Gallifrey One is a safe and welcoming place for fans of all ages, shapes, sizes and walks of life. As such, we like to ensure that our convention provides as much access to our events and functions as possible, including for our attendees who may have mobility or communication issues. Here is what you can find at Gallifrey One:
Accessibility at Member Services
For 2020 and going forward, we invite you to check in at Member Services. The Member Services desk is located right in the center of the convention floor next to the elevators, staffed by fantastic people who can answer your questions and assist you with your needs.
Member Services is the place to register for assistance and let us know if you have any special needs, such as reserved seating or communications concerns. The hours of operation for Member Services will be posted closer to the convention.
Assisting the Member Services team will be a small, dedicated group of Accessibility Services individuals who will work out of the Member Services unit. Our Accessibility team will be wearing blue vests so you can easily find them.
Reserved Seating
Gallifrey One can provide a limited amount of reserved seating in all of our program rooms, to accommodate our visually impaired, hard-of-hearing and mobility challenged visitors. The seats are clearly marked and available on a first-come first-served basis.
In our main auditorium, these reserved seats are located at the very front of the hall off to the left side. Main auditorium (Program A) seating is open daily at 9:30am and the reserved seats are open at that time. For our visitors with specific requests for seating, we ask that you please let our Accessibility Services department know as soon as possible so that we can do our best to accommodate you.
For our Friday and Saturday night showcase events in Program A, we do things a bit differently. Program A is closed for a short period in the evenings while we reset the rooms. Lines develop in the main foyer for these events. However, those attendees who have spoken with Accessibility Services will be able to gather in a separate location, at our “Access Point” in the hallway immediately next to Program A. Attendees at this Access Point will be escorted in first, before our other attendees, to be seated in the reserved seating for each evening; those with visual impairments or utilizing our main auditorium ASL sign language interpreters (if requested) will be seated in the front row. Be sure to be on time so we can assist you!
Communications
By specific request, Gallifrey One is able to provide an ASL sign language interpreter service in our main auditorium (Program A) during our main programming schedule: Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10:00am to 7:00pm. Program A features appearances by all our major guests throughout the weekend, so that our deaf and hard-of-hearing attendees are able to experience all our guest appearances.
In order to provide this ASL sign language service for our main auditorium, we ask that you contact us by no later than October 31 of the year PRIOR to the convention, so that we may budget for and arrange for services. (Due to the significant costs involved and the impact on our non-profit convention budget, we request your cooperation with this deadline.) Unfortunately, due to our small size and the substantial costs involved, we are not able to provide ASL sign language interpreters on an individual basis for each attendee.
In addition, with advance notice from our deaf and hard-of-hearing attendees, we can arrange for printed copies of the scripts and notes from our evening events.
Site Access
The Marriott Los Angeles Airport, our host hotel, complies with all requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act for physical accessibility to the site, not only in convention spaces but throughout the hotel.
For a complete summary of all of the accommodations Marriott visitors can enjoy, please see this page.
Important
While we do our very best with the resources we have, unfortunately we cannot make every aspect of Gallifrey One barrier-free; we are limited by finances, logistics, facilities, and volunteer staffing. Though we are a small temporary non-profit event, we nevertheless do everything we can to reasonably accommodate our attendees’ requests in cooperation with ADA guidelines.
If you have specific questions or would like to share your suggestions, feel free to contact us so we can assist you further!