On access policies, conventions, and sausages

by Yonmei

“There are two things you don’t want to let anyone see how you make, laws and sausages,” Leo McGarry says at some point in the West Wing.

Well, I don’t know how to make sausages.

Access policies generally begin by accident. A group of people organise an event. Someone who came (or wanted to come) had an unexpected amount of difficulty attending. The group take note and decide “oh, we’ll do that differently next time”. Eventually they decide to write it down. The result after some years is often confusing, badly arranged, and ineffective as a guideline for future actions.

Here’s what I discovered when taking one such set of time-accreted access policies and creating a standard set:

0. The Alpha and the Omega: The access policy is meant to make people feel welcome. Having an access policy is itself an access issue. Everything in the access policy should be written accordingly.

1. Use the discussions that went before, and the notes that were taken, and the resulting “policy” as a mine for data about what worked or didn’t work in the past. Use that mine for unrefined ore which you will not take out and show about in public. Yes, the discussions and results made sense at the time: yes, we were all people of goodwill and we meant well: but nonetheless, this is Leo McGarry’s rule brought to life: don’t.

2. Consider as a framework all the possible kinds of things that might prevent someone from coming to your event or make them feel unwelcome when they’re there. Discriminatory or offensive language; mobility issues; childcare issues; visual impairments; hearing impairments; dietary issues; travel costs; accommodation costs.

3. There are the things that can be done for free (or at trivial costs) and that will tend to improve the event for everyone regardless; there are the things that are worth doing providing people tell you when they book they’re going to use them: there are the things that are unaffordable. And there are the things you didn’t think of yet: and there are the things it is your legal obligation to do.

4. The things that are free/low cost should get done regardless – and, in a public access policy, say that’s what you do. (Print essential information in 14-point sans serif: mark off front-row seating for disabled-access: declare a “respect yourself and others at all times” policy on language: don’t serve alcohol at the event itself: tell the venue to provide vegetarian/vegan food options and to clearly label buffet dishes accordingly. These are things the organisation I work for has found we can do without cost to ourselves.)

5. The things that are worth doing if someone’s going to use them: ask people to specify their access needs when they book. Provide a field on the form for them to do so. Have someone whose job it is to check this and to get back to the person. (It is not worth trying to organise a wheat-free buffet for all for the sake of one coeliac, I say from personal experience, but it absolutely is worth making sure there are wheat-free cookies supplied with the tea and coffee so they have something to nibble on like everyone else, and that the venue has a clearly labelled wheat-free plate at each meal.)

6. Check local and national legislation and by-laws. If it’s your legal obligation to do it, you may as well make a virtue of necessity by declaring that you’re doing it as a matter of policy. It’s friendlier, it’s more open, and do you really want to come across as a group that’s only permitting certain people to be there because the law requires you let them be? (For example: it is unlawful, in the UK, to prevent a woman from breastfeeding her baby anywhere she has a legal right to be. It is unlawful, if someone needs a support person, to stop the support person from being with them.)

7. When it comes down to what costs money and what you can afford and what is possible given the venue, the size of the event, the time it would take to set something up: there are always going to be things that would be helpful that you just can’t afford to do. And that is the most awkward part of an access policy. But see zero, the alpha and the omega; if you’re not doing it because you can’t afford to, say upfront that’s why and you’re really sorry. If you’re not doing it because venue logistics don’t permit, well, say so and apologise. If you’re not doing it because you don’t wanna, see point zero and grow up.

8. Say on the policy that there will be clearly-identifiable volunteers at the event whose job it is to figure out solutions to access needs that didn’t come up in advance. And have those volunteers. Make sure they know who to ask at the venue (and the venue staff know them) if there’s something that can be done. Because nobody can think of everything. But you can always make sure someone is there to be helpful.

9. Remember rule zero.

Anyone want to link to/suggest fan access policies that in their view get it right?

- More blogging by Yonmei at http://yonmei.insanejournal.com

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