Accessibility

Warning

This information has been taken directly from the 38c3 infopages. Please take these info with a grain of salt, as there is stil ltime left to organize enhancements.

Info

🇩🇪 Die Infos zu Barrierefreiheit gibt es auch auf Deutsch

We wrote down the most important accessibility information in plain English, and also in plain German.

Need acute help? Please visit help.ccc.de

In general: For a lot of physical disabilities, the CCH has good accessibility. The Congress Center Hamburg is newly renovated and up to code. There are good toilets, guidance systems for the blind and visually impaired and everything (including stages) in theory is wheelchair accessible. But there are caveats with wheelchair access.

More info on the centre’s accessibility can be found on its website.

For everything Chaos-made, these will be your points of contact:

Important Facilities

These facilities will aid with accessibility:

  • CERT for medical care.
    • Can store medication that needs to be refrigerated.
  • Awareness for help against discrimination.
  • A point of contact right next to the Infodesk will give out Hidden Disability Badges and act as first level accessibility support.
  • QuietQube and c3auti provide mutual aid for autistic creatures and also quiet or silent places.

Contact us before the event

Get info on the Event

Accessibility Helpdesk

Next to Infodesk, there's going to be a dedicated point of contact for anything related to accessibility. You can also reach it via DECT at A11Y (2119).

The desk will, similar to Infodesk, act as first level support, but has more awareness and sensitivity about the do's and don'ts of disability support. They also have some communication aids covering the basics of being excellent to disabled.

We also aim to have some very limited short-form assistance available, which you can request by giving Helpdesk a call or by showing up in person. If there are capacities left over and our angel is free, you will receive any viable assistance that does not exceed 30 minutes. This is handled on a first come, first served basis, and can be used e.g. for being taken from point A to B or to transcribe conversations. As availibility is extremely limited, please only use this service if you absolutely need it. If you foresee the need for permanent a personal assistant, please bring your own.

You can also assemble or get help with assembling your Hidden Disability Badge:

Hidden Disability Badges

Hidden Disability Badges will be available. Those are made to be compatible with your angel badge (you can glue them together). Your Hidden Disabilities Badge has room for some pre-made stickers (such as “sign with me” or “no flirting”) and room for writing down notes/instructions. It can also be folded and flipped in case certain disability info does not require being on display all the time.

You can also get stickers for informing others that you have to skip long queues or use priority seating at the stages. (And in many cases, asking politely will likely get you those “benefits” as well.)

Example of a Hidden Disability Badge. In Handwriting, it says fnord, it/its, ask me about rust. Don't worry when I am non-verbal. There is a sign with me sticker with the sign language gesture. The badge has a decorative top with a stylized a11y, a sunflower and a Hidden Disabilities Headline.

QuietQube and c3auti

Our mutual support crew for autistic creatures organizes support for autistic creatures and all attendees with similar needs. They provide a Silent Room, a Meltdown Room, Gadgets and emotional support when you need it.

They also organize QuietQube. This is not a silent room, but a cozy place to socialize and recover from the noise and lights of congress.

Here is an overview of facilities provided by c3auti and a detailed summary of c3auti support and conduct.

Assistants and Assistance Dogs

Bring them. Please also provide a certificate of disability (German: Schwerbehindertenausweis) if you want to bring an assistant. Please give 39c3-tickets@cccv.de a heads up if you bring multiple or changing assistants.

Lecture Halls

Priority Seating

There are seats in the lecture halls for people with various disabilities and specific access needs. We ask non-disabled visitors to leave these available for or give them up to people who need them.

As disabled people's needs are very different, those seats are placed throughout the each lecture hall.

Plans for lecture halls not listed here are still to be determined. Info will be updated in time.

♿️ Spots for wheelchair users are listed below.

Hall 1

  • lower level, front rows right, entry via 2nd level
    • row 1 seats 25-27, row 2 seats 26-28, row 3 seats 28-31
  • Seitenrang Links, entry via 3rd level
    • row 18 seats 1-3, row 19 seats 1-2, row 20 seats 1-2

Hall GLITCH (Hall G)

  • first row, middle column, 4 seats reserved for D/deaf audience members
  • front rows, in the outer columns each 2 seats
  • left column, last 3 rows each 1 seat

Hall ZIGZAG (Hall Z)

  • Row 12, seats 33 to 34 and row 13, seats 33 to 34, directly next to the door on the right
  • Row 13, seats 1 to 2, directly next to the door on the left
  • Row 1, seats 11 to 12, and 35 to 39
  • Row 2, seats 11 to 12

Stage YELL & HUFF

These stages also have reserved seatings, marked on the seats.

Wheelchair Spaces

There are places in the lecture halls for wheelchair users and accompanying persons.

  • Hall 1: 6 seats directly at the door “Parquet left”
  • Hall GLITCH (Hall G): 4 individual seats to the right of the left and right aisle
  • Hall ZIGZAG (Hall Z): 3 seats next to the right door

Wheelchair spots for other halls are to be determined.

Hearing Aids

In Hall 1, G and Z, you can hear the original talk language via induction loops in the entire auditorium with compatible hearing aids.

For all other purpose: - on stages without loops, - for listening to translation tracks, - when your aids can't receive audio via induction, ... we offer live audio streams via c3lingo.org.

We recommend you use wired headphones to improve reliability for yourself and to keep the Bluetooth bandwidth free for those can't use wired.

Blind and Low Vision Participants

Due to the complex venue layout, dense crowds and dim lighting, Congress is challenging.

There is a dedicated team trying to make CCH more accessible and easier to navigate for blind and low vision visitors.

You can contact c3tactile via email at c3tactile@c3w.at and follow the team on the fediverse at chaos.social/@c3tactile.

We will label (important) locations with tactile signs; tactile maps of the building will be put up; the guiding system will be extended.

Tactile Signage Conventions

  • All signs are 3D printed with a black background and white text.
  • All signs use German 6-dot Braille without contractions (Basisschrift).
  • Embossed letters are always capitalised.
  • You may encounter German letters like Ă„,Ă–,Ăś,áşž (â ś,â Ş,â ł,â ®).

All signs are created according to these rules:

  • Rounded corners (r=5mm)
  • 1 mm border around the edges
  • Some signs have QR codes
  • The QR code is always in the lower right corner, its edges are marked with right-angled lines
  • QR codes usually contain text
  • Codes with URLs will lead to a screen reader friendly web page

Example sign with QR code, according to the above rules, text: Example

  • Door Signs will be placed to the right of their corresponding door (where possible), 130 cm above the ground.
  • Elevators will have markings inside the door frame indicating the current floor level.
  • Elevators will also have signs indicating what to find on which floor.
  • Bar menus will be made accessible via QR codes.
  • Signs with a lot of text may only contain embossed lettering or Braille.

The building's built-in tactile guidance system will be modified in places that are impractical. A mobile tactile paving, courtesy of the ACCESS @ KIT research group will be used for this.

The exact details will be documented here and shown in c3nav.

We will also put more effort into ensuring the guidance system is recognized and cleared by attendees.

Floor plans

We created tactile floor plans for 38C3, which we will update for 39C3.

The floor plans consist of black textile with white embroidering for building characteristics, including the navigation system. We then add 3D printed markers and a 3D printed legend for specific information. To improve visibility and usability of the plans for low vision participants, the maps will be upgraded with desk lamps.

The plans will be positioned close-ish to elevators and escalators. Positions will be marked on c3nav.

Supporting c3tactile

You can help c3tactile by:

  • Printing signs at home or bringing your 3D printer. Print files will be available on our website, tactile.c3w.at
  • Embroidering maps at home or bringing your embroidery machine. Please contact us for information, e.g., at c3tactile@c3w.at
  • Build-up, maintenance, and tear-down at the event: We will coordinate with Heaven to make Angel shifts available.

Assemblies

If you are a member of an assembly and would like to improve Blind and Low Vision accessibility to your area, please contact us.

Barriers to expect and Lessons Learned

This is meant to point out some barriers that you might not expect under other circumstances, but may run into at Congress. You can help reduce the list by volunteering and expand the list by contacting us via mail and telling us about barriers.

Wheelchair Access Limitations

At 37C3, we learned that wheelchair access was a lot worse than we had hoped for. This is what you need to know:

  1. Most of the convention centre has carpets.
  2. There are only three elevators available, located next to the entrance hall. Those will overheat when in use 24/7, which caused lots of downtime at 37C3. There are plans to prevent this situation this year.
  3. Signs showing the shortest route to the elevators will be available from day one.
  4. We must insist that you not use the escalators even if you do that day to day.
  5. To get to the Chaos Computer Music Club (formely Lounge), you will need to use a special backdoor elevator. Go to the Radisson reception area and call DECT 1700 (Lounge). The Angels nearby will help you open the doors. Don't be afraid to ask. Note: There is no barrier-free WC in this area, the last one is where you exit the entrance hall to the Radisson next to the press room.

Blind and low-vision Access

  • At 38C3, floor plan tables were repeatedly used to put down drinks or other stuff. Some plans will be affixed to slanted tables to avoid this. Those are prototypes and we are looking forward to your feedback.
  • Due to the dim and colorful lighting, people with night blindness might still experience problems.

Induction Loops

We noticed at 37C3 that some induction loops for hearing aids had been installed incorrectly. CCH assured us this has been resolved.

Noise and Lights

Congress will be overwhelming and over-stimulating. It is advised to bring ANC Headphones and maybe sunglasses if you are easily overstimulated or exhausted.

Strobe Lights

Lounge will use 20 Hz strobe lights, avoid that area if you are at risk of having photoepileptic seizures. Art and Play installations will not use strobe lights. Many community members will build a lot of things, so be careful and don’t hesitate to ask for overly intense light installations to be tuned down.

Sign Languages And Plain German

We cannot offer translations to signed languages or plain German.

Community Projects

A lot of what is provided at the event is made by wonderful enthusiasts who will very likely not follow code consistently.