Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. – Rose City Comic-Con is an inclusive and family-friendly event I attended this fall.
There tend to be few functions where you can feel comfortable as a disabled person, but when planning, these event organizers really tried to pull out all the stops for the disabled community.
They had specified areas that helped reduce exposure to crowds and two quiet rooms that were meant for calming down from overstimulation.
Rose City Comic-Con 2023 was a little tough because they did not notify attendees that they had reverted to pre-2020 attendance standards.
It was completely packed, which made it nearly impossible to navigate.
They were not very prepared because this was the first time operating with that rate of participation.
People who had the capability to help in any way, did.
A part of this event that was really fun and exciting for me was doing meet and greets with celebrities.
At the time of this event, I was recovering from surgeries on both of my legs.
Zoë Saldaña, who played Neytiri in the Avatar franchise and Gamora in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, signed my cast.
So did Ashley Johnson, who voiced Ellie in The Last of Us game series and played Chrissy Seaver in Growing Pains; Karen Gillan who played Nebula in Guardians of the Galaxy and Alex Kingston from Doctor Who. They even said that it was a first for them.
Rose City Comic-Con helped make the meetings better by giving me the option to have the celebrities wear a mask.
While I had a joyous time and it was quite fun, getting around was very difficult, and my family and I weren’t prepared.
My only recommendation would be to prepare tenfold.
Despite everything, I do not regret it!
McKenzie Andersen is a Reporter with Youth Journalism International.
