If you have a special physical or communication need that may impact your participation in this meeting, please check the appropriate box on your registration form, and append a statement specifying your special need. While every effort will be made to meet attendees’ needs, we cannot guarantee the availability of accommodations in response to requests received after May 19, 2006.

Information on Accessiblity at many conference hotels will be available when housing opens on January 3, 2006.

We work to make sure your experience will be a pleasant and accessible one. Here are features we have put in place to make sure the ALA 2006 Midwinter Meeting is accessible to all:

• We caption our main sessions, e.g. President’s Program, Opening General Session, Membership Meeting, Council Meetings, and others as requested by organizers. The captioning is available on a one-on-one basis when the captioner is not working at sessions mentioned above. Reservations are made on a firstcome, first-served basis and require at least one day’s notice.
• We have accessible rooms in our hotel block. There are rooms for the hearing and vision impared and attendees with physical disabilties. Please fill out the housing form and check the appropriate box. An ITS/ExpoExchange representative will contact you to make sure you are placed in an appropriate room.
• Leader dogs of all kinds are welcome throughout the ALA Meeting.
• Listening devices are available for those who are hard of hearing.
• Our shuttle bus company has accessible buses. Instructions on how to obtain rides will be available in each hotel, in the convention center on site, and in the onsite newspaper, Cognotes.
• Based upon availability in each city, we maintain a limited number of wheelchairs and scooters on a first come, first served basis. Please call Kathy Harris at 800-545-2433, ext. 3220 or TDD (toll free): 888-814-7692, ext. 3220 as soon as possible to reserve a wheelchair or scooter, for use in the convention center only, or if you wish to discuss any other special needs.
• Interpreters are no longer requested for meetings in general. They must be requested by the deaf member for meetings they need interpreted. To use the service, send a list of required interpreter meetings to Kathy Harris, ALA, 50 E. Huron Street, Chicago, IL, 60611 by May 19, 2006.
• Two interpreters will also be on-call in the Conference Services Office in the Morial Convention Center Saturday-Monday for last minute requests on a first-come, first-served basis.
• If you have any other requests not mentioned above that ALA can reasonably provide, please contact Kathy Harris at kharris@ala.org by May 19, 2006, and we will help you have a most accessible meeting.