We welcome everyone to our programming and are committed to making our events accessible, and to making arrangements that allow all attendees to participate in the conversation. Please read on to learn about accessibility resources ALTA is planning for our fall conference. 

If you would like to request a disability-related accommodation that is not listed below, if you have any questions about access, or if you would like to request any disability-related accommodations that will facilitate your full participation in ALTA’s programming, such as ASL interpreting, CART captioning, wheelchair access, etc, please contact Program Manager Kelsi Vanada (520-621-6123 | kelsi@literarytranslators.org). ALTA can best meet accessibility needs when requests are sent at least two weeks in advance of a given event.

For the most up-to-date access information, visit ALTA’s Accessibility web page. Please be respectful of another person’s right to use accessibility resources, and remember that some disabilities are invisible.

Conference Meeting Space

The conference meeting space at the Tucson Marriott University Park Hotel is all on the ground level, and two accessible restrooms are located near the meeting space. All event rooms will include wheelchair-accessible seating distributed throughout the space, and adequate space for aisles/routes. Take a virtual tour of the Marriott at this link, and access detailed visual cues in this document. Accessible hotel features also include: accessible self-parking; self-parking facility, van-accessible spaces; self-parking, accessible spaces; service animals are welcome; valet parking for vehicles outfitted for drivers in wheelchairs; elevators to sleeping rooms. 

Hotel Guest Rooms

Accessible guest rooms are available and can be reserved when booking through ALTA’s discounted hotel block link on our hotel and travel page. For more information about the physical features of the Marriott’s accessible rooms, common areas, or special services relating to a specific disability, please call the hotel at 520-792-4100 or visit ALTA’s Accessibility web page.

ALTA46 Health and Safety Policy

At ALTA, community is our priority, and our goal is to create a safe and positive ALTA conference in Tucson this fall by reducing health risks and acting out of care for ourselves and others. Making the conference more accessible to disabled and immunocompromised participants helps keep all of us safer and healthier. Masks will be required in all ALTA-reserved hotel spaces. Read more in our Health and Safety Policy.

Interpreters and CART

ASL interpretation and CART captioning are available upon request through the University of Arizona’s Disability Resource Center. Please make requests at least two weeks in advance of a given event, with a list of events you plan to attend (that is, by October 25 for the conference). To request an interpreter or CART captioner, contact Kelsi Vanada (520-621-6123 | kelsi@literarytranslators.org). 

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services

All plenary sessions will be equipped with a microphone and speakers. Larger conference session rooms will also have microphones and speakers to ensure that sound carries well for the audience in larger spaces. If it would help you to sit closer to the front / to the speaker, please look for the stretchy blue seat bands with disability access symbols printed on them and take a seat in these reserved spaces. Interpreters and captioners may also use these seats, when present, along with anyone else who needs access to the front of the room. 

Blind and Low Vision Services

Our program book will be available as a printed booklet and as an accessible PDF. Roundtable organizers and panelists have been asked to provide large-print versions of any printed materials they hand out during their session. (Make sure to provide at least five copies in large-print format in boldface, fourteen-to-sixteen-point font size, on white paper stock for those who may be visually impaired.) If it would help you to sit closer to the front / to the speaker, please look for the stretchy blue seat bands with disability access symbols printed on them and take a seat in these reserved spaces. 

Quiet Space Lunch Room

Need a quiet space to eat lunch as you process the morning’s sessions? You are welcome to recharge in Canyon B from 12-1:45pm each day. No conversations or phone calls, please.

Recordings and Virtual Participation

ALTA is unable to record or livestream the in-person events during ALTA46. Per our Terms and Conditions, we are generally unable to include remote panel/roundtable participants, though special petitions for virtual presentations in cases of last-minute emergency will be considered.

Onsite Accessibility Contact

Requests onsite are best directed to the Registration Table during conference hours. No one is required to disclose a disability, but we can better meet specific needs if we know well ahead of the conference that a reasonable disability-related accommodation will be needed. We will do our best to meet accessibility needs that come up during the conference.

Tucson Sun Link Streetcar

ALTA-sponsored offsite events will be held in venues in close proximity to the Tucson Sun Link streetcar route. The streetcar is fully ADA accessible, has easy access for mobility devices, strollers, and bicycles, and is free to ride. Maps will be provided in the ALTA46 program book, or read more about the Sun Link streetcar online at this link.

Offsite Event Access Information 

ALTA does not sponsor all offsite events; offsite event organizers that have listed their event in the conference program book have certified that they verified that the venue where their event will be held is accessible according to standards of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). Descriptions of the access features at offsite event locations that sent their information to ALTA will be given in the ALTA46 program book, which will be live this fall. If you have any questions or concerns about specific offsite events, please contact the organizers of the event directly (contact information will be listed in the program book for offsite events that sent their information to ALTA).