What’s new for 2026 bookfair access?
- MORE MASKING (we hope). Not only required indoors, but very strongly encouraged outdoors too.
- MORE SIGNAGE so you can find the ramps more easily.
- ACCESSIBILITY MAP coming soon.
- Want to submit accessibility feedback before it’s too late for 2026? Send us annonymous feedback from this page as soon as possible.
2025 Accessibility Overview
- Kid-friendly space: an activity tent is available especially for kids to enjoy being at the book fair.
- Translation upon request: ASL and Spanish bilingual comrades are available all day long to translate for those who request it at the welcome table.
- Bathrooms: two wheelchair accessible, gender-neutral bathrooms are available in the indoor space.
- Amplified sound for all workshops
- Accessibility tent near the ramp to the indoor space, and accessibility volunteers on hand all day
- N95 and KN95 masks available all day at the welcome table and accessibility tent
- Ramped spaces: The main entrance is onto a sloped brick path at the back patio (on 28th street) for all attendees. The brick path is smooth enough for most wheelchair use, and access comrades are available all day to help clear paths or push wheelchairs up or down the slope the path. The path does not have hand rails. The path connects to both a ramp to the lower yard, and a ramp to the indoor spaces. The lower yard ramp is an 11 foot aluminum ramp with tread, to access several vendor’s tents (on dirt) that are not along the brick path. The aluminum ramp has a partial hand rail on one side. The ramp to the indoors is about 20 feet long and 4 feet wide. It is made of wood and has a handrail. A portion (about a quarter) of the back patio is on sloped dirt that is not wheelchair accessible. Additional vendors are accessible by wheelchair in the side parking lot, which has a separate driveway entrance (also on 28th Street). There is a short threshold ramp at the gate at the top of the driveway slope, and book fair volunteers are nearby all day to assist with access over the threshold.
2025 Detailed Accessibility Statements
Workshops
- All workshops will be indoors with amplified sound.
- We have interpreters available all day for ASL and Spanish interpretation. Please contact us if you know you will need interpretation for a specific session, or let the welcome table know when you arrive.
- There will be prioritized seating for clear sight Lines and wheelchairs in the workshop areas.
Medical Attention
- There will be a medic on site all day.
- If you need medical support, go to the Accessibility Space or Welcome Table.
Accessibility Tent
- There will be a shaded area with water & snacks, prioritized for people with disabilities, neurodivergent folks, or anyone who faces similar obstacles.
- This area will have a cot, a variety of walkers, rollators, and wheelchairs, ground mats, earplugs, rapid covid tests, fragrance-free hand sanitizer, fragrance-free sunscreen, stim tools of many kinds, a few outlets to charge assistive devices, and seating in the shade of the tent, including fat-friendly chairs.
- Accessibility volunteers (aka access comrades aka access bloc) will be on hand to help. They may be able to meet the needs themselves, or at least notify book fair organizers in cases when a more coordinated response is required.
Ways access comrades can support
- Listening supportively
- Brainstorming possible solutions for you to choose from
- Giving out food, water, fragrance-free wet wipes / hand sanitizer / sunscreen, earplugs
- Loaning out stim tools, walkers, rollators, wheelchairs, a cot, or chairs including fat-friendly chairs
- Audio-describing an area or event if you are blind or have low vision
- Helping you navigate the spaces of the book fair if you have a mobility or vision disability (it gets crowded! We can help part the seas
- Helping find free non-verbal communication apps to express yourself
- Helping find apps for Al captioning, if you have trouble hearing or processing speech
- Notifying organizers of the book fair, in cases that require a more coordinated response.
Other
If you have an access need that isn’t met by our current plans, let us know! We want to make this space as accessible as possible.
Statement on Mutual Responsibility
The Book Fair Collective developed this statement of mutual responsibility to provide information & suggestions to make the event a functional space for most people. Anarchism is about collective responsibility, and Book Fair participants are responsible for their conduct and looking out for each other.
Inevitably, with large, free events, there may be people present who are sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, or oppressive in other ways. We cannot guarantee a safe space, but ask that you keep this statement in mind, practice security culture, and do your part to make the Book Fair valuable for our community.
As the Book Fair organizing collective, we will try to deal with issues brought to our attention in a calm, respectful way. We ask that everyone take this same approach and try not to escalate any situation. The Book Fair is an opportunity for meeting each other and learning, not for pursuing ongoing conflicts. If nothing else, the likely presence of undercover police makes this a poor political practice.
If an individual is known to have engaged in oppressive behavior, then it is up to people who know them to put accountability processes in place. If that has not been done, the Book Fair is not the time or place to do so. Organizers and participants cannot and will not act as judge, jury, or police force. However, we will do our best to deal with situations that arise at the Book Fair. We reserve the right to ask anybody acting in what we consider to be an inappropriate manner to leave the event without warning, or to permanently ban them as a last resort.
The Book Fair collective maintains a spirit of openness towards the different traditions, visions, and practices of anarchism. We also expect there to be non-anarchists and people new to anarchism present. We ask that all participants also take an open-minded and welcoming approach, and recognize that thought should be given as to how and where inter-community conflicts are raised or resolved.
If groups have been accepted to table, we will not ban publications from their stalls.
Book Fair participants are encouraged to read & discuss materials and reach their own conclusions. We trust the organizations we have accepted at the Book Fair and likewise expect them to show respect in the materials they bring to the event and be prepared to explain the inclusion of a publication to anyone who questions it.