[Access] notes from the Co-ordinating council meeting

[Mary Otten]

Hi folks,
i attended that meeting this morning, as did Mariah.   There is
definite interest in our check-list, including some specific numbers
that will ensure that power wheel-chairs can be accommodated. It was
mentioned that having somebody who uses a wheel-chair go on site visits
is a good idea, but there are ADA numbers as well, so I think it would
be good to get specific on the check list and include such numbers,
e.g. as pertains to bath-room access and meeting set up, aisles, row
spacing etc.  Sue Craig mentioned her concern specificaly with regard
to the upcoming service auction. she wants to make sure that they set
things up so that folks who use power chairs will be able to move
around. Since I doubt the check list will be finalized by the time of
the auction, it might be a nice idea if Cindy and Sue could get
together via e-mail or telephone or whatever to discuss that aspect of
things specifically as they relate to this event.  There is also
interest in having our check-list put together with Candee-s list about
how to get child care, since lack of child care is also an
accessibility barrier, albeit of a different sort than what we deal
with directly.

At the meeting, there was discussion about the committee clusters idea,
and there was talk of putting us into the social justice cluster.
further work is going to be done on this whole topic; a
subcommittee./task force has been formed to do that work.  I can't
recall who volunteered for it, but I know Ken and Mariah are on this
list, and I'm sure one or both of them will be able to fill in. So if
anyone has definite ideas about this topic, contact one of the members
of that subcommittee and make your wishes known. I know one of the
folks is Sarah Hendrickson.  

We also talked about the issue of when its preferable to hold a meeting
at church and when off site is ok, and I made the points that we
discussed at our last meeting, emphasizing that we were not trying to
dump guilt trips on people, but that we did expect that meetings where
anybody might be expected to come should be held at church, and that
off site locations of such meetings should be chosen with accessibility
in mind. and there was some discussion as to just what that meant. I
hope I got the idea across that the bottom line is that, a: we
recognize that its not always going to be possible to hold all open
meetings at church; b: its not always going to be possible to have off
site locations be 100% comfortably accessible; but c: it is essential
that we try to make that happen, and that people know that the best
effort was made to make it so. Its a lot easier to take "no" for an
answer if you really feel like best efforts were expended.  

If Ken or Mariah want to add anythingh to my summary of acces-related
CC topics, please feel free to speak up.

mary