Disability Services

Director: Cherie Wren

Dragon*Con seeks to do its utmost to provide equal access to its participants with disabilities in accordance with State and Federal Law. Due to the convention’s limited resources, convention staff may be required to discuss your reasonable accommodation with you in order to attempt to meet your needs. Seating is limited, and is available on a first come, first serve basis. We ask that you be cooperative and prompt for seating times for events you would like to see.

We can offer a variety of services to help you enjoy your Dragon*Con experience, including:

• Wheelchair accessible bus service between the Marriott, Hyatt, Hilton, Sheraton, Westin, and other Con hotels.  
• Audio description for events upon request.
• We will have the Con schedule in large print available (to be read at our table or we can email a copy to you to print or download to your screen reading device)
• We will have staff working all areas of Main Programming in the Hyatt, Marriott, and Sheraton, keeping them accessible for people with disabilities.
• Con-goers with medical conditions can get a sticker to put on their badge that gives directions for emergency contacts.
• We can run registrations for people who can’t maneuver the tight turns or long lines. 

We offer 5 stickers for badges, based on needs:

• Wheelchair seating: for our wheeled folk, of course.
• Chair in Line/End of Row: for non-wheeled folks with mobility impairments.
• Proximity/ 50 ft. to Screen: for visual/lip reading access.
• Sightlines: for access to the interpreter, safe space for working animals, and certain other unique situations.
• Medical: This sticker is merely a place to put emergency information if you have a medical condition that the EMT needs to know about before they put you in the ambulance.  It does not entitle you to any other services.

Look for the Disability Services Table at Registration, in the Sheraton.

One important thing to remember: we will do our best to make sure events are accessible to you, but that does not mean we guarantee you a front row seat, or head-of-the-line privileges. If you are going to a very popular event, you must get there extra early to get a good seat, just like everyone else. The accessible seating will not be in the front row. We are following the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which specifies the number and arrangement required for accessible seating. If you arrive late, or in some cases even ‘on time’ for an event, you may not get the seat you would prefer, and in some cases you may not be able to get in at all. Qualification for services does not guarantee availability of seating.

People who think they will need assistance at the convention should contact Disability Services in advance. The Con covers more than four square blocks on a hill. We strongly suggest that if an individual has difficulty walking long distances that they consider renting an electric scooter.

Scooter and Wheelchair rentals are available by contacting ScootAround Inc. toll-free at 1-888-441-7575, by email at info@scootaround.com, through their website at www.scootaround.com/rentals/d/dragoncon or by fax at (204) 478-1172. PLEASE CONTACT THEM EARLY. 

If you would like to volunteer to help with Disability Services (and we are always on the lookout for trained sign language interpreters and those experienced in dealing with physical handicaps), please contact Cherie Wren, disabilityservices@dragoncon.org.