The Access Guideline Is Shared Experience

Key takeaway

Someone treated MG-16 like a building code or a promise of a ramp. It is shared experience on working with members who have access needs. A guideline is not a ramp. You can ask one person what this room can actually do. If the building fails, a phone or online meeting is still a meeting.

Last updated: Tue Oct 06 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

You got as far as the door and the building stopped you. Stairs, a narrow turn, a bathroom you cannot use, a voice you cannot hear, a printout you cannot read. Somebody answered with a guideline. MG-16. They said it the way people say a code, as if the paper itself were a ramp. You are still outside, or you are inside and stuck in a chair that does not work, and the paper did not change the room. That gap is humiliating. You came about drinking, and you are negotiating architecture.

A guideline is not a ramp.

What shared experience means

MG-16 is Accessibility for All Alcoholics. The catalog calls it shared experience on working with members who have access needs. Shared experience is members saying what they tried, so the next person doing the work is not starting from a blank page. It is a service piece. It is not an inspector with a clipboard. It does not grade the church basement you are staring at.

You can be glad the experience was written down. People have already met barriers, and they wrote about working with members who hit them. That is company of a kind. It is not a promise that this doorway complies with anything. A building code is enforced by people who can shut a project down. A guideline in A.A. is something groups may use. Tradition Four says each group is autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole. The practical limit of the room in front of you is still whatever that room can actually do tonight.

If someone waved MG-16 as proof the ramp exists, they mixed up a piece of literature with lumber. You are allowed to feel the insult without turning it into a lecture of your own. You need a true sentence about this building. The guideline cannot say it.

Ask one person about this room

Ask one person. Not a committee, not a catalog, not the group conscience in the abstract. One human who is there: someone setting up, someone who looks like they know the room, someone who smiled. Say the barrier in a single sentence. A ramp. A seat you can reach. A way to hear. Whatever the stop actually is. Then wait for their answer.

You do not owe a medical history to earn that answer. There are no dues or fees. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. Stairs are not in that sentence. Introducing yourself to the whole room is not mandatory. You need not join a prayer. If the person you asked does not know, you have still learned that this room has not sorted it. That is useful. It is disappointing, and it is better than a pamphlet pretending.

Believe the limit they name. If they say the bathroom is down a flight, the bathroom is down a flight. If they say they do not have a way for you to hear, they do not. Hope is not a fact you can lean a wheelchair on. The longer page for the shame of that moment is when getting in is the barrier. The page about not hearing the share is there if ears are the specific wall. Shared experience got treated like a code. The paper is not the doorway.

If the building is the stop

Meetings are in person, online, or by phone. If the building is the problem, a phone meeting or an online meeting lets you hear people without clearing the doorway. Online can be video on, video off, or dial-in. You can keep the camera off. You can just listen. What to expect still applies when the meeting is a voice: people share experience, strength, and hope, and you can leave. A beginner meeting is a fair place to be new. It is not a guaranteed accessible hall.

aa.org is not a meeting finder, and it is not a database of ramps. Local lists come from local A.A. The meetings search is a place to look for a phone or video-off meeting if the street is the wall. Listings there are not verified, so confirm what a human can confirm. A listing that says nothing about access has told you nothing about access. Do not fill the blank in with MG-16.

Closed meetings are for members, or for people with a drinking problem and a desire to stop. Open meetings are for anyone interested, and a nonalcoholic may attend as an observer. If someone comes to help you get in, ask which kind of meeting you are entering. The ask is ordinary. The guideline will not answer it for you.

You can leave a room you cannot use. Leaving is not quitting the desire to stop. It is refusing to confuse a building with the Fellowship.

Do not wait on a ramp if you are sick

A guideline will not build anything before morning, and withdrawal will not wait on construction. Call 911 if you are sick, confused, or cannot breathe. Call or text 988 if you are in a mental health crisis. NIAAA says alcohol withdrawal can be life-threatening when a person who drinks heavily over time stops suddenly. NIDA says mutual-help groups such as A.A. are peer-led, not led by healthcare professionals, and not a substitute for treatment. A meeting is not detox.

FindTreatment.gov lists programs. SAMHSA's National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357), is free, confidential, and available 24/7 in English and Spanish.

Tonight

Ask one person what this room can actually do. If you are not at the door yet, use the meetings search and look for a phone or online meeting you can reach, then confirm it. If the room cannot do what your body needs, leave and try a meeting that does not depend on that building. MG-16 can teach members who are doing the work. It cannot be the ramp. Your desire to stop drinking does not have to climb a stair that is not there.

Call (800) 653-9376 if you need treatment; the call is free to you, treatment providers pay for the referral, the line is not an intergroup, and the line is not A.A., and it is not SMART Recovery.

Additional Resources

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Common Questions

Does this guideline mean the meeting has a ramp?

No. MG-16, Accessibility for All Alcoholics, is shared experience on working with members who have access needs. It is not a building code and not an inspection of your doorway. A guideline cannot pour a ramp or promise an interpreter. Ask one person what this room can actually do, and believe the limit. If the building will not work, you learned about a building. The requirement is still a desire to stop drinking.

What is shared experience, in plain words?

Members wrote what they tried when access got in the way, so other members could learn. The guideline collects that for people doing the work. It does not bind a landlord, and it is not a statute. Each group is autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole, so the practical answer comes from the people in front of you. You can be glad it was written and still face a stair you cannot climb.

Who do I ask, and what do I say?

Ask one person who is there, someone setting up or someone who knows the room. Say the barrier in one sentence, then let them answer. You do not owe a medical history. There are no dues or fees. Introducing yourself to the whole room is not mandatory. If they do not know, that is also an answer. You can try a phone or online meeting the same night instead of standing at a doorway that will not work.

What if this building cannot do what I need?

Leave that building. Meetings are in person, online, or by phone. A phone meeting is a meeting if the building is the wall. The longer guide on when getting in is the barrier stays with that problem. aa.org is not a meeting finder, and it does not promise a listed room is accessible. Confirm what you can. The meetings search on this site is not verified. You can listen, and you can leave.

What if I am too sick to hunt for an accessible room?

Stop hunting and get care. Call 911 if you are sick, confused, or cannot breathe. Call or text 988 if you are in a mental health crisis. Alcohol withdrawal can be life-threatening when a person who drinks heavily over time stops suddenly. A guideline will not build a ramp in time, and a meeting is not detox. Mutual-help groups such as A.A. are peer-led, not a substitute for treatment. FindTreatment.gov lists programs.