Accessibility

Accessibility FAQ

For questions about accessibility, please contact the accessibility chairs (Daniel Seita and Guangyao Shi) at: seita@usc.edu and shig@usc.edu.

The conference will be held at the campus of the University of Southern California.

Requesting accommodations:

Accommodations can be requested by contacting the accessibility chairs. We are committed to making RSS a welcoming conference for researchers with disabilities and will do our best to honor requests. Please submit requests as early as possible (ideally by the early registration deadline) for the best chance of receiving your preferred accommodation.

Conference Venue

RSS will be held in several buildings over the course of the conference. The main building is the Bovard Auditorium, which will host the main conference. Venue Name: Bovard Auditorium Venue Phone: T: +1(213) 764-4943 Venue Email: bovprod@usc.edu Venue Contact: Cynthia Tucker (Trojan Event Services) +1(213) 821-1670

Venue map with some accessibility information: Home - USC Campus Map USC accessibility information (student-focused, but may have useful information about the campus): https://accessibility.usc.edu/

The following areas in Bovard are wheelchair accessible:

Lobby
4 seating areas in the orchestra level for a total of 12 wheelchair spaces. Each wheelchair space comes with an adjacent companion seat
1 seating area in the 1st balcony level for a total of 2 wheelchair spaces. Each wheelchair space comes with an adjacent companion seat
Bovard South Lobby/Reception room
Stage (from both the house and the backstage)
Most of the backstage area
Backstage restroom
ADA guest bathrooms near the lobby

Areas that are not wheelchair accessible in Bovard include:

Any part of the 2nd balcony
Dressing rooms
Large guest restrooms (but there are ADA restrooms right next to the large ones)

All floors are accessible by elevator, and all rooms are accessible for people with disabilities. The student volunteers or front desk staff in Bovard Auditorium will gladly assist you in finding the right room.

Breastfeeding: Designated lactation rooms at USC can be found here.

Emergency Evacuation: In the event of an emergency:

Guests seated in the upper orchestra level ADA seating can exit directly out of the lobby, the same way they came in.
Guests seated in the lower orchestra level ADA seating can exit out either side of the auditorium and then out the rear of the building
The ADA seating area in the first balcony is reached via elevator or stairs. If the elevator is inoperable, guests would need to be carried down the stairs. However, with 12 wheelchair spaces on the orchestra level, we rarely need to seat ADA guests on the balcony.

Restroom Directions and Access: There are three disabled toilets in the Bovard Auditorium. Two are on the south side of the auditorium, and one is on the north side. All three are gender-neutral.

Map of the venue:

Render view:

Bovard Auditorium orchestra seating diagram:

Bovard Auditorium 1st balcony seating diagram:

Assistance at the Conference

The hostess or front desk staff in Bovard Auditorium will gladly assist you in finding the right room. Visitors who need special assistance can request help from a student volunteer. Some student volunteers will be available at the conference, but requests for dedicated assistance from a student volunteer should be submitted to the accessibility chairs before the early registration deadline.

Arrangements for Presenters with Accessibility Needs

The session presentations will take place on the stage at Bovard Auditorium. The stage is wheelchair accessible. The presenters will stand at a podium. If you are a wheelchair user, please contact the accessibility chairs in advance, and our volunteers will help you move to the stage and set up your laptop.

Stage diagram:

Microphones

Microphones will be used for both speakers and for the question-and-answer sessions.

Induction Loops

The plenary sessions will be held at the Bovard Auditorium. In Section D of the Auditorium, a hearing loop has been installed. A listener with a hearing aid or cochlear implant can use the hearing loop by setting the device to the ‘T’ position.

Food

We will add more details here when they are available.

Emergencies

If you need urgent (medical) help or are faced with a life-threatening situation, you can always call the national emergency number 911. If you need help, but it is not an emergency, then call 213-740-4321 USC Department of Public Safety (DPS).

Other Spaces

We are currently working on exploring options for a smoking area, breastfeeding area, and quiet area. If you need one of these spaces, please get in touch with the accessibility chairs.

Smoke-free Areas: The conference center is located on the USC campus, which is completely smoke-free by law.

Nearby Facilities

The links for nearby facilities are given as follows.

Getting around Los Angeles

Public transit is moderately accessible for wheelchair users. LA has a metro system with several stations that stop near campus. You can check this for more information: https://www.metro.net/riding/schedules-2/ and https://www.metro.net/riding/riders-disabilities/.
Details on how to use the metro in LA can be found in https://www.metro.net/riding/guide/how-ride-rail/.
Ride-sharing (Uber and Lyft) is available in LA.