1. Inspiring story, where did you quote it from? kbdfgddffkde

2. Please forward this to Robert Brotherus as soon as possible. He is going to be a speaker at a conference which is unprofessionally arranged and he should have a chance to do something about it, if he so wishes.

   Regarding the (first?) Rationalist International Conference, April 23 – 24 in Tallinn, Estonia
   rationalistconference.com

   Most of the things discussed here it is probably too late to fix for this year’s conference, but if the same people are arranging other conferences in the future, thinking about these things well ahead of time will be useful.

   1) The conference offers no channel for anonymous feedback. This is a mistake. If someone has a lot of criticism, however constructive, they may not want to use their own name. It was questionable for quite some time if you would get to see this message at all.

   2) The conference has no Code of Conduct or equivalent. Google says: “Your search – site:rationalistconference.com conduct OR harassment OR safety OR discrimination – did not match any documents.”

   Why is one needed? John Scalzi (that really pale and somewhat rotund balding guy with a funny beard and all those Hugo and Nebula awards and nominations) explains: whatever.scalzi.com/2013/07/02/my-new-convention-harassment-policy/

   1,161 people to date have cosigned Scalzi’s policy. Fairly certainly at least some of them are atheists and/or skeptics: whatever.scalzi.com/2013/07/03/my-convention-harassment-policy-co-sign-thread/

   2) The conference offers no discount for students, pensioners, unemployed people, people doing their military or civil service (compulsory for men in Finland) or similar groups. The only discount (around 10%) is based on if one is “activist, member or associate of any Rationalist, Freethought, Humanist, Atheist, Secular Humanist, Skeptic or similar group”.

   Fairly certainly the intent was not to send the message “Young adults, old people or poor people are not welcome” but unfortunately that message still got sent in practice.

   When one of your speakers is (in)famous for a video like this, it is not believable that sponsors for lower prices for e.g. students could not be found:
   abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread824598/pg1

   3) The conference gives no accessibility information. The hotel’s website only mentions wheelchairs, which does no good for people with sensory disabilities or dangerous allergies. Again the intent likely was not to send the message “Deaf, blind or allergic people or people with medical diets are not welcome” but unfortunately that message still got sent in practice.

   Some more detail (this does not cover everything, but gives a glimpse into the kinds of things that need to be considered):

   Google says: “Your search – site:rationalistconference.com accessibility OR disability OR blind OR hearing OR wheelchair OR allergy OR diet – did not match any documents.”

   Travel tips on the conference website says: “walkable distance” – and if one cannot walk? Three additional sentences would be needed, one about buses (the information already exists on the hotel’s site: sokoshotels.fi/en/tallinn/sokos-hotel-viru/transport-port), one about taxis and one about how to get a taxi that can accommodate a wheelchair or service animal.

   Hotel pages say: “Accessibility – A wheelchair or a pram is not an obstacle when moving around our hotel. As assured by the Estonian Union of Persons with Mobility Impairment, access is ensured everywhere and there are also special hotel rooms for disabled persons.”

   Google says: “Your search – site:sokoshotels.fi Telecoil OR T-coil OR hearing – did not match any documents.”

   What is the point of paying and taking the time to come to a conference if one cannot be sure of hearing what the presenters say? Sign language interpretation is likely not useful at a truly international conference like this one, because the various national sign languages differ from each other. Making sure you get good quality video+audio of every presentation will help in making the presentations accessible afterwards at least, as long as transcripts are added.

   Google says: “Your search – site:sokoshotels.fi “service animal” OR “service dog” – did not match any documents.”

   The statement “pets are welcome” on the hotel’s website is not enough, because e.g. a blind person’s dog in many cases needs to be with them all the time. So statements would be needed about if a service animal is allowed into the hotel’s restaurants and bars or into the conference rooms.

   Search site:sokoshotels.fi allergy OR diet gives:
   sokoshotels.fi/en/about-us/allergy-label
   “Six years of development have resulted in improved indoor air in hotel rooms and changes in the interior decoration and cleaning material used. Currently, 30 Sokos Hotels have received the (allergy) label and the goal of the chain is that all its hotels in Finland would gain the right to use it.”

   = no information about Estonia

   Question: how does the hotel balance the needs of people with service animals and pets vs. people with animal allergies?

   4) For future reference, a few commentarys, checklists and other resources for better overall conference accessibility:

   youtube.com/watch?v=8ptGi5lY368
   hayleyisaghost.co.uk/what-about-us-invisibility-and-why-enough-is-enough/
   chrishofstader.com/the-invisible-blind-man/
   atheismplus.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4799#p83495
   shop.bsigroup.com/en/ProductDetail/?pid=000000000030180388

   Yours sincerely,

   Tirië Onyavessë

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