95th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting

January 04 - 08, 2015

Town Hall Meeting: Accessibility for People with Disabilities

The AMS membership includes individuals who have physical limitations, such as blindness or vision impairment, hearing loss or limited hand use or mobility. Individuals with disabilities have a great deal to contribute to our field and desire to participate. Making meetings accessible to people with disabilities not only encourages inclusion, but it also brings forth diverse perspectives, effective partnerships, and enhanced opportunities for all participants. We would like to propose a town-hall meeting to commence a discussion on the topic of making AMS meetings fully accessible to people with disabilities. The session will serve as a platform to address accessibility barriers and needs of participants with disabilities. We intend to invite a few speakers and engage the AMS membership on a panel discussion on this topic. We hope to explore answers to questions like why is it important to fully engage people with disabilities, what is the role of AMS in this engagement, how can AMS meetings be made accessible, etc. This discussion, the first of its kind at the AMS Annual Meeting, will serve as a guide to plan accessible AMS events in the future. We will summarize the discussions in a follow-up report that will form the basis of further action on this topic.