AWP wishes to bring to our members’ attention initiatives that are part of our annual review of accessibility services at the annual conference. 

Accessibility Consultant & Survey

After consulting with peer nonprofits who oversee large conventions, AWP contracted with Cindy Kauffman to provide an independent assessment of AWP’s accessibility accommodations and policies at the conference. Cindy comes to AWP with over forty years of accessibility expertise at the state, federal, and nonprofit levels. She is currently the Director of Strategic Operations for SEEC (Seeking Equality, Empowerment, and Community for People with Developmental Disabilities), though she has previously worked for the American Association on Intellectual Development Disabilities, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for the State of Maryland, Developmental Disabilities Services for the District of Columbia, and at the Kennedy Krieger Institute.

Cindy’s assessment started in June, and will conclude in March of 2018; it will include a review of AWP’s policies and procedures in relation to the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as well as a focus group of disabled attendees and a town hall meeting about accessibility to be held at the 2018 Tampa conference. Cindy has studied the various discussions about the conference and accessibility, including a review of articles that our stakeholders wrote about the issue. From those concerns, and from the concerns of those who have contacted us directly, she is currently conducting a survey about disabled attendees’ experience at the conference. The survey results will be used to improve services in anticipation of the Tampa and future conferences.

Accessibility Demographic Data

We have added a question about disability to the set of demographic questions asked of conference participants, which also include questions about professional designation, race, gender, and age. We hope to use this question to gather better data about the number of disabled participants at the conference, and we will release these statistics when a representative sample is achieved.

Providing AWP with this information, like all the other demographic information we request, is optional. Our categories for statistics are based on those of the US Census. AWP will never divulge any one person’s responses. We will only publish the statistics in the aggregate, by group or category.

We encourage all AWP members and conference attendees to participate. Please help us gather more complete data to help us continue to improve the conference. To do so, log into your AWP user account, click on “My AWP Account” at the top of the page, then click on “My Conference Participant Information” in the left navigational column.

#AWP17 Post-Conference Survey Responses & Inclusion

We received numerous responses from the 2017 DC post-conference survey suggesting that the conference has become too large, and AWP allows too many events at the conference. Though we regularly utilize some of the largest convention centers in the country, we are still only able to accept around 40% of the total event proposals we receive. The AWP Board of Trustees and staff will continue to produce a conference that is as inclusive as possible. The AWP conference now includes 2,000 presenters, 550 events, and 12,000 attendees. It provides more opportunities for more writers than any literary conference, but the proposal system is still a very competitive process. We believe the current scope of the conference strikes the best balance between inclusion and good, selective literary programming. Writers should also keep in mind that their publishers are best served by the conference’s ability to provide their bookfair exhibits with the largest possible audience. 

We also received numerous complaints that some conference attendees interfered with the accessibility needs of other attendees. We hope that all our members will help remedy these issues.

One of the ways this happened was with regards to a protest that took place in the bookfair, which blocked and hindered the free-range of movement for individuals with physical or sensory disabilities. AWP respects the need for our members to protest during these troubling times, but we also must ensure the safety, access, and comfort of all attendees, particularly our members and attendees with disabilities. For this reason, you must first attain AWP’s permission to conduct protests in the meeting spaces of the conference. Any individual or group who holds protests without permission may be prevented from attending the conference in future years. Please help to ensure that all attendees may enjoy equal access to bookfair exhibits and meeting rooms.

There were also reports from disabled attendees about presenters who did not use the microphones, who did not repeat questions during Q&A sessions, or who failed to provide large-font handouts for printed materials in accordance with the Presenter Guidelines. These actions restricted the ability for attendees with vision and hearing impairments to participate.

Additionally, some event spaces that hosted disabled presenters were assigned stages in error and without corresponding ramps. This was done inadvertently through miscommunication among AWP conference staff and convention center staff. We are truly sorry for the inconveniences and concerns this created.

AWP realizes that we need to continue to do a better job of making all attendees and presenters aware of the accessibility needs of their conference peers. We wish it was possible to provide proctors for all events to ensure compliance with the Presenter Guidelines, but unfortunately, we do not have the staff or the resources to do so for 550 events and 2,000 presenters. We have plans to increase efforts to remind presenters of their responsibilities, and we invite all attendees to give more thought to how they can help make the conference more welcoming to everyone.

Updated 2018 Accessibility Policy

The Conference Accessibility Services Policy has been updated for the 2018 Tampa conference. This policy is the result of years of research into accessibility best practices for large conferences, and contains important revisions and additions over previous iterations. We invite anyone who has questions about accessibility at the conference to review this document. AWP can best meet requests for accessibility services when they are submitted by Wednesday, February 7, 2018 to Colleen Cable at events@awpwriter.org. AWP will make every effort to accommodate requests that arrive after February 7.

These updates include an expanded explanation of how the responsibility for accessibility services is shared between the convention center, hotels, and AWP. The explanation addresses requests that all exterior doors be unlocked and that extra seating be provided in long hallways. Venue protocols that restrict access to some exterior doors for all attendees, or that prevent the ability for additional seating in communal areas, are fairly common and established for everyone’s security and safety. In many cases, additional seating would create barriers in violation of the American with Disability Act (ADA) because they prevent access for individuals who are blind or sight impaired.

While all of the convention centers and hotels AWP utilizes abide by the ADA, this updated policy reflects our effort to better explain how accessible entrances and communal areas are maintained. AWP does not have the ability to alter the architecture, fire codes, and security plans of a convention center or hotel. Approval for changes to the meeting spaces is at the discretion of the venue and its local government. However, AWP always makes requests for alterations known to the convention centers and hotels, as we will again for the Tampa conference.  

As the conference travels from year to year, each convention center is going to present varying challenges with regards to producing an event that meets the needs of the largest number of attendees. Moving the conference around the country helps create a more inclusive event by providing easier access for those who can only attend when the conference is near their home, including some disabled attendees. AWP will continue to request additions and changes to the conference venues to help improve access, as we have many times over the past several years, but some venues are going to allow more alterations than others depending on the layout of the facility and their own policies.

We are earnest about accessibility as an important part of inclusion, and are sorry for the mistakes we have made. By providing better explanations about how space within convention centers and hotels are utilized and maintained, as well as our work with Cindy Kauffman, we hope to create better communication and the best accommodations possible.