APTA Event Commitment

Your event, your community, your experience.

APTA is committed to creating a safe, inclusive, healthy, accessible, and environmentally sustainable event experience for the APTA Combined Sections Meeting. Steps we are taking to meet this commitment include:

	Inclusivity: Making participants feel welcomed and included by ensuring that the program venues are in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act regulations; creating 20 private lactation spaces in the convention center and five in each hotel; designating two all-gender bathrooms in the convention center and at least one in each hotel; creating a wellness/quiet room for attendees who need a break from the crowd or space for prayer; giving attendees the option to choose their pronouns on their badge; a land acknowledgement; and special needs requests during registration.
	Safety: Creating an environment where participants are physically safe, including working with local partners to monitor crimes occurring within a certain radius of our event venue; hiring security to safeguard our space; learning and sharing how the emergency notification system works, especially for those with disabilities; stocking emergency response resources; creating a crisis plan specific to our conference spaces in Houston; holding a preconference security meeting with all major event vendors to review the security procedures; and establishing protocols for reporting personal safety concerns to APTA staff.
	Health: Providing health and wellness resources for attendees, including first aid and on-site EMTs; curating a list of the closest hospitals and urgent care locations; documenting automated external defibrillator, or AED, unit locations throughout the convention center; and establishing emergency response protocols for APTA staff.
	Accessibility: Seeking reasonable accommodations to help participants have a meaningful and engaging experience, including collecting requests for special needs during registration; securing hotel rooms that meet Americans with Disabilities Act regulations as requested; making closed-captioning available in two-thirds of the programming; reserving wheelchair-accessible space at the front of each session room; and identifying accessible street crossings between venues.
	Sustainability: Developing solutions to minimize our environmental footprint in the venues and throughout the surrounding community, as well as requesting all recycling, reuse, and food waste options from our venues including the recycling of textiles; working with our caterers to donate all leftover food to local food banks; providing event materials electronically; donating leftover exhibitor materials to local teachers and students; providing watercoolers at event venues and encouraging reusable water bottle use; supporting the use of green cleaning products; and reusing signage as appropriate from year to year.

You can report an incident using APTA's independent, Whistleblower Hotline.

Accessibility, Wellness, and Family Resources

Download this PDF for a full list of accessibility, wellness, and family needs resources including parking options, lactation rooms, stroller rentals, and more.

Mobility Constraints*

Due to the size of the George R. Brown Convention Center, Hilton Americas-Houston, and Marriott Marquis Houston, the distance between sessions can be considerable. If you are a regular wheelchair user, you should bring your chair. For those attendees who do not bring their own wheelchair or have mobility needs that may require assistance, please make arrangements prior to arriving onsite to rent a wheelchair or electric scooter as the venues do not have any available to rent.

To order a mobility device, call Cloud of Goods toll-free at 407-545-3103, by email or online. Make your reservation early to ensure availability. All arrangements are the attendee' responsibility. Cloud of Goods can deliver to the convention center or your hotel 24 hours in advance (not the day of arrival).

Lightweight Mobility Scooter Rental: $182* when rented for five days.
Heavy Duty Mobility Scooter Rental: $187* when rented for five days.

*Please note that prices are subject to change.

Mobility devices can also be rented from the following company:
Scootaround
Phone: 204-982-0657 / 888-441-7575
Email

*APTA disclaimer: APTA does not endorse, makes no representations or warranties for, and disclaims all liability regarding the listed services. APTA recommends that you conduct your own due diligence to ensure that you are comfortable with a service provider.

Download this PDF for a full list of accessibility, wellness, and family needs resources including parking options, lactation rooms, stroller rentals, and more.