Guest Post by Mari Cheney, Associate Director of Research and Instruction
Boley Law Library, Lewis & Clark Law School
I had the immense honor of attending this year’s annual meeting in Boston using RIPS-SIS’s new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Grant. I had to miss last year’s meeting in Denver due to COVID and I was both excited and apprehensive about attending my first big conference since the pandemic started. As someone who is hard of hearing and has multiple chronic conditions that make in-person conferences difficult, I was cautiously optimistic that this could be a successful conference. The pandemic brought many unexpected positive outcomes for someone like me: closed captioning at many online events, hybrid options so people could choose to attend in person or virtually, and perhaps best of all, at virtual-only and hybrid events, I no longer have to remind people to “USE THE MICROPHONE.” I was hopeful that conference planners had learned from these virtual and hybrid events to make in-person events as accessible as possible.
Takeaway Number 1: Microphones are still not the norm
While I was glad microphones were available for the main educational programming events I attended, mics were completely absent at both the SIS roundtable and SIS-sponsored event I attended in the conference center and hotel. Microphones should be mandatory for all educational offerings, whether they are roundtables or not. Hearing-impaired people should not be excluded from these events because audio equipment is expensive. And a reminder for the people who think their voices are loud enough for the room to hear: they aren’t. USE THE MICROPHONE.
Takeaway Number 2: Seating needs to be added to the exhibit hall
In addition to my hearing impairment, I have a chronic condition that requires me to sit down as soon as possible to administer medications when experiencing a flare. While visiting the exhibit hall, I was acutely aware that if I had a flare, I would likely have to ask a vendor to borrow a chair to sit down because seating around the exhibit hall is not the norm. People with difficulties walking or using crutches or walkers would also benefit from places to rest. I’ve been a law librarian long enough to remember when Chapters and SISs had tables in the exhibit hall and I wonder if these were reintroduced throughout the exhibit hall with additional chairs for members, this would help alleviate this issue.
Takeaway Number 3: It’s lonely in the front
This year, there was reserved seating in the front of some of the rooms for people with disabilities. When I sat at one of the tables, I was by myself until I asked a friend to join me. I felt awkward sitting by myself with an entire room full of people behind me but I needed to sit near the front so I could ensure I could hear the speakers. While I respect the conference organizer’s decision to reserve spaces for disabled people, I would also suggest that if you see a disabled person sitting alone, ask if they’d like you to sit with them. When we talk about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, the inclusive part often gets missed. This is an opportunity for everyone to make all attendees feel included.
Post-conference, I hope AALL continues to make improvements to serve the needs of disabled people when considering its educational offerings, whether in-person or online. While their Coffee Chats are held on Zoom, which uses AI-generated closed captioning, Go To Meeting, AALL’s webinar platform, has cumbersome captioning that requires a separate link and separate window to view the captions. In my opinion, Zoom should be adopted for all educational offerings by AALL even if it is more expensive as it meets the needs of more members.
If you’re disabled and attended the AALL conference this year, I’d love to hear your thoughts; what went well and what didn’t? You can reach me at maricheney@lclark.edu.
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