using the same housing reservations system as all other GA attendees. In the past, we waited until all requests for accessible rooms were in before matching available ADA rooms to the level of each person’s needs. This led to unfavorably lengthy delays between making a request and receiving a hotel confirmation. While this new system will provide prompt confirmations, it also favors a first come, first served model. Please know that GA staff will be monitoring all reservations made with ADA requests to make sure that as many people as possible get a hotel room that is appropriate to their level of need.
Instructions for Reserving an ADA Room
- Go to the online housing reservation form. You will see a section to fill out called “Choose Guest Type.”
- Select “ADA Accessible” from the drop down menu. Fill out the rest of the information. Click on “Search” to continue.
- The online system will list the hotels that have available rooms. Click “Select” to see the various room types. To see more about a room you can click on “description” here. Select an appropriate room, depending on whether you need a king, double/double, a tub or a roll-in shower.
- If you want any additional assistive devices such as grab bars or a raised toilet seat, please note that in the “Additional Requests” section after you enter your address information.
- Please request what you require. Keep in mind that roll-in showers are always in short supply and high demand. Requesting at your level of need and not beyond will allow more people to participate in General Assembly.
This work is made possible by the generosity of individual donors. Please consider making a donation today.
Last updated on Sunday, January 8, 2012.
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