The Event Service Professionals Association (ESPA) launched its “Project Access: Accessible Meetings FAQs,” downloadable resource form that planners can utilize when reaching out to hotels, convention centers, CVBs and other destinations and venues. The form is free to members and nonmembers.
Some sample questions provided by ESPA include:
- How do people using wheelchairs get from the airport to hotels?
- Does you convention center have an emergency Epi-Pen? And someone who can use it?
- Does the front desk have a check-in area low enough for someone in a wheelchair?
According to ESPA, the document consists of checklists designed sequentially, from a guest’s arrival at a destination airport, to ground transportation, lodging, meeting venues and off-site venues.
A task force of ESPA members and accessibility advocates collaborated on the project including:
- Denise Suttle, CMP, Albuquerque CVB.
- Suzanne Seder, CMP, Tampa Convention Center.
- Jennifer Dellinger, Colorado Springs CVB.
- Brenda Wasnok, CMP, CTA, Visit Anaheim.
- David Raymond, Westin Charlotte.
“Accessibility is key to every attendee fully experiencing the benefits of an event,” said Denise Suttle, CMP, assistant director of convention services at Visit Albuquerque and ESPA’s immediate past president who chaired the Project Access initiative. “Our ESPA members regularly field questions from meeting planners about access. This new tool will help venues and destinations evaluate their own accessibility and will make event planners’ search for resources easier. Having the resources readily available will help [planners] with site selection."
A document review panel consisted of frequent Meetings Today contributor Joan Eisenstodt of Eisenstodt Associates, LLC, Gwen Davis, formerly with Paralyzed Veterans of America, Bob Desautels, CMP, formerly with the Indianapolis CVB and Vanessa Kane, CMP, Veterans of Foreign Wars.
“If [this resource] is used, it has the possibility of immense impact for anyone with disabilities,” Eisenstodt said. “The biggest issue is first raising awareness that in any group or with any traveler, there are bound to be people who have disabilities—including those who were injured just before arriving.”
The toolkit is available for download to ESPA members, who can access on the members-only My ESPA Portal on ESPAonline.org, and to non-members, who can email info@espaonline.org to receive a copy.
