On reducing barriers and increasing accessibility to Scrabble tournaments
Over the past six years, we've endeavored to grow the tournament Scrabble community by making it more open and accessible. We've approached accessibility from many angles. We pioneered the CoCo Scrabble Access Fund to offer free entry to people who face financial barriers. We launched the Newcomer Discounts program to welcome first-time players and ease the transition to the Collins lexicon. We've rented a wheelchair ramp and made ad hoc accommodations here and there as different player needs arose.
Some players require a temporary accommodation, like a fixed table assignment after injuring their leg. (I had that accommodation myself at a multi-day tournament years ago.) Other accommodations may be ongoing or permanent, such as approval to use large print tiles for vision needs.
We've been at this game long enough now to know it's time for a broader, more standardized approach to player accommodations. That's why, to design a policy that is fair and consistent, we convened a team of players to draft the first-ever CoCo Accommodations Policy.
The team that came together to write the policy included players from a wide range of backgrounds and levels of tournament experience. We benefited from the insights and perspectives of every single member of this team, from relative newcomers to seasoned experts. We owe much gratitude to Eric Fox, Chris Lipe, Ather Sharif, and Zachary Dang for all their contributions to the Accommodations Policy writing team.
Our new accommodations policy provides a streamlined, universally accessible form for players to request what they need to participate fully in Scrabble tournaments. It standardizes the information and documentation that players must provide when seeking accommodations, which helps ensure that accommodations are granted based on need.
This new policy is now in effect. All players who previously received accommodations must reapply under the new process if they still require accommodations. Several volunteers have stepped up to serve on the review team that considers these requests. I give huge thanks to Nits Chagti, Eric Fox, Melissa Routzahn, and Zachary Dang for generously giving their time to make sure we do right by the players who request accommodations.
Along with the new policy, you'll start to see little accommodations signs pop up at CoCo tournaments. These signs show what accommodations a player has been approved to receive, and when the accommodation expires. Players' signs will sit on the table next to their game board, making clear to all opponents what their approved accommodations are. Special recognition goes to Ather Sharif for hatching the idea for these signs and donating several sign stands to the CoCo.
We hope that this new policy will provide a fair and consistent approach to how we approve player accommodations going forward. Our goal is to meet and balance the needs of all players, directors, and organizers so that everyone has a positive tournament experience.