Accessibility in the Pyle Center
ACCESS GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTERS AND PARTICIPANTS FOR THE WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES CONSORTIUM CONFERENCE 2025
“There is a good feeling after and while you are experiencing access intimacy. It is a freeing, light, loving feeling. It brings the people who are a part of it closer; it builds and deepens connection.” Mia Mingus, Access Intimacy: The Missing Link
The WGSC Conference is committed to ensuring accessibility for everyone interested in learning, presenting, and being in community with one another at our spring conference. We continue to make changes to improve the user experience for everyone and apply the relevant accessibility standards. Please read the following information carefully, as it will assist us in caring for one another during our time together in April.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact: Stephanie Rytilahti, director of the WGSC and conference co-chair, srrytilahti@wisc.edu,
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PRONOUN RIBBONS
This conference is committed to fostering an equitable and inclusive environment for people of all identities. How you choose to identify in terms of gender, race, socioeconomic status, dis/ability, sexuality, religion, and other aspects of your identity is your choice, and you may choose to disclose or not disclose. We provide pronoun ribbons for participants who wish to make their pronouns visible to others. We will have they/them/theirs; she/her/hers; he/him/his; and an option for attendees to write in their own pronouns.
Pronoun ribbons are located at the registration desk on the first floor of the Pyle Center.
BATHROOMS
A gender-neutral bathroom is a bathroom that anyone of any gender can use. The Pyle Center has multi-occupant gender-neutral bathrooms, which are also ADA compliant, on the second and third floors with clear signage.
Gendered bathrooms that are also ADA compliant are also located on all floors, also with clear signage.
FRAGRANCE FREE SPACE
This is a fragrance-free event. For the health and safety of facilitators and participants, please come fragrance-free to this event. That means not having any scented products on your body, hair, or clothes.
Learn more about fragrance-free events from the Fragrance-Free Femme of Color Genius resource and Rachel Rose’s Beginner’s Guide to Fragrance and Chemical Sensitivities.
If you are able, please take a moment to wash off any scented products in the restroom. The Pyle Center restrooms are equipped with fragrance-free soap. Our art workshops include VOC-free products.
PHYSICAL ACCESS
All floors of the Pyle Center are accessible by stairs and by elevator. There is a ramp-accessible front entrance to the Pyle Center on Langdon Street. Once you enter, the elevator is just to the right of the front information desk. There are ADA compliant restrooms located on each floor. The first row of the Alumni Lounge (location for all keynotes and plenaries) is reserved for wheelchair users, and all aisles are ADA compliant.
LACTATION ROOMS
There is a designated private space to pump at the Pyle Center. The room is equipped with a lock for privacy, chair, table, and outlet. The key is available at the front desk of the Pyle Center.
The lactation room is a separate, lockable room within the 3rd floor women’s restroom (the women’s restroom closest to the main staircase).
FOOD AND REFRESHMENTS
For all conference-related meals and snacks, the Pyle Center catering team will provide vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free options. However, there will also be food options available that contain animal products, gluten, and nuts.
A morning snack and coffee will be provided from 8:30am-10:30am each day for all conference attendees in the AT&T Lounge. Light food and refreshments will be available on Thursday, April 10, from 3:30pm-5:30pm, and on Friday, April 11, from 2:30pm-4:30pm, in the AT&T lounge. For guests who included lunch in their registration, food will be onsite in the lower level of the Pyle Center in the Wisconsin Idea Room.
SERVICE ANIMALS
Per University of Wisconsin-Madison’s service animal policy, service animals are welcome in all spaces of the Pyle Center.
TRANSPORTATION
If an ADA compliant transportation option is needed, Union Cab (608) 242-2000 has ADA compliant taxis that are designed for users of wheelchairs or other mobility devices. Union Cab appreciates advanced notice if a customer needs an ADA compliant taxi, particularly in very late or very early hours of the day.
For public transportation options, Madison Metro Bus has accessibility information. Bus fares must be purchased with exact change. Adult fare cap prices for a single ride is $2 with a maximum of $5 per day. Reduced fare cap price for a single ride is $1 with a maximum of $2.50 per day. More information about pricing can be found at Metro Transit City of Madison.
PARKING
The closest hourly parking lot is the State Street Campus Garage, a municipal parking ramp about two blocks from the Pyle Center.
Drivers with State of Wisconsin disabled permits or DIS and VET plates may park in the City of Madison’s parking stalls. In the State Street Capital garage, handicap parking is also available next to the elevator on every level.
SEATING
There will be reserved spaces for wheelchair users and seating for companions at all events.
In the concurrent sessions, there will be lecture chairs with arms that are 25″ wide and 20″ front to back, as well as armless desk chairs. In the dining room and Alumni Lounge (for keynotes and plenaries), the chairs are armless and 17″ wide and 19″ front to back.
OPEN CAPTIONING, ASL INTERPRETATION, AUDIO DESCRIPTION, TOUCH TOURS, ASSISTED LISTENING SYSTEM, NOTE-TAKER
All keynotes and plenaries will have CART captioning provided by the McBurney Disability Center.
ASL interpretation, audio descriptions, touch tours, assisted listening systems, and note-takers are available upon request via the conference registration page or by reaching out to Stephanie Rytilahti, Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Consortium and Conference Co-Chair, at srrytilahti@wisc.edu or (608) 262-3056.
CHILD CARE
This conference is unable to offer licensed childcare in the Pyle Center. Children are welcome to attend all public talks, individual sessions, and other conference events with a primary caregiver.
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GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR ALL PRESENTERS
- Provide self-visual descriptions as part of your introduction (describe yourself and background). For an example, Disability Pride Madison does so from the 2021 WGSC Conference.
- Present at a comfortable pace that makes accurate ASL interpretation possible.
- When asking questions during Q&A, speakers should identify themselves so audience members know who is speaking. Also, make sure to repeat the question asked before answering it.
- Only one person should speak at a time.
- Presenters should plan to bring five copies of their papers, even if it is in draft form, for the use of attendees who wish to follow the written text. Presenters who use handouts should prepare some copies in a large-print format (sans-serif font, 16-point type size). Presenters should indicate whether they want their papers and handouts returned.
- When speaking, position your face at an angle that allows participants to read your lips. Avoid speaking while facing away from the audience or while looking down at papers or screens.
- Please describe any PowerPoints or other visuals.
- If you are planning on showing video during your presentation, caption/subtitle your video or have transcripts available.
- Consider making it possible for attendees to obtain an electronic version that allows for type size adjustments or use of text readers (creating audio from written text).
ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES FOR PRESENTERS
- Speakers and moderators should always verbally repeat questions or statements made by the audience (whether spoken or in the chat).
- Provide an access document containing a script of your talk or a list of common nouns (proper nouns especially) that occur in it. Emeritus Professor of English and Gender and Women’s Studies at UW-Madison, Dr. Ellen Samuels provides an example of an access document for her own presentation.
- Make sure all activities are accessible to all bodies. Be prepared with modifications if necessary.
IF INCORPORATING SLIDES INTO YOUR PRESENTATIONS
- Provide audio description of visual images, slides, charts, and videos. The University of Colorado Boulder‘s Digital Accessibility Office provides guidance on spoken descriptions of visual content.
- Use a high-contrast color scheme (e.g. white background, black text, or the reverse).
- Use a templated slide format.
- Use a sans-serif font, such as Arial, and maintain a large font size. A list of sans-serif fonts for guidance.
- Provide minimal text on each slide.
- Provide audio description of visual images, slides, charts, and videos.
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Covid Resources
We are mindful of the continuing possibility of the spread of Covid at events such as these, and want to make participants feel safe in their choice to join us.
The Pyle Center is equipped with MERV8 hospital grade filtration.
We will be offering outdoor dining spaces (weather permitting)
N95 are recommended and available at the registration desk. N95 masks will be required for Dr. Mimi Khúc’s keynote on Friday.