Currently Toronto Aces & Aros is continuing with online events while we are now also hosting in-person events too. We try to have a mix of voice/video and all-text online events. We ask that everyone not communicating by ASL to wear a mask for indoor events (as this helps keeps everyone as safe as possible, including those who must show their faces to communicate properly in ASL).
Toronto Aces & Aros is currently holding monthly in-person events on the 2nd Sunday of every month in the afternoon at The 519 Centre (Toronto’s LGBTQ+ community centre (519 Church St.). This venue is:
- wheelchair-accessible (large ramp to enter; power doors; and elevator inside)
- all-gender accessible washrooms
- near Wellesley station, which now has an elevator
This space has a combination of fluorescent and other lights. We can also make arrangements to bring lamps or leave overhead lights off. Please let us know about your lighting-related access needs and we will do our best to work with you to find a workable set-up.
We are committed to providing a space where people’s interactions are as consensual as possible. This includes our expectation that people ask and receive an explicit, non-pressured agreement before photographing anyone, and also ask and receive an explicit, non-pressured agreement about where a photograph may be shared prior to sharing it. While we cannot prevent anyone from photographing others without their consent, we do make it clear this behaviour is unacceptable at our events and we will attempt to address any issues that arise.
We are committed to the financial accessibility of our meetups, focusing primarily on free events. (We may on occasion organise an event to somewhere that requires the purchase of a ticket or has an admission fee but this is the rare exception.) If we organise a event with unusual organising costs, we will set a “suggested donation” level to help recover costs, but attendance will be strictly on a voluntary “pay what you can basis” with no-one turned away for lack of funds. We will never require or demand that anyone to give us money in order to attend an event.
We also try to announce meetup times & locations at least a week and a half in advance so that people who need to book WheelTrans are able to do that.
Furthermore, we understand that “space accessibility” goes beyond whether people are physically able to enter a space. People’s experiences are diverse and there are often issues that can make “being in a space with others” difficult and which therefore need to be accommodated. We currently have (and welcome) members who experience sensory processing issues, and/or issues of mental health/mental illness/madness. We consider these needs to the best of our collective ability in planning our meetups.
For example, we are working toward providing a reduced-scent environment. However, this is challenging because we often share space with other groups and because different people are sensitive to different scents. Please let us know about your scent-related and other sensory processing access needs, and we will do our best to accommodate them. We do ask that people avoid wearing scented products to meetups– check out our Scent Free Guide. We also provide unscented soap and ask that people use that instead of the soap already in the venue’s bathrooms.
Unfortunately, we are only able to offer ASL interpretation for occasional meetups and are currently working to be able to do so more frequently. We currently offer student ASL interpretation for most of board-game socials during the fall and winter months.
We do want to be as accessible as possible and we recognise this is a work in progress.
Please contact us about any accommodations you might need to access our meetups (toronto.aces.and.aros@gmail.com).
If you’re interested in regular ace (and/or arospec) community meetups (like monthly discussions and social events), consider joining the googlegroup to where you can participate in scheduling events and some other community discussion.
Return to the main Accessibility page or check out the Respect Guidelines.
Toronto Aces & Aros 