Conference Accessibility

This year’s conference marks our first in-person gathering since the 2018 Conference at Rutgers University and the 2019 Symposium at UT Austin. We are excited about the opportunity that this conference provides for us all to reconnect and strengthen our intellectual community during these trying times. 

Because the pandemic is far from over and COVID continues to claim lives and create serious debilities, we are sharing these protocols in the hopes of keeping our community safe during this in-person gathering. We acknowledge that these protocols do not and cannot address all possible concerns about participating in the conference, but we hope that they act as a baseline of mutual respect and commitment to accessibility. In addition to the COVID protocols outlined below, we will be asking for your help and support in creating a fragrance-free environment at this year’s conference in order to make the space accessible to our colleagues with chemical sensitivities.

COVID Protocols

  • We expect all conference attendees to be fully vaccinated (with the exception of those unable to be vaccinated due to precluding medical conditions). We strongly encourage all attendees to also receive the new bivalent booster two weeks prior to the conference in order to have extra protection during the conference period. 

  • Masks are required in all conference rooms and common areas. You should plan on wearing a mask during the conference unless you are eating or drinking. We ask you to please use high-quality masks (N95, KF94, KN95) instead of cloth masks. We will have a limited number of masks to distribute to those who need them. You can help us by bringing extra masks.

  • We will have sanitizer stations and ask all attendees to please sanitize and wash their hands regularly. 

  • We encourage all attendees to be tested prior to the conference. Because PCR tests are more reliable, ideally you can test prior to coming to the conference, and do a rapid test before entering the conference and throughout the weekend. If you are able, please plan to bring tests with you to facilitate self-testing. If you have extra rapid tests to donate to the conference, we are happy to hold them at the registration table for those who need them.

  • If you are feeling unwell or showing any symptoms please stay home or in your hotel room. We cannot risk the safety of our vulnerable members. 

Fragrance-Free Event

We ask that you please refrain from wearing scented products such as perfumes/colognes, hair products, cosmetics, and scented lotions while attending this event, and avoid using scented soaps, shampoos, and detergents prior to the event. These products can trigger serious health issues for those with fragrance allergies and/or chemical sensitivities. Thank you for your consideration for all members of our community. More information on being fragrance-free can be found at http://sharetheair.ucla.edu.

We hope that you join us in making this year’s conference a space of collective care that enables everyone to participate fully. We look forward to seeing you all in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, please be in touch with any questions or concerns. We can be reached at ricanstudies@gmail.com.