[Access] [Fwd: e-mail 3]

[uuRuth Ross]

Do you know what 'this morning's event' refers to?
moi

On Mar 21, 2008 , at 10:11, Cindy Pitcairn wrote:

>
>
> From: "Linda Anson" <lda at efn.org>
> Date: March 21, 2008  07:45:58 PDT
> To: "Cindy Pitcairn" <cindypitcairn at comcast.net>
> Subject: e-mail 3
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: ahohen at comcast.net
> To: Linda Anson
> Sent: Sunday, May 23, 2004 9:33 PM
> Subject: Re: Your advice and comments are invited
>
> Hi Linda;
>
> Thanks for your e mail! I thought this morning's event was pretty  
> amazing and must have taken an enormous amount of work to put  
> together.  So thank you for all your efforts.
>
> Re: the Shedd.  Like Cindy, we have been there before to a number  
> of performances. The venue is not ideal for people in wheelchairs.   
> We are usually relegated to the side aisle, which because  it's  
> completely under the balcony has really bad acoustics. We often  
> feel like we're missing alot. There's never any chance to sit in  
> the center section. I'm not sure that they are even aware that  
> there is a problem, so it would be great if you would bring it up  
> with them.
>
> Chris said that he wrote you a note this evening as well.
>
> In any case, thanks for caring as much as you do!
>
> Anne
>
>
>
>
>
> From: "Linda Anson" <lda at efn.org>
> Date: May 23, 2004  16:03:40 PDT
> To: "Alicia Hays and Adelka Shawn" <adelkashawn at yahoo.com>, "Cindy  
> Pitcairn" <lucindap at comcast.net>, "Chris Hohenemser"  
> <chohenemser at clarku.edu>, "Ann Hohenemser" <ahohen at comcast.net>,  
> "Martin Lewis (for Anne Marie Hayes)" <martinlewis at hotmail.com>,  
> "Evelyn McConnaughey" <evelynm at efn.org>
> Cc: "Carolyn Colbert" <ccspider1 at aol.com>, "John Wagner"  
> <jwagner at efn.org>, "Olga Turner" <o2turner at earthlink.net>, "Candee  
> Cole" <candeecole at uueugene.org>
> Subject: Your advice and comments are invited
>
>
> Thanks to feedback this morning from Alicia Hays and Adelka Shawn,  
> I realize some changes we can make at future events so that  
> wheelchair users are afforded the same sense of inclusion that non- 
> wheelchair users are afforded.  As one of the planners of this  
> morning’s Celebration Sunday service, I hoped everyone would have  
> feelings of belonging and celebration, and apologize that the entry  
> and seating options given wheelchair users at The Shedd  
> contributed, instead, to feelings of exclusion and anger.
>
> I asked Alicia and Adelka how we could better address access and  
> seating in the future, and intend to pass on their suggestions to  
> staff at The Shedd.  (We accepted The Shedd's access and seating  
> parameters without question, and would like to share with them what  
> we have learned in addition to doing a better job, ourselves, at  
> all church events.)  I invite and welcome your suggestions, too.
>
> One improvement would have been removing the first two or three  
> pews in the center section of the Concert Hall (in addition to on  
> the sides),  and furnishing moveable chairs next to open spaces so  
> that wheelchair users and their family and friends could sit  
> together.  (I thank Ann Hohenemser for her example of moving a  
> chair into the front row of a side section so as to seat herself  
> with Chris Hohenemser this morning.)
>
> Another suggestion was that everyone use the accessible entrance,  
> rather than separating those able to use stairs from those not, so  
> that name badges, greeters, and access to seating are easily  
> available to all, and so that wheelchair users and their friends  
> and family are not separated from other participants.
>
> Until it was pointed out to me, I had not realized the lack of  
> appeal of front-row seating for wheelchair users, nor anticipated  
> how ridiculously segregating and un-welcoming it is for wheelchair  
> users to not sit next to family and friends.  Neither had I  
> realized the rationale of setting up traffic patterns so that  
> everyone takes the accessible route instead of wheelchair users  
> making the adaptation of taking a different route than non- 
> wheelchair users.
>
> I apologize that my lack of foresight and insight, as well as  
> ignorance, resulted in  anyone’s experience of this morning’s  
> service being less celebrative than it could have been.  I thank  
> Alicia and Adelka very much for the perspective and suggestions  
> they went to the trouble to give me.
>
> I will pass their suggestions on to The Shedd staff tomorrow, and  
> ask others of you for your suggestions for The Shedd (we may be  
> back there again).  And if we use this opportunity to converse  
> (online, at least) how we may discontinue practices at our church  
> building that are exclusive AND how we may accommodate the physical  
> and social needs of wheelchair users and their families as well as  
> we accommodate those of non-wheelchair users, we’ll all be the  
> better for it.  Thank you, all.
>
> - Linda
>
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