[HacktionLab] mask tolerance

[Mike Harris]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for this and the thought you’ve put into it.  I wonder why we need to have something so specific about masks in particular?  The rest of the Policy is quite general and (I would say) deliberately non-specific.  There are many physical (or possibly psychological) conditions that we don’t explicitly mention, and again, like opening windows, physical needs or desires that we don’t explicitly detail either.   Instead of adding that statement, we could add or update an existing item in the Policy with something more generic about how we respect the way people present, what they choose to wear, and their overt and hidden disabilities.  How about something like that that?

My above thoughts on the first part kind of make this second point a little irrelevant.  Maybe this is splitting hairs, but does “respect their wishes” mean respect that they have wishes, or to have to do what the person wishes?  And this respecting of wishes is covering two very different things: wearing a mask, and wishing a window to be opened.   I’m obviously supportive of someone’s need to wear a mask (whatever the reason and the science behind it), but having the window open for me is a matter of debate and agreement with whosoever is there at the time. It may be very cold, raining and blustery outside, someone may be aged or of ill health and not want the window open, the venue may wish to minimise their heating bills, etc.  For me, this boils down to respecting that someone has wishes, but not having to necessarily act upon them.  We may need to discuss and agree whether the window is opened or not at the time of the request rather than have to have a policy about it.  

Mike.

Mike Harris
+44 7811 671 893
https://mbharris.co.uk . https://xtreamLab.net


> Missatge enviat per Nick Sellen <hacktionlab at nicksellen.co.uk> el dia 18 set. 2026 a les 11:45:
> 
> 
> Hey! I'd like to make an amendment to the hacktionlab safe spaces policy and the best way seems to be to have a post it here for feedback. It came about as I've been organising the event for this year, and trying to make it accessible for some people it might otherwise not be...
> 
> The current policy is this one: https://hacktionlab.org/index.php?title=Safe_Spaces_policy which is from back in 2017. The proposal is to add one extra line on the Safe Spaces policy document stating:
> 
> "If people wish to wear a mask or open a window for health reasons please respect their wishes"
> 
> So, I'm asking for any feedback, which could be an objection, an improvement, or something else!
> 
> As the event is coming up quite soon, I'd like to conclude this by next monday.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Nick
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