Dear Delegates,
As we approach BAMT2024, we wish to share our commitment to accessibility for all delegates, presenters, service users and additional guests. We have tried our best to listen and learn from the feedback of previous conferences, which has informed decisions throughout the planning process.
Our venue, the Curve Theatre, promotes itself as an accessible community space. It has felt important to find a venue that is a welcoming space for everyone. This fantastic, creative space is a fully wheelchair accessible building, and we will have two designated quiet spaces available throughout the weekend. There is a changing places toilet, as well as lift access to all parts of the building. Within the theatres there is a loop hearing system for those who use hearing aids, a cochlear implant or a loop listener.
We are sincerely grateful to those of you who have got in touch to let us know your accessibility needs. We have responded and incorporated these into the wider event: one example of this is our commitment to produce a dyslexia-friendly copy of the programme. We have also requested that all presentations are created following guidance from the British Dyslexia Association.
There will be clear signage throughout the venue and all of the social events will be taking place within the Curve Theatre to ensure that everyone can access and be part of each part of the conference.
We acknowledge that previous conferences have been very busy, with many sessions happening throughout the day. We have therefore committed to creating a more accessible programme: there are fewer sessions throughout the day and more breaks incorporated throughout the event.
The map of the venue, book of abstracts and programme will be available throughout the weekend via the conference app which will be launched soon.
It feels important to acknowledge and reiterate, as part of this accessibility statement, our disappointment at not being able to provide a hybrid conference as originally advertised. We are conscious of the impact this has on accessibility and are grateful to those of you who got in touch with us. We will learn from this going forward.
Following this decision, we have worked hard with presenters and the tech’ team at the Curve Theatre. We will therefore be able to offer recordings of Oral Presentations, Roundtables and the Spotlight sessions as an ‘On-demand’ service following the conference. The sessions where consent has been given to record are noted on the programme and we will announce how to access the recordings soon.
We are open to dialogue and we are keen to learn from your experiences: please do get in touch at any stage regarding the accessibility of the conference and we will endeavour to make any adjustments needed, as soon as possible.
We look forward to welcoming you to BAMT2024.
Thank you.
BAMT Conference Team
We appreciate the conference can be a busy time and throughout the weekend we will haveaccessibilityreps who will be on hand to answer questions, signpost or to listen to any issues that arise. Please contact a member of the BAMT team or ask our Accessibility Reps who are:
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Heather is a first year MA Music Therapy student at the University of South Wales and hails from the beautiful Isle of Man. With lived experience of disability herself, she is looking forward to supporting attendees at this year’s conference. Heather will be available during the weekend to help navigate or signpost around the building, we kindly ask that any concerns or issues regardingaccessibilityare taken directly to the BAMT team.
Andrew is the Chief Executive of BAMT and will be available throughout the weekend to signpost and listen to any issues or concerns that may arise. Andrew is a registered nurse by background and works closely with the membership to explore, understand and address accessibility within the profession.