Accessibility Missteps, Fanfest 2026

[divisionten]

1. According to the CDC, 1 in 4 Americans have a disability of some kind and the numbers for specific activities are much higher than you’d think. Not all people who have a disability need accessibility assistance in a convention setting however. 1 in 7 isn’t so outrageous when you consider all of these needs. This also includes people with temporary disabilities, like someone who’s broken a bone a week before a convention.

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/disability.htm

2. I type well because I have a masters in econometrics and know that people are more likely to listen when one uses proper grammar and punctuation. It’s also a lot easier for a screen reader to parse text when one uses correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation as well; I have a harder time reading (using text to speech) when people create run on sentences with bad grammar and misspellings. I do hope you’re not being a troll here, because your behavior is making assumptions about what disabled people are and are not capable of.

Disabled doesn’t mean incompetent.

[DeyaAvain]

I've already commented on your other posts but figure I should here as well for visibility and such - after all, here there's a chance Squeenix will actually see it.

I didn't mark myself as ADA on the ticket because I thought my needs were common sense enough (and just straight up common enough) that they'd be accommodated for everyone, but now listening to others it seems that won't be the case. I have flat feet, as many people do, and my inserts don't support me enough to eliminate my foot pain, so if there's not seating around the lines I'll have to sit on the floor, which I'd rather not do. I have ADHD and need access to an ACTUALLY quiet room (although remembering how loud the "quiet room" was at '23 that was maybe a silly thing to assume...) And the biggest one, I have an eating disorder and often can't eat even familiar foods from unfamiliar places, so if I can't bring my own food I probably won't be able to eat. I completely forgot that they took away food in '23 until Sara reminded me that they had to bring me food and pass it across the security line...

Now I need to contact the already overwhelmed accessibility contact (someone on bluesky was kind enough to give me the email) and try to see if they'll at least let me bring in my food even though I didn't mark myself as needing accommodations. '23 was a disaster but I was able to have enough fun that I do desperately want to go again - I am pretty good at looking at the bright side of things, lol. But I am pretty worried about whether I'm going to have to be hungry and in pain the whole time. (What do you want to bet that they're going to either tell me that I have to sit on the floor, or try to put me in the ADA lines for a condition that a huge number of people have?)

[Kiandra_Kankaw]

As a deaf player, kind of in disbelief that I saw the phone number thing and discussed with husband who is hearing because he'll be taking the call for me. (Currently haven't gotten a call back and I e-mailed the coordinator who let us know that they were overwhelmed at the moment.) We're just not sure what to make of this because it shouldn't be that much of a struggle to get interpreters as I was easily accommodated for one at past cons such as Pax West.

This is starting to make me nervous.

[Minali]

I really hope SE is going to do anything about this. I could imagine their third party contractor was making a lot of promises and SE didn't check how exactly they would keep them. I am not in the US, so I am not going to be in attendence, but a) that doesn't mean everyone else should be treated horribly like this and b) it certainly makes me nervous about trying to get a ticket for the EU Fan Fest. There might be some things that are not going to be possible to appear here due to laws and regulations for event management or so, but from what I gathered from this thread and other places, that company "managing" requests for accomodations doesn't bother sticking to the legal requirements in the US anyway...? Sounds like "sticking to laws" might not be the base line one has to expect.

Honestly, I don't know if I would have selected the "needs accommodation" thing when registering, because this sounds like requiring a wheel chair or something. My disabilities are invisible and usually managed by myself (by bringing food, water and meds with me, checking restaurant menues beforehand if possible etc.) So probably not. But all things considered, what you all are saying sounds like it would probably be better to select that when I apply for that EU ticket. Better safe than sorry.

[hikarimoro]

Logged in to also show support for this.
Accessibility and overall attendee safety was managed terribly at the Vegas Fanfest and it is incredibly discouraging to see this happening again.
I would happily go to another fanfest in the future. But not if it is going to be continually run and handled this poorly.
The community deserves better. Do better please.

[NaviLouise42]

This is the kind of thing that Squenix needs to take seriously, and they needed to make sure the 3rd party company they hired to set up this convention took it seriously. Having just ONE PERSON to handle the ADA accommodations for such a large event is a clear sign of a poorly prepared company, and it is unfair to both the attendee's in need of accommodation and the poor employee who has been given exponentially more work then she was led to expect or could reasonable handle. Squenix is a large enough and successful enough company that they should have been able to do a better job of vetting the event coordination company they hired for this event, and the fact that they did not does little to better people perception of how much Squenix values their players and fans.

[draconianempress]

Adding my support to this, as someone who's autistic going to something like this with how it's handled and all would be a terrible idea and the overwhelmingness of it would more than likely cause me to have a meltdown.

Also this post deserves more attraction.

[teddypixels]

I also logged in just for this AND I'm pretty sure it's my first post on the forums.

I did tick the box, and I arranged for a phone call the very next day. I'm glad I did because the poor woman I spoke with on the phone revealed to me that she was the only person doing this work, that she was pissed off on behalf of the disabled community, and that she had countless more surveys to conduct.

That's right. They hired this coordinator to servey what SqEx needs to provide during Fanfest because I guess SqEx has no idea how to get this information themselves? It's pure laziness, and they pushed all of it off onto one single human being. I don't wish her job on anyone, not even my worst enemy.

When I was surveyed, I told her what accomodations I might need, and I also asked her if she knew what was already being provided. She told me they're planning a quiet room and better ADA queues and seating. So I told her what my experience was like last time. She was horrified.

I appreciate her so, so much for the survey. Especially because she is also disabled herself! She told me she needed to email me to check my name's spelling because she has an auditory processing disability. They're making her do these phone calls even with her own disability. It's almost comical.

While it's unfortunately the bare minimum and still far from inclusive, I believe that even these baby steps are also extremely crucial. I fought for over a decade to get better ADA resources at the anime convention I work at, and I'll fight again. We have to keep getting louder and louder for ourselves and for each other. If I have to take matters into my own hands and do things the old fashioned way, I'll happily scream at people to make way for your mobility device, hold your hand if you stumble in a crowd, and walk with you to a quiet hallway to rest.

I would do that with or without my own disabilities because I'm not a jerk. It's outrageous that SqEx is so uncooperative when we ask them for the bare minimum. Treating someone like a human being is literally free.

[divisionten]

I just do not understand why they are making her do 1 on 1 surveys. Have baseline accessibility (line management, anti harassment policies, access to enforced quiet room, etc), have a simple opt in ADA thing for lines and seating for those who need it, and then offer additional support for those who need something specific beyond that.

[teddypixels]

I've been thinking about this thread all day and I'm starting to feel a lot less confident in my safety at Fanfest. Hopefully someone with the power to do something is reading our feedback, but I'm also considering sending some strongly worded emails--especially if I change my mind about going at all.