There were very few people with a visible disability at SCaLE this time.
I know a couple of participants who are interested is disability issues,
and I suspect there may be many others. I would like to see more focus
on giving handicapped or disabled people access to the internet via open
source, so I intend to help do some "outreach" during this year. I had
a very good time.
The handicapped parking was adequate, but could be overloaded if there
were to be a high attendance by wheelchair toting special vehicles.
Such an overload (if it were to occur) could be averted if invitations
asked people to indicate their special needs. I have seen hotels put up
temporary signs for handicapped parking, when necessary. People who
need high ceiling clearance or extra wide spaces could be asked to
notify the hotel in advance; and such participants could be requested to
leave the large spaces open if one can get by in a low ceiling or
regular width parking space.
I did not thoroughly research the hotel guest room accommodations for
handicap access. Hotel food vendors do not always consider allergies
and special diet. I saw an employee change the water bottle and load
ice, and consequently I would not drink it. Restroom (for men) did
stink, for apparent lack of adequate air conditioning. The restroom
doors were a bit heavy to open; pressure could be adjusted, if
maintenance staff bothers to do it. The hands free water faucets in
the restroom were good, although not all were adjusted for comfortable
temperature. Apart from things which could be improved, there were no
major problems.
Some of the SCaLE 7 speakers were very awkward or quite bashful. I do
appreciate the fact they are volunteers who are intelligent people. One
might try to team them up with some other person who is willing to
support the speaker with an outline and prompting; some prompting was
spontaneously done from the audience.
There is an event coming (March 16 through 20) near LAX. California
State University at Northridge (CSUN) which has an exhibit of technical
devices and services to help disabled people. There is a lot of overlap
with computers and software. Some people would probably find the
creative ideas interesting. It may be a good contact for a few open
source people. I did meet 1 blind person who was using OS for internet
access, albeit with difficulty. I do not expect institutional liaison
between CSUN and SCaLE, but on a person-to-person basis there could be
some common interests.
I know at least 1 SCaLE presenter who was diagnosed at having
"attention deficit disorder (ADD)" and I suspect there are many such
people who can excel in OS technology. Beside that, at CSUN one may
bump into people like inventors Dean Kaman, or Ray Kurzweil.
