Earlier this week, the American Philosophical Association (APA) announced that it would discontinue its 2+1 experiment, the “experiment” whereby one of its three annual conferences would be held online and hence be accessible to disabled philosophers and other groups of philosophers otherwise excluded from the association’s events. You can read the stated rationale for this decision here.

While the 2+1 formula itself was tantamount to a segregationst mechanism, the APA’s decision to entirely eliminate online participation in its events constitutes another form of outright discrimination. Indeed, the APA has reinstated itself as an association of DERPs, that is, an association by and for Disabled Exclusionary Righteous Philosophers (for explanation of this term, go here and here). As many philosophers of disability who dwell on these matters recognize and aim to identify, however, the subordination of disabled people is fundamental to philosophy, that is, foundational to its guiding and core assumptions. Hence, this decision is, for us, unsurprising, predictable even.

It would, nevertheless, be more palatable and forthcoming for the APA leadership to acknowledge the biases and limitations of their respective understandings about and conceptions of (for example) disability and (in)accessibility, equity, and exclusion, rather than to suggest, as some of them have done on Daily Nous and Facebook, that critics of this decision have underestimated them, been unfair to them, condescended to them, and so on. I distinctly recall that about a dozen years ago some of them argued that it would be too expensive to make (in-person) APA conferences accessible. While these conferences, that is, these (exclusionary) in-person conferences, remain inaccessible in a variety of ways, the APA leadership appeals to improvement of them in these regards as evidence of its continuing efforts to welcome disabled philosophers, implicitly and explicitly signaling to us that it can learn from its past epistemic indifference and ethical shortcomings. Perhaps in another decade, if it were to persevere with them, the APA could likewise appeal to online conferences as further evidence of its additional self-improvements and desire to welcome us.

I have, virtually by myself, organized 5 online editions of the Philosophy, Disability, and Social Change conference series, albeit with the technical assistance of an events team at the University of Oxford. I am in the midst of organizing the 6th edition of the series with a new organizing team that, among others, comprises philosophers at various institutions, including the host institution, University of Central Florida. This 6th edition of the conference will take place entirely online at the end of the month. Hence, I have significant experience in relevant respects.

In any case, my experiences with the organization of these online conferences have been entirely unlike any of the descriptions that have been offered by the APA and its spokespeople. Granted, the conferences that I have organized were much smaller, with fewer sessions, presenters, and other participants. Yet I cannot help but think that the APA has created an enormous amount of mystification about the putative complexities of organizing online conferences, fictionalizing about them rather than edifying about their material consequences and the benefits of them for a variety of constituencies.

Perhaps if the APA had hired a highly qualified and specialized technician to help produce the single online conference that it has thus far planned, many of the issues that it claims to have encountered would not have taken place or would have been easily resolved. For the past 5 editions of Philosophy, Disability, and Social Change, James Morris,** who is a freelance tech wizard and is now regarded as a valuable member of both our organizing team and community, has provided impeccable technical expertise for our conference, as well as offered accessibility information and explained Zoom functions to attendees in Zoom chats during the conferences, corresponded with presenters, and more. Jamie will of course do the tech for us at the end of the month. With Jamie’s oversight, our conferences run without a hitch. Ask any of the past participants.

**I would be happy to pass along Jamie’s contact information to anyone who wants to organize an online philosophy conference, workshop, or presentation conscientiously and diligently.