I just appreciate the whole irony of this.

[mariness]

The Disability in Science Fiction panel at Worldcon/Lone Star Con did not have ramps to the stage. Because they knew I would be there (I use a wheelchair), they set up tables in front of the stage, so at least I could sit at the same level as the rest of the panelists. (At the Prose by Day, Poet by Night panel, which to be fair I was only added to about two hours before the panel started, I was on the floor and the other three panelists were on the stage.) The disability panel also did not have an ASL interpreter.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Oh my, that sounds infuriating. Did tables in front of the stage work in terms of you connecting with the audience?

This is in no way an excuse, but I know matching ramps to stages is a frustrating business—one WisCon a disability panel also didn't have ramps (but sasha_feather moved heaven & earth and a ramp was installed within ten minutes). The answer, of course, is to have ramps for all the stages and bypass the frustration.

[mariness]

The problem was that it was a large room and crowd; we did have mikes but it was hard for me to see people in the audience.

Honestly, though, for me it was more, you didn't get a ramp for the DISABILITY panel? I understood not having one for the Prose/Poets panel, especially since I was a last minute addition and since disability wasn't part of that discussion at all. That panel I thought we all connected to the (very small) audience.

[sasha_feather]

Yeah but World Con has way more money than we do... The entry price is 250 bucks!