What happens when you mandate masks at a conference now that most people no longer wear them but medically vulnerable people are still at risk because #CovidIsNotOver? In the case of #PyConUS, the conference sells out.
Why a masking policy? “Many of us and our fellow community members can’t attend without health and safety guidelines in place. We want PyCon US to be an event that everyone feels safe attending,” organizers explained.
Well done @pycon https://fosstodon.org/@pycon/112445571644276379
Another #PyConUS accessibility thing that is *HUGE* but never seen as an accessibility thing:
SIGNAGE.
Having signs outside talks saying what talk was next, having signs directing you towards lunch or checkin, etc, is a big deal.
For anxious people, or people who have rejection sensitivity, or people who have social-related trauma, knowing the door you are about to open is the right door is a big deal.
PyConUS did pretty good here!
Why do I wear my mask at #PyConUs? TL;DR… kindness 💖
Why does mask == kindness? We have beloved folx in our community that have very serious reasons to not get sick. Some of us have immune disorders. Some of us have respiratory disease. Some of us have people @ home that we need to protect & if we get sick it means stress & isolation when we return.
It's not just COVID. Our faces are disease cannons and most of those diseases are equally sucky.
So join me in kindness and keep that mask on! 😷✨
Okay y'all showed out!!
Yesterday I ask about 3000 folks at #pyconUS (In-person and virtual) along with folks on social media. 200 of y'all rose to the occasion and donated making us smash our hopeful goal for the first day of the event.
That funding will continue to support our initiatives - https://blackpythondevs.com/initiatives/.
That goal always day one and y'all did it! Day two we're continuing the push.
Let's we add $4000 as our goal today to help support Black Python Devs.
The #PyConUS keynote today by @simonw is one of the most impressive and important talks I've ever seen. (Up there with K Lars Lohn's 2016 keynote).
I absolutely had to post this photo:
Yesterday was a cane day, and at #PyConUS the lack of seating in the main corridor was really noticeable - folks were sitting on the floor, and even the few benches had no back support.
But shout out to the organizers: they clearly noticed too, and they've added a ton of chairs and small tables to the main corridor. Huge accessibility improvement.
Here's the code for the AI counter app I used in my #PyConUS keynote today - it uses vosk and pyaudio to listen through the microphone and increment a visible Tkinter counter any time it detects "AI" or "Artificial Intelligence" https://github.com/simonw/count-ai
Prompts I used to write it are here: https://chatgpt.com/share/58f2352d-1f17-495b-94f1-4eb44cd574b9
Amazing our first cohort of recipients for #PyLadies Standing Award! We have Jessica Abigail and Maya!!!!!
These women were part of the the first #PyLadies keynotes
These women shift move and destroy barriers and make space. We are HUMBLED they do the things they do.
If you’re at #PyConUS, and you’re neurodivergent, I’ve scheduled an open space at 10:00 (well, just after the main session finishes, so probably more like 10:10 or however it takes to walk across the huge convention center) in 321 (the room furthest from the action, as best suited for neurodivergent folk!).
There’s no agenda, we’ll just get to meet with each other, exchange some contact info if desired, and talk (or type or whatever!).
I hope to see neurodivergent folk tomorrow (Saturday)!