#accessibility matters

[crazycatsiren]

Tried to go to a fall festival, it was sensory and inaccessibility hell. So I left.

One car blocked a disabled parking spot in a parking lot and the people were standing outside the car chatting, the guy had the audacity to point at the sign on the ground when I tried to pull in to park. I showed my placard. They were all like "oops oh my gosh I'm so sorry" but still didn't move their car.

Then I got shooed to walk faster while crossing a street on the crosswalk by a trolley driver and I was walking with my rollator. By the time I made it back to my car I was ready to spill blood.

[airasora]

You: "You're AI positive? So you support AI stealing art?"

Me: "No, I support technological advancements that can enhance life quality and make life more accessible for everyone... like Hearview glasses."

Video by Chrissy Marshall

[fayrobertsuk]

Poetry for ALL

Some personal anecdotes and a plea follow...

As quite a few of you know, I’ve been engaged in disability awareness and rights campaigning and other work since sometime in the 90s, so when I was given an opportunity to support and host an event dedicated to making performance poetry as accessible as possible in 2018, I jumped on it.

(image description in alt text)

Poetry for All is the brainchild (and heartchild, and soulchild) of Rose Drew, who I first met through one of Richard Tyrone Jones’s Utter events in London. She’s an extraordinary writer and performer, and a powerhouse of an events host and organiser. Within about 30 seconds of watching her on stage, I knew I wanted to be like her when I grew up as an artist. When she got in touch three years later to ask if I’d like to help out with what turned out to be the inaugural event, I threw myself into providing as much support as possible with enthusiastic abandon, and we pulled together a line-up which included the extraordinary performers Raymond Antrobus and DL Williams (“DeafFirefly”), both of whom I’d performed with before and was keen to see again. 

Now, there’s a whole section on our new website about the history of the events where you can read the facts, but I want to say here that, personally, that first event in March 2018 (coincidentally on my birthday!) was an absolute eye-opener – seeing how poetry events could expand and develop the ideal of accessibility in ways I hadn’t considered. It was also extremely inspirational as I realised that, well, I was allowed to write about my disabilities. Seeing and hearing artist after artist sharing so much and so eloquently unlocked something in me that I didn’t even know I’d been repressing:

I’m allowed to be an openly disabled poet. I’m allowed to express my neurodivergence. I can tell my truth. 😱🤯

Bit of a culture-shock, but I owe so much to the poets and to Rose (and to Dave Wycherley, BSL interpreter extraordinaire – that’s a hard and physically/ mentally taxing job as it is, but to do that with poetry? on the fly?! breathtaking...) for helping me get to that starting point, knocking down the walls of my own internalised ableism.

So, apart from a paean to self-expression and why representation and finding tribe matters, and a screed of gratitude for new friends made and old friendships strengthened through the course of these events, why am I writing this? What’s with the hashtag? “Plea...?”

Well, so far, since you ask, all of our events have had local funding in York, where they’ve taken place exclusively so far. Rose applied for Arts Council England funding for this and next year for a tour comprising several venues and a host more disabled artists and BSL interpreters from various parts of the UK (all getting paid properly!), but we found out last week that we’d not got the money. Any of it. So our forthcoming event on 24th November in the gorgeous National Centre for Early Music is in jeopardy and, since the thought of Rose (herself a disabled artist on low wages) having to pay for this out of her own pocket was not to be supported, I threw myself at a plan of creating a (somewhat last-minute) Crowdfunder, so that we can at least pay for the venue, the artists’ and interpreters’ fees, the travel and accommodation expenses of those of us coming from out of town, and the costs of producing merchandise to sell. We’ll be producing an anthology in print and ebook form, as a joint publication between indie publishers Stairwell Books and Allographic Press. And, if we exceed our funding goal, there’ll be video and audio available of the event to boot!

We’ve created a frankly very exciting range of pledge rewards for people wanting to support us (all the way from £1 and £2 options, since money is tight, especially for disabled folk, right now, to more chunky ones like private mentoring, workshops, and a publishing package), and we’ve got three weeks(!) to raise our £1,500 to cover the shortfall from ticket and merch sales. Eeep! So, if you’re able to and would like to help us, we’d be ever so grateful. The campaign is here:

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/poetry-for-all-2023-fundraiser

And if you have absolutely no funds to share with us at all, we’d be incredibly grateful if you shared on social media, with friends, on blogs, all of that!

Thanks for reading all this, and have a great day!

[mandana-the-service-pup]

Hey guys, GATA mask is having a sale! #notsponsored

gatapack.com

All masks are $10 and come with 10 disposable filters. This is the mask I have used exclusively for the past few years. It’s super comfortable silicone you can hand wash, boil or put in the dishwasher and then change the disposable filter as often as you feel comfortable. The bridge of the nose keeps your glasses from fogging up and it’s pretty comfortable. It comes in several colors and two sizes plus a child’s size (I wear an adult small).

Here are the downsides to this mask that I can think of:

- Changing the filter can be a little tricky and requires fine motor skills. If you have trouble with fine hand work it might not be possible to change the filter yourself and ensure it’s properly fitted.

- It can collect a lot of condensation inside if you are wearing it for hours or in really hot/humid environments. It’s not a problem for me (quick trips and appointments) but its not practical for Hubbins who works hard all day.

- Depending on your nose shape/size the tip of it might press against the plastic insert which holds the disposable filter in place. Its not uncomfortable for me but I’ve seen people just cut a piece out of the plastic insert and they feel better.

I love this mask. I keep one clipped onto my doggy bag at all times and I highly recommend the brand name version when they are on sale like this!

[optionalcausality]

It's such a small thing to get mad about, but.

One of my neighbors in the Skilled Nursing Facility is a staunch lid-down believer. We unfortunately share a toilet.

And due to my back, I can't bend down to lift the toilet seat lid.

I eventually put up a sign, KEEP LID UP, and for a while, it worked. But now every time I go into the restroom, I find that the lid is down again.

(They apparently got out of bed at 3 a.m. to lower the lid again, I suspect because whichever person is doing this is trying to Make A Point to me, not realizing that this effectively blocks the use of the toilet until I can call a staff member for help.)

[tillystealeaves]

HEY FRIENDS!!!!

Bluestockings Cooperative Bookstore in NY is an amazing place! Queer and feminist books, events, and a community hub with resources. But their landlords are making things really hard for them right now. Could you please sign this petition urging landlords to keep this space accessible for all?

[dezi-desire]

We thought a visual tour of our upcoming venue for "Our Lips Are Concealed Cabaret" on Sept 13th would be more useful than just telling y'all it's accessible because a lot of places that state such are lacking in different areas. Hope this helps!

In this video: Dezi & Oliver are two white non-binary tattooed individuals on transit and touring a theatre. Dezi has short neon green hair that matches their kn95 mask, respiray wearable air purifier, and outfit. Oliver is using a mobility scooter, has mid length purple hair that matches their shoes and is wearing glasses and pink kn95 that matches their stripey jumpsuit.

[trashpandafeminism]

The cannabis industry is booming, but it's leaving many disabled women behind. Dispensaries often lack accessibility features, and many jobs in the industry require physical labor or inflexible schedules that don't work for everyone. It's time for change. 

We need to work together to make the cannabis industry more inclusive for everyone, including disabled women. This means improving accessibility, offering more flexible work arrangements, and breaking down barriers to entry.

Let's create a future where everyone has equal opportunities to succeed in the cannabis industry.

[inyw21]

I suppose I'm taking my one man army of trying to get more people to use alt text from Twitter to Tumblr.

Please

Use alt text!! It doesn't even have to be in the little pop up thing! It can be a pic ID in the post text! Tumblr doesn't limit character count! If you have questions, ask! I cannot be the only blind/visually impaired person who finds it useful!!

Here's a Harvard article on how to write basic alt text!

(they don't mention writing out the text in the picture, which you should absolutely do)

I would be thrilled if people asked me for help!! My asks are open!!

Ending on a positive note, I've seen much more alt text/pic ids here on Tumblr than I ever did on Twitter and that does make me happy!

[inyw21]

With apologies to the person I'm reblogging from (because Tumblr won't load the original post for whatever reason), hey OP, this is actually not a fun joke for folks who rely on screen readers. Accessable tools should not be used in a jokey manner. Now, can you make fun jokes in alt text? Absolutely! But its primary purpose is as a tool for blind and visually impaired folks (such as myself). I find it frustrating when people do things like this because while I don't always rely on alt text, I do use it and I know others do as well exclusively as an accessibility tool.

*steps off soap box* thank you

[crazycatsiren]

"You know this is the disability parking spot right?"

Me: make direct eye contact as I hang up my placard on my rear view mirror.

Me: feeling stupid for not minding your own business yet, bitch?

[fayrobertsuk]

Day 7 and our campaign is now at 62% of the target. Will you help us go further (we don't get any unless we hit 100%)? We have 15 days left to raise the funds for our accessible poetry event.

(I'm honestly a bit in shock that we've got this far by this point! Clearly there are some extremely lovely people out there!)

[redheadosity]

Ugh! This is so true! While I am a hearing individual, I also prefer to have subtitles on. I find it helps when there are accents I am unfamiliar with, or just with following a conversation on screen cause my ADHD can cause me to miss pieces, but I miss less when I can see the words along with hearing them.

The amount of incorrect or incomplete subtitles in media is atrocious. Use the script, make adjustments for improvised moments during the production process, and release the verified subtitles with the media to the company showing it. This should be common sense...

I, a hearing person who likes subtitles just as a preference, shouldn't have to read a subtitle that's obvious nonsense, go back a couple seconds, and listen again in order to figure out what's going on. An accessibility feature should not be the most half-assed part of a professionally made production. Scripted media has absolutely no excuse for not having subtitles or having subtitles that aren't perfectly verbatim. Professional captioning services should be ashamed of the shoddy work that they put out. Captions should be treated as a part of the production, just like filming, editing, audio balancing, etc - and anything that releases with missing or bad captions should be seen as unfinished

[mandana-the-service-pup]

Just made a “reasonable accommodation” request for our first rental house. The current door lock & handle are not very accessible for me but changing them is against our lease.

When everything is sorted out I’ll post the results & what was said for anyone else who may be facing a similar issue in the United States.

[jaspernotcasper]

in a chat i was in several people were talking about microwaves and i just HAD to share in my word about them. they're the greatest things u could ever have in any building except when they're fixated on the highest altitude u could imagine,like theres no reason to put a microwave in a area thats so close to the ceiling of a kitchen yet people still build cabinets so high up only a giraffe could use it.why.i NEVER understood that.its like they support tall people so obsessively and never care about those who are short,or who have mobility issues,cant reach up that high,etm. i just think that microwaves should be at COUNTER level,not airplane level,you think i can just magically hover 4 feet off the ground just to tap 2 minutes? fuck you. if you call yourself a 'interior designer' yet have the balls to build a cabinet above the kitchen light and think that it would be a 'Great Idea'? then you are so incredibly incorrect.if you called yourself a interior designer or whatever the fuck you are then you would care about accessibility.you would know that not every1 is the height of a na'vi or a giant and actually realise that the people paying your rent money are already going thru enough and having a microwave so high up the roof is already another struggle. which reminds me of my house.yes i love walking in the tiles that arent infected with carpet floor and cleaning it spotless so many times but one thing that bothers me a lot actually is the lack of handles the cabinet doors of the kitchen has. there are ZERO handles on any of the lil doors that open in the kitchen and i have to constantly struggle to open the bottom of the doors with my foot just to throw a container in it while washing plates.i dont care if you're going for that 'futuristic' and 'minimalistic' look to house,the best you could do is hire someone to install matching handles that fit the vibe,and i dont think there should be ANY reason to build a cabinet above the kitchen light thinking a microwave Would Fit So Well.fuck you,like seriously. this site is so right about landlords they're nothing but greedy and selfish assholes because how are you gonna be a misandrist but not care about how accessible your houses can be if you just tried.accessibility matters if you REALLY look deep and hard into it if you think about it. you should focus on caring about the accessibility of the people paying rent to you instead of caring so much if a man owned a house of yours. Do Better.