[games_access] GDC 2008 -- who is going + acceptance update

[d. michelle hinn]

Hi everyone,

GDC acceptances are starting to trickle in (Dec 1 is when we'll know 
everything -- some prelim sessions are already on their website at 
www.gdconf.com but these are sessions that didn't go through the main 
system and/or were invited so no one panic!).

Some good news -- I just learned this week that Reid's proposal on 
programming a dynamic [cc] system was accepted through the regular 
proposal system so I'm hopeful that this is a good sign for us! That 
was an early bit of feedback...so cool!!!! I'm not certain but I 
think this is the first time this talk has been accepted (unless I'm 
mixed up -- I'm pretty sure he's put this in once or twice) so we're 
starting to do something right! :)

On the schedule already is the accessibility arcade. We also have the 
Meet and Greet, which is being hosted by Eelke. Eelke, you are 
hosting the meet and greet. :) More info on this soon but this is the 
session that was held at the IGDA booth last year and oddly 
interrupted by PBS filming some of us eating (some of us who were so 
starved we had to use a part of that time to eat or we would have 
died!). I thought that you'd have some great ideas about maximizing 
this opportunity, especially after we talked a bit about it and the 
rest of GDC at E for All.

I need to be sure that I have everyone's name who is hoping to go to 
GDC. Please confirm this with me by emailing me at hinn at uiuc.edu (to 
avoid list excess traffic) and if you need extra passes for ADA 
purposes, let me know that too and how many you'll need. Also, if you 
require a ramp, interpreter, or other accommodation due to 
disability, please let me know that too as putting in ramps, etc do 
take additional time to arrange. I still can't promise we'll get all 
the passes we want but I'm trying. So far we have now covered three 
of us

Note that ADA accommodations do NOT effect our pass count so if 
someone requires an assistant that does not mean that we have fewer 
passes to reflect this. These accommodations are US law and CMP (the 
group that runs GDC) is VERY good at respecting that with absolutely 
no questions. Unfortunately not every conference group is as 
enlightened -- I've had to deal in the past with groups that try to 
penalize people for the accommodations they are supposed to provide. 
So it's very refreshing that CMP has always been a "no questions 
asked/what can we do to provide the best accommodations" group!

Michelle