Accessibility and Inclusion
December 21, 2023
Since the
return of in-person conferences, NCTM has been actively focused on making our
events more accessible and inclusive. We appreciate those who have taken the time
to share their observations, concerns, and ideas on how we can continue to
improve and address the specific needs of all attendees. In response to your
suggestions, we made changes for this year’s meeting in Washington, DC based on
feedback received after the 2022 Annual Meeting in Los Angeles. We plan to make
additional changes in response to comments made after the Annual Meeting in
Washington in October. We include our Accessibility
and Inclusion policies and practices in all NCTM conference materials.
Some
changes made after 2022 Annual Meeting feedback:
- Renaming
of Lactation Room
- Making
accessibility and inclusion information on conference website more visible
- Providing
live ASL interpreters for the Opening Session, Closing Session, and Iris Carl
Equity Address rather than only if requested as with the other sessions
- Encouraging
speakers to use microphones and provide captioning on presentation slides
- Work
with conference facility personnel to ensure that gender-neutral restrooms
aren’t located far away from conference areas
Additional
changes being made after 2023 Annual Meeting feedback:
- Work
with conference AV technicians and staff to make sure they can help speakers
enable captioning
- Provide
a Quiet Room for those who need it
- Add
a tile to conference app indicating availability of gender-neutral restrooms
and lactation rooms
- Provide
ribbons for participants to share their pronouns more visibly than on their
name badges
- Increase
the number of affinity groups and provide them spaces to meet
- Request
that the conference food venues list ingredients
- In
addition to the existing [email protected], an [email protected] email address has been created for
attendees to share needs
In
addition to following best practices, the NCTM Conference Services staff have
been attending conferences of other education professional organizations, in
part to see how they approach accessibility and inclusion.
Thanks
again for helping the Council and the mathematics education community grow in
our knowledge of how to develop and present events that are more accessible and
inclusive. We are committed to continually growing and learning.
Kevin Dykema
NCTM President
@kdykema