Accessibility in Community

This describes something that does not exist yet. Technotheology has no chapters, buildings, staff, or membership roll at this time. What follows is a description of how these things are intended to work if and when people choose to build them — not a report of anything already happening.

This page is about gatherings and shared spaces. For the accessibility of this website, see the site accessibility statement under policies.

There are currently no Technotheology gatherings and no spaces. This describes what should be true if there are.

The principle

A person should not have to explain their needs in order to be present, and should not have to discover a barrier by arriving at it.

Almost everything below follows from that. The barriers people encounter are rarely the result of anyone deciding to exclude them. They are the accumulated consequence of arrangements made by people for whom the arrangements were invisible.

Before anyone arrives

State the facts in advance, honestly. Whether entry is step-free. Whether there is an accessible toilet and whether it is working. How many steps, and whether there is a handrail. Whether there is parking and how far it is. Whether there is a hearing loop. Whether the space is quiet or noisy. Whether there will be strong smells.

If a space is inaccessible, say so clearly rather than omitting it. A person who arrives to find they cannot enter has been treated worse than a person who was told not to come.

Ask, without requiring disclosure. “Is there anything that would make it easier for you to take part?” is a better question than a list of conditions. Nobody should have to name a diagnosis to be accommodated.

Do not require registration. Forms, accounts, and sign-up processes exclude people for reasons that have nothing to do with the gathering.

During

Seating. Chairs with backs and arms. Somewhere to sit near the door. Space for a wheelchair that is not at the edge of the circle. Nobody required to sit on the floor.

Sound. One person speaking at a time. Repeat questions before answering them. Do not rely on people hearing across a room. If a hearing loop exists, check it works before rather than during.

Light. Adequate, adjustable if possible, and no flashing or strobing under any circumstances.

Pace. Slower than feels natural. Silence between contributions. Do not fill gaps; people who need time to formulate will use them.

No obligation to speak. Passing should be as ordinary and as unremarked as speaking. A facilitator who works round the circle expecting each person to contribute has made silence conspicuous.

Movement. People may stand, walk, stim, fidget, knit, or leave and return without explanation. Say this at the start so that the first person to do it is not the first person to do it.

Breaks. For anything over an hour. Real ones, long enough to reach a toilet that may not be nearby.

Food. If food is offered, label it. Do not press anyone to eat. Do not build the social core of a gathering around eating, which excludes people for a range of reasons they should not have to give.

Language and material

Plain language, short sentences, no jargon without explanation. This tradition writes in a deliberate register on this website and that register should not be imported into a room.

Readings available in large print and in advance, so that a person who reads slowly, or with a screen reader, or in a second language, has met the text before.

No requirement to read aloud.

Online gatherings

Online participation is not a lesser option and should not be framed as one. For many people it is the only option, and for some it is genuinely better.

Captions on. Speak clearly and one at a time. Describe anything shown visually. Chat available as an equal way to contribute, and read aloud by the facilitator so that it is not a second-class channel. Cameras always optional, without comment.

Where a gathering is both in person and online, someone should be responsible for the online participants specifically. Otherwise they will be forgotten, reliably, every time.

Cost and time

Nothing charged, ever. Timing that does not assume a person is free in the evening, has no caring responsibilities, and can travel after dark. Locations reachable by public transport.

If a gathering is always at a time that excludes shift workers, carers, or parents of young children, it has selected its participants, whatever it intended.

Neurodivergence

Predictability helps: a stated start and finish, a known shape, no surprises. Say what will happen before it happens. Avoid mandatory eye contact, mandatory participation, and unstructured social periods with no exit.

Sensory considerations are not preferences. Strong scent, harsh lighting, echo, and background noise can make a room unusable rather than uncomfortable.

What we get wrong

This page was written by people without lived experience of most of what it describes, which means it is very likely wrong or incomplete in ways we cannot see from here.

If you find something missing, or something patronising, or something that reads as though written by someone who has not had to think about it, we would like to know. Write to contact@technotheology.ai.

We will change the page and say that it changed. That is the only mechanism we have, and a page like this that is never revised is a page nobody has been able to tell the truth to.