Accessibility

Mischief Management strives to make LeakyCon accessible to anyone who wishes to be involved, whether they are attendees, vendors, volunteers, presenters, or media!

We do our best to shape our event space in a way that takes into account a variety of accessibility needs, from hearing impairments to mental health or even allergies. However, we cannot predict every individual's unique needs, so we offer several ways for all individuals in attendance to give us more information about their specific access needs:

For attendees, when registering, you will be asked if you have disabilities that will impact your time at the event, and if so, you will be prompted to tell us about what we can do to make your experience better.

Ahead of the event, we will send a form via email to everyone who will be in attendance which will ask for identifying information, offer a checklist of potential access needs (including space to fill in your own), and give space to expand more in writing.

If you would rather reach out proactively, we invite you to email us at help@leakycon.com or reach out to your specific point person if applicable.

We strongly encourage you to share your access needs with us in one of these ways so that we can work with you to customize your experience. Please see below for information regarding accommodations we currently have prepared for attendees who have any type of physical, mental health, or other disability needs.

AIDE PASS

If you are in need of individualized assistance, you may request an Aide badge for a family member or friend by emailing help@leakycon.com. Aide badges allow attendance to conference programming while in the service of a disabled individual, but do not allow access to any part of the event when not accompanied by this individual.

MOBILITY & PHYSICAL ACCESS NEEDS

There will be accessible seating designated at the front of every programming room, and in two separate areas in the MainStage. Front-row accessible seating in the MainStage is designated for attendees who need to be close to the front of the room due to a hearing or vision impairment, including individuals whose view may be obstructed due to height. All other individuals who benefit from reserved seating, need additional time to get to their seats, or cannot wait in lines will be able to sit in the second designated seating area.

In order to gain access to these seating areas, you will need to pick up a sticker from the Accessible Check-In booth or the Customer Service desk. This sticker will be used to demonstrate to any staff or volunteers that you have access to the space. You may bring one guest to sit inside this area with you. Your guest does not need a sticker.

SERVICE ANIMALS

Your service animals and certified support animals are welcome at LeakyCon while assisting you. Service animals must be harnessed, leashed, or tethered, unless these devices interfere with the service animal’s work, or the individual’s disability prevents using these devices. If that is the case, we require you maintain control of the animal through voice, signal, or other controls. Poisonous, venomous, and predatory creatures, including snakes, are not allowed, and neither are animals too big to be held, such as standard-sized horses.

VISION & AUDITORY CONCERNS

Upon request, individuals with vision- and hearing-related disabilities can receive stickers for their badges that provide access to front row seating.

Open captioning and/or sign language interpretation will be provided at select panels. If you have requests for programming to be open-captioned, please email help@leakycon.com as soon as possible. We will only be able to accommodate requests placed up until 3 weeks prior to the event. If you have any other hearing- or vision-related accommodations that you will be using during the event, we encourage you to let us know so we can prepare appropriately.

Please note that some programs may include flashing lights or smoke.

GENDER-NEUTRAL RESTROOMS

All restrooms in the event space at LeakyCon will be designated gender-neutral, though we are not able to modify pre-existing building signage. Single-gender restrooms are available in other parts of the building.

QUIET SPACE

A Quiet Room will be made available at LeakyCon 2023. You are welcome to use this space if you need a place to get away from the crowds for a bit of respite during the event. This room will not be staffed and you will not need to explain yourself or demonstrate need in any way in order to enter.

FIRST AIDE