#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.

[mandana-the-service-pup]

Denying a patient the right to a diagnosis just bc the disorder you suspect they have doesn’t have a cure is ableist and abuse of power.

Patients have the right to know what is going on with their body. If you aren’t prepared to help them, there is an entire community who can provide them with the knowledge & skills you lack (symptom management, clinical trials, latest research, emotional support, list of specialists and treatment options, etc).

The least you can do is give them the diagnosis.

[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!

[spooniestrongart]

[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!

[crazycatsiren]

Vienna is probably the most accessible European city I've been in so far.

Paris is definitely the worst.

[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!

[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

[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!)