YALC 2019 – Let’s talk about accessibility
Hi friends! So another YALC is over and done with. What a weekend! There were some HUGE highs for me, and sadly some lows too.
This post was originally going to be a wrap up of the entire weekend, but it ended up being so long with just talking about accessibility that I’m going to split the posts up. As I write this I have wrist braces on due to pain from the weekend & honestly it’s a hard topic to write about. I talk about my condition on Twitter but not as much as I’d like to. I’m always afraid of the stigma.
ANYWAY. Today I’m talking about it and my experience at YALC.
What happened at YALC 2019?
So some things at YALC this year were different, some for the better, some for the worst. I love YALC and I really want to be as positive as I can, but also I want to talk about things that can be improved in hopes that maybe next year they will be.
Accessibility at YALC
As I mentioned, I’m someone with a chronic illness. It’s invisible unless I’m wearing a brace of some sort, and even then still not very visible. So at YALC I get an Extra Help band, that means that I get extra help with things like queues. I get this because I bring a doctor’s note confirming that I need it.
What it’s like being disabled at YALC
I’m not registered disabled and can’t speak for everyone, but I have hEDS/Fibromyalgia and this is my experience (I’m still going through the torture of diagnosis after 13 years). People tend to see those with extra help bands as ‘lucky’ because they get to skip queues and see their favourite authors. Let me tell you, we’re not lucky.
I would LOVE to be able to stand in a queue for hours at YALC. So many of my friends talk about how they’ve met people in the queues, I’ve even met people in the queues years ago, before I was too sick. I just physically can’t. If I’m standing in that queue, I’m shifting from leg to leg, trying to make sure my knees don’t lock (because they bend backwards), deep breathing to keep the pain in check, to keep the nausea at bay (because yes that was an issue this weekend). I was also very dizzy and kept stumbling when standing completely still. So I have extra help. I get to skip to the front, yay? Nay.
The actual process of queue jumping is so anxiety inducing in itself. I’ll go into more detail below about what happened this year but basically you never know if they’re going to let you go to the front or if they even know about it. If they do let you to the front, they don’t always tell the people you’re put in front of why you’re going in front, leaving you to have to say ‘hi sorry I’m disabled’. Which people then look at you (if like me it’s invisible) and they think hmmm they don’t look disabled.
I purposely don’t look at anyone in the queue so I don’t see the glares. When I get to the author I rarely take pictures or stay long because I’m hyper aware of all the people behind me hating me for getting to skip.
This year I forwent Samantha Shannon or Victoria Schwab’s queues. Even though I love them. Because I just KNEW how much hassle the staff would give me and how much everyone in the queue would resent me. I told my friends it was because I wasn’t bothered about them but honestly, I didn’t do a lot of signings because of this.
Wow that got away from me a bit there. Key takeaways from that:
- Not all disabilities are visible
- We don’t WANT to skip queues, we HAVE to
- We’re not lucky, we’re surviving and adapting
So let’s dive in with the issue with this year’s YALC in particular
Author Signings and Virtual Queues at YALC
So. Virtual Queues. I’m not denying that they’re needed, especially for some authors, as the lines get so long they block the floor & people are standing for hours. HOWEVER. Usually when someone with extra help goes to find someone working to get help with the queue, they take you to the front, tell the person that you need extra help and they slot you in. It’s quite mortifying for me but it’s literally necessary so I have to suck it up.
BUT. But. With Virtual Queues this year, when I went to go and get my book signed by the lovely Bex Hogan they didn’t know what they were doing. I was sent from person to person, and they eventually gave me a VQ ticket and told me that when my number is called I could go to the front.
Why is this an issue?
Because I have to hang around somewhere where there’s no seating. They don’t tweet out the VQs, you have to be nearby or keep walking back and forth, and I can’t do that. I said as much, and the lady just said sorry. So I went to the YALC info desk and spoke to someone there. She told me she doesn’t know how extra help works. NOW. This is an issue. Because I know this person is HEAVILY involved in organising YALC. It’s THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to know these things.
Anyway, I told her that I knew how it worked, and this wasn’t it. So she got Michael, who is also one of the organisers (I think) who then brought me back to the queue and slotted me in.
Now this was both emotionally and physically taxing. Disabled people shouldn’t have to fight so hard for this stuff or keep walking from person to person until I get help. I don’t want to queue jump to get there faster, I literally cannot stand that long. I actually tried queueing for Temi Oh as at the time there were only 10 people. That alone caused me so much pain I struggled to stand there. For 10 people.
Seating for the disabled and the ‘Chill Out Zone’
Okay this was a complete joke. Chill out zone? You mean a giant empty space with about 5 chairs (that hurt me to sit in anyway) that seemed to dwindle in number as the days went by?! Oh sorry I forgot about the inflatable… I can’t even call them seats. They don’t have back support & deflated straight away. That space could have had scores of chairs, and something slightly comfortable at least. I actually found out recently that the inflatables were provided by a publisher, so YALC didn’t even fork out for those.
In fact, someone I know working the stalls told me that downstairs there was a store room FULL OF CHAIRS. Just sitting there. This made me so mad… I spent the entire of Sunday sitting on the floor, my legs go dead as soon as I do and now I’m still suffering from it. I hurt both my wrists every time I got up and down.
This NEEDS to improve. One of the standard lines from YALC is that they have more seating than LFCC. Okay? You have the space for more seating, just because you have 5 chairs more than LFCC doesn’t mean it’s enough.
ARC Drops
Sigh. Is it two years ago again? So you may or may not be familiar with how YALC used to run. They would tweet out that they had ARCs first come first served, and people would RUN to get them. They had you do silly things like wriggle like a worm on the floor, to get an arc. Not only is that demeaning, for those with disabilities it’s impossible. We can’t run to get them.
SO. Last year they introduced a raffle system. Which works, to an extent. You go, get a raffle, they draw the raffle and you might win. The reason I say it doesn’t work to an extent is that they’ve reduced the number of ARCs by a lot, so there are less available to begin with.
What happened this year?
Some publishers went back to the first come – first served ways. Not so much that they did drops, but that they had the arcs out at the beginning of the day so the first people to get in were the ones that got them.
Why is this an issue?
At least one disabled person I know of got knocked over, when on crutches, by someone who was so desperate for a book they shoved them over.
Let that sink in.
Also some had giveaways that involved walking around searching for things, again, something that those with disabilities can’t do.
When in a discussion with someone about how they were meant to be doing raffles, she said:
‘yeah I guess, but I like the competitions as raffles are boring’.
Raffles are boring? I’m sorry that you find equality boring, but it simply isn’t fair to people who literally cannot participate in these ‘fun’ giveaways.
This post got away from me a bit, and I hope you forgive me. I did actually have a good time even if I was in a lot of pain for most of it.
What were your experiences of YALC? Keep an eye out for my next post where I’ll talk about YALC as a whole!
A special thank you to my Patreons who make my blogging possible! Check out my Patreon and what rewards you can get by supporting me on this link.
Special thanks to Cassandra Lee – MADEUP Parenting and Book Reviews who is Galactic Warrior!
32 Comments
This year was my first YALC so I really didn’t know what to expect.
The lack of seating was horrendous I really thought they’d have more chairs in the chill out zone. I heard about one incident where a fairyloot volunteer almost got knocked over by someone after one of the I think it was fairy’s they had to get? Because they forgot they were an actual human and just pushed and shoved. I really don’t care if people who need the extra help go in front of the queue you’re still going to get your time with the author, like I met someone in the line who had a panel at a certain time and they asked one of the helpers if they could be moved further in the queue. Like for me it honestly makes no difference to me. If I can make somebody’s day a little easier, why wouldn’t I?
I liked the ideas of the virtual queues but the fact you always had to be close was quite annoying, but on Friday it seemed like they had no idea what they were doing with them, they sort of learnt on Saturday and by Sunday it seemed the virtual queue was running smoothly in the sense of getting tickets.
I really prefer the idea of the raffle way of winning arcs than a free for all, because I feel like if it was a free for all, people would pick them up just so they could sell/trade them on later. I really liked the raffle system. I’ve just learnt next year to actually put where I picked up the raffle tickets from. So many times I had to go back to booths like “are you running a raffle, what colour tickets are your raffle?” So lesson learnt on that.
Omg yes writing where it’s from is a life saver, I learnt that from last year haha. Yeah I’ve heard similar stories, it just really saddens me.
A very important post Jenn! I really wish the seating was better. I hope next year there is proper back support and enough sensible chairs provided that those with disabilities and back issues or just someone who is tired, don’t have to suffer.
I attended for the first time last year and there were so many complaints about the lack of seats. When I arrived this year I was disgusted that this hadn’t been addressed. I completely disapprove of the arc drops, they’re horribly unfair and a health and safety risk. I really hope YALC and publishers take yours and others points into consideration next year.
I really hope so too. Especially because they had the seats they just didn’t use them
Me too, here’s hoping they improve on it!
So sorry you had such a tough time. These types of mass gatherings are very difficult and it must be even harder when you suffer from such a dibilatating condition. It’s good of you to share your experience though to make both the organisers and other visitors. X
Thank you lovely 💜
Hey, thanks so much for posting this. There’s so many good points in this, and I totally agree that they not only need to get their act together on the seating, because that space was HUUUGE, but they also need to train the volunteers. I liked the idea of VQ for the most part, especially on day 3 when they finally got it together and got people to form a line, but I think they also need to forego VQ for people with disabled wristbands. Just let people with the wristbands go first, without the need for VQ tickets. They’re really terrible at announcing the batch numbers, and I hate having to keep asking what they’re up to because it makes me anxious that I’m annoying someone. They should maybe shell out on whiteboards or something for staff to hold up, it would save them from losing their voice and they could even put up a guesstimate of how long til the next lot are called. I’m going to get a wristband next time, because my anxiety was so bad [I had to leave the carnage of the VQ smush on Sat as it really overwhelmed me]. They’re just as bad downstairs though. I waited with a disabled friend as she was told three times that an actress would be back in about fifteen minutes [she went down at noon and she didn’t meet the actress til almost 6pm] and since the line was pretty short, maybe my friend could just wait and not bother with being escorted to the front? There should be training across the whole con, so any volunteers who are moved floors will know what to expect. I think some of the confusion came because some of the volunteers on Sat didn’t know who Schwab was or how busy the VQ line would be for her. Also yes, ARC raffles. I like the different stuff, but absolutely they need to do more about making everything accessible for people who can’t run or walk around. [sorry for the huge comment].
No need to apologise! Yeah LFCC is hit and miss. Last year I had a photo op and they were quite good with the wrist band but they have even less seating down there. Sometimes I feel silly for complaining but it’s just really tough for some people!
Absolutely. And you are one thousand percent allowed to complain. Otherwise, how else will they know people want them to make changes?
I too have a chronic illness that is invisible – Crohn’s disease – and there are no signs that I’m unwell. Fortunately, I’m currently on medication which is keeping me pretty well, and I didn’t have any trouble at YALC this year (my first time going!). I have, however, had a bad back for the last year, and also get fatigued because of my condition, and I was surprised by the lack of chairs available. I ended up coping ok, but might not have done on another occasion.
I think the whole VQ system was poorly managed in general, as there wasn’t enough clear information about how it works. I didn’t realise they had the tickets available at the beginning of the day, so when I got to the queues I had ticket 129 for one of the signings, fortunately I didn’t get cut off and managed to get my book signed. There was not enough clear information, and it could have run smoother. They say it’s to avoid long queues, but then you just sort of have to hang around waiting for someone to yell. There must be a better way of doing it.
Also when they suddenly announce something on twitter and there are suddenly a mass of people crowding around a stall is not great either. There was lots of pushing and shoving. By chance I happened to be passing one (can’t remember which now) when they were giving away lucky dip wrapped books for £2. So I joined the edge of mass of people but by the time I got close (and I wasn’t that far away to begin with) they were all gone. Someone with a disability would have had no hope of getting one.
Anyway sorry for the long comment! Hope they make some improvements in terms of accessibility for next year.
No need to apologise, it’s food to hear other people’s experiences! Yeah the crowds around stalls got way too much. Sigh. I’m hoping they improve next year 💜
I completely agree with all of this! Very well said – also I agree the raffles were ‘not’ boring – they were much better than what some stalls did with the scavenger hunts that seemed to bring out the absolute worst in humanity (even at a book convention which I see as very much a haven of mostly extremely nice people – so that was more shocking than normal)
I recall lots of stories about people being stalked to the toilets(!), stickers being ripped off backs, and all sorts that meant it felt like they were almost actively excluding anyone who wasn’t fully able (which they basically were, but the kindhearted person in me at least hopes it wasn’t intended that way…)
And the rush for the lifts at the beginning of the day was one of the most scary things to be in the middle of. Sometimes it feels like one step forward two steps back. Even if it was still a great weekend overall they do have a looong way to go
Yeah I heard about those too. I didn’t take part in any of fairyloots things because I just couldn’t. And people’s attitudes were disgusting. It saddens me deeply 💜
This is one of the things that makes me extra anxious about events like this. I cannot physically stand for long and if I sit on the floor, I’m not getting up again. Which tends to trigger a panic attack in a crowded place. I didn’t go to YALC, I want to next year, but not if it’s run like this. It would be way too stressful.
I’m sorry that you suffer too 💜 I’m hoping it is better next year for all of us!
Hi Jenn! I’m so sorry you had so many problems , I’m not disabled so I didn’t notice most of them and this was eye opening! I just wanted to say that in all the signings I attended people jumped the line, I know it was because of disability without them having to say it so I just smiled at them trying to look friendly and encouraging ♥️ I’m sorry not everyone gets it, I hope next time you won’t skip the signings and know that you could get someone friendly and happy to help a fellow book lover behind you! ♥️ Lots of love!
Thank you for this, this is so kind. I know that some people like you but I also have experienced some who aren’t. 💜💜
This is so awful. I can’t even imagine how physically and emotionally taxing that must be. Hopefully, next year changes are made to account for the needs of disabled people, because that is just horrible.
Thanks lovely. I’m hoping so! As the years have gone my health has gotten worse and yalc hasn’t improved. I wouldn’t be able to go without my partner helping me to be honest.
I’m so sorry, I wish I could do something to help, even just a little bit.
This is such an important post! Accessibility is really bad at bookish fairs and events. The one about the person in crutches who got knocked over? It boils my blood!
Book cons need to become more accessible and equal. Thanks so much for speaking up about it!
Yeah I’m going to mention that in my next post! I can’t believe how entitled some people can be. It’s such a shame
This post is everything. I am so impressed that you braved YALC at all because too often I say no to these types of things. I have a chronic illness that affects me in some similar ways to you but like you I don’t look disabled and also like you I would not be able to run for arcs, do stupid degrading challenges, need to sit down a lot etc. YALC sounds very unforgiving on people like us and it really just shows up the complete lack of care that able bodied people have for invisible illness and disability
Yeah it’s really sad to be honest. They keep saying they’re going to do more but it seems to get worse each year.
I remember thinking the same thing about the ‘chill out zone’. It was just an empty space. I’m not disabled but even just as a tired person in a skirt it was frustrating. I can’t even imagine how much stress it will have added to your weekend. Also, completely off topic, but it’s supposed to be a convention supporting UK YA and yet the most hyped books there were all US and one of them (Leigh Bardugo’s new book) was adult.
Yeah that’s such a big point. Especially with The triggering content in Ninth House its a bit worrying that it was being given out to young readers!
I’m so sorry YALC ended up being such a tremendous effort, both physically and emotionally, for you, Jenny! That’s not what this event should be like – it should be fun and engaging and provide equal opportunities for everyone. Especially those who’ve done so much for the community like you have! It’s absolutely disgraceful and I hope posts like you are seen and discussed and used to improve the event next year. It’s appalling to me how they didn’t know what Extra Help meant… I mean, it’s a key feature of your organisation, something you should be very aware of! And how there were literally no disability-friendly alternatives… Again, shocking that an event of this calibre and size didn’t have them.
Thanks so much for sharing! And I hope you’re feeling much better now <3
[…] Jenn […]
[…] Jenn @ Jenniely […]
[…] Jenn @ Jenniely […]