Making events affordable

[sasha_feather]

Pursuant to my post about conferences, I've been thinking about how making events affordable is an access issue.

Making your event affordable attracts people of different classes and backgrounds and locations. It also makes your event more welcoming to disabled folks / PWD. People with disabilities are more likely to be poor for structural, societal reasons. Being disabled can affect a person's earning potential due to discrimination and impairment-related reasons; it also is just plain expensive. For me, for example: There are co-pays on prescriptions and doctor appointments; health services that are not covered by insurance; supplements to buy; expensive shoes that don't hurt my feet; the list goes on and on. For people on special diets, food can be more expensive. A 2008 study found gluten-free products to be much more expensive than their gluten-containing counterparts.

Worry about money is a near-constant source of stress for many people, and some studies link this stress to negative health effects.

If we are planning events, what can we do to help make them more affordable?

Here are some ideas:

Registration and Programming
Sliding scale registrations; day memberships
Member Assistance Fund or Scholarships
ConSuite (hospitality suite)
Free Childcare
Kid, Teen, Youth programming tracks at fan conventions so people can bring their kids
Rebates or refunds for volunteering or presenting

Lodging
List area hostels
Have a room share board on social media

Transportation
Provide cab vouchers and/or mass transit fees so people can get back to their lodging late at night
Have a ride share board
Choose a venue that is on bus or mass transit lines

Food
List local restaurants, grocery stores, and markets. Note if the markets accept food stamps. note if the grocery stores deliver.
Note if they hotel has fridges or microwaves in the rooms or lobby.

Miscellaneous
Look for grants and sponsorships to help off set costs.
Ask for donated items for prizes and gifts.

Comments

[heyfoureyes]

thank you for this list. you may feel it is going into the void, but i appreciate it and will consider it when i am planning events in the future.

[sasha_feather]

Thank you!

[davidgillon]

Good points. Cost is definitely an issue that hits disabled people hard. The UK disability charity Scope is running a campaign at the moment that estimates the average cost of being disabled at around £550 a month, call it c$900, and that's without the extra costs of meds etc the US system sticks disabled people with. (And I guess without cost of lost earnings - that would be £2.5-3k a month for me, probably £3.5-4k if they'd been paying me what I was worth)

You have some good thoughts in your list, others that occur to me: membership costs for people who need a personal aide/carer with them; and, talked about this on my LonCon report, the cost of hiring mobility equipment - eventually I got cheap wheelchair hire because LonCon arranged low cost hire, but at one point I was looking at hire doubling my costs to attend (and of course what goes for chairs and scooters also goes for accessible rooms).

[sasha_feather]

Excellent points, thank you. I would love it if conventions and conferences could subsidize the costs of renting scooters and wheelchairs-- a pie-in-the-sky dream for me. I understand why they can't but maybe we can work towards that goal.

[brainwane]

Just used this list as a source of ideas - did not link to you because I wasn't sure whether you wanted the attention.

[sasha_feather]

I'm replying to this super old comment to say that it's generally ok to link! I guess it depends on how much attention heh heh.