Seeking Crowd Wisdom

[jesse_the_k]

...to help us spread the word about speaking up.

One of the goals of this year's WisCon access endeavor is to improve the con's experience for members with hearing impairments. We're supplying more mics for the panels. We reserve spaces front and center (marked with blue tape) which are handy for people who are speech reading.

But the crucial element is cooperation from all the members. I've come up with a wordy and sober statement. I'd love it if the collective wisdom could make this more succinct, more powerful, more impressive, more funny ... it just needs a whole lot of "more":

 begin quote 
It's important for all panelists to use the mics when provided, without hesitation, shyness, or complaint. What we say is interesting enough for the people without hearing impairments. If we don't use the mics, we're effectively preventing members with hearing impairments from participating. Since members in the audience don't have mics, we ask panelists to wait until the moderator has repeated the question before responding.
 quote ends 

Ideas? Thoughts?

Comments

[anjak_j]

It's important for all panelists to use the mics when provided, without hesitation, shyness, or complaint.

I would probably rephrase this as:

"We request that you please use the provided microphones to make the panel experience inclusive of all members of the audience."

You don't want to put people who have anxiety issues under pressure or at a disadvantage in trying to help those who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing.

Which brings me nicely to the use of the descriptor 'hearing impairment'. This can be considered quite offensive by people who are part of the Deaf Community. Deaf/Hard of Hearing are preferred terms.

Kudos to you for making the con experience more inclusive. As someone who is HoH, I've had problems in the past, and it is nice to see a con addressing inclusiveness of the Deaf Community.

[redbird]

Nitpick, but "we request that you please $anything" seems formal and bureaucratic; I'd make it "Please use the microphones to make the panel experience inclusive of all members of the audience" (or possible "of the convention," given what someone said about panelists with hearing issues.