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!
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.
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! 😷✨
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)!
@codeandsupply Small thing: it’s kind to people using screen readers to use camel case for hash tags. In this case: #PyConUs A screen reader will handle the camel case as distinct words instead of trying to pronounce the whole thing as a single word.
I enjoyed the diversity and inclusion panel at PyCon, and I especially appreciated the call for support at the end for the various groups they represented.
#PyLadies Berlin: https://berlin.pyladies.com
@pytexas: https://www.pytexas.org/sponsorship/friends/
#PyCon APAC: https://pycon.asia/
@apyb: https://apyb.python.org.br/
#PyLadies Ghana: https://linktr.ee/pyladiesghana