Accessibility Missteps, Fanfest 2026

[divisionten]

Hello, I am a blind player of FFXIV, who regularly speaks at conventions.

The way that FanFest handled accessibility in 2023 was the worst accessibility experience I have had at a con, and their booth at PAX East 2024 wasn't much better. However at Pax West 24 and then East 25, the booth took some wonderful and active strides to make its space accessible and friendly for all players. It was clear that SQUEX took the criticism of prior events to heart and actively improved.

When there was an ADA marker in the sign ups for FF 2026, that gave me hope that you all had learned the lessons of FF 23. However, the 3rd party company Square hired has been fumbling the bag repeatedly. There is one singular point of contact for accessibility at this 3rd party company, and she's under orders to call each person who requests ADA assistance.

I am an accessibility consultant myself and did the math. I've surveyed over 1,000 nerd convention goers prior and found about 14% utilize convention accessibility. For Fanfest, assuming attendance of 8,000-15,000, you are looking at 1,000-2,000 people who need accessibility, from the visually impaired, to those who use mobility aids, to the deaf, or those with autism, food allergies, and more. If she's spending 15 minutes calling each of us, and did nothing but that, that's 6-12 weeks of work of nothing but (possibly illegal) verification calls. Absolutely no convention does this, not PAX or MAGfest or Otakon or anything else.

It's a waste of this poor overworked lady's time (who was told by her boss to expect less than 100 disabled people seeking accommodations) and the money spent running this event. Most conventions have an honor policy and some baseline accessibility, with an option to reach out if you need something beyond that, with staff who are trained and consistently enforce said policy.

If we disabled people cannot be granted this, then FF is neither safe nor accessible.

It's very clear to me that this is not the fault of this individual employee, who was clearly assigned a task vastly outside her scope. But if you- SQUEX- actually want to follow through with your commitment to accessibility, then you need to hire actual accessibility consultants and do what they recommend. From providing a quiet room that is actually enforced quiet for those with autism, migraines, or just need a space to decompress, to line management, to allowing outside food for those with diabetes or food allergies, a lot of these requirements require little to no additional financial input, just a commitment to policy and enforcement from the people who would already be doing tasks like line management. I'd rather have someone who doesn't actually need accessibility get it (because people thinking they can jump the line or anything else will still cheat regardless) than force people who need accessibility to have to do means testing to get it.

Accessibility is not a limited resource.