On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 3:22 PM, Bill Zuke wzuke@lafn.org wrote:
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
My friends and I stayed in a room that was handicap accessible. It easily had an additional 150-200 sq ft of additional space compared to the regular 2 bed room. Shower was equiped so that a wheelchair could roll right into it. Closet had low and high hangers. The entire room was very accessible. Space between the beds was noticeably large, etc..
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
The ground floor was pretty nasty, but the conference room level was considerably nicer and I noticed the doors were easier to open. I slammed it open the first time expecting it to be heavier
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.
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