Virtual Pride was awesome. COVID is still a mass disabling event, especially for our vulnerable population. A virtual conference serving our community was very needed.

Calling Up Justice and One Free Community produced another awesome Accessible Virtual Pride August 31 and Sept 1. We gathered to celebrate LGBTQAI2S+ and Disabled community in safe and accessible circumstances. We have been frustrated by the inability to attend Pride events in person due to a lack of masking in your communities so stone soup style we produced this program for us by us. 

Accessible Virtual Pride uses our Stone Soup producing model, centering Crip Time and tech systems that support open-space design. This approach allows us to quickly produce work with minimal resources, responding rapidly to needs. The concept of “many hands make light work” is key—when we have enough people to share responsibilities, we build resilience. Everyone is invited to participate and contribute to the event’s content and structure. People contribute what they can, whether as donors or by offering their skills, and the events remain free for all to attend.

🌈 Accessible Virtual Pride Celebration: Uniting Covid Cautious LGBTQAI2S+ and Allies! This year our event included an art gallery, gathertown space, workshops, vendor booths, and a live stream event. Read below about

Accessible Virtual Pride 2024 – Calling Up Justice!

I stayed online for the full 7.5 hours on Saturday and even spoke on camera twice. Very nourishing, affirming, and supportive. I got lots of ideas for running conferences and community. They used a combination of Zoom, Gather.town, Padlet, web pages, and spreadsheets.

Elements of Conference Inclusion

Virtual Pride covered all of our elements for inclusive conferences.

• Asynchronous Communication
• Written Communication
• Intermittent Collaboration
• Flexibility
• Caves, Campfires, and Watering Holes
• Cavendish Space
  

The conference also covered most of these “Best Practices for Online Meetings with AAC Users”.

Conference Highlights

• Queer/disabled fashion show including mobility aids.
• Open mic storytelling was powerful and moving and joyful.
• Vendor booths in Gather.town.
• 15 minute breaks between events.
• Bodymind affirmations.
• Quiet and chatty rooms in Zoom.
• Quiet and chatty rooms in Gather.town.
• One minute summaries at the end of sessions that were recorded as clips and provided asynchronously.
• Support folks in every Zoom session working the text chat and providing tech support.
  

Gather.town was fun and novel, however:

• It doesn’t have good support for Blind users.
• The phone app offers a very stripped down experience.
• Vendor booths and art galleries were replicated in both Gather.town and Padlet to broaden accessibility.