Access Fandom

Requisite #Heated Rivalry Content

Fri, 09 Jan 2026 19:24:19 GMT

Posted by: jesse_the_k

Heated Rivalry, the Canadian show about queer hockey romance, is popping up all over Dreamwidth (as well as every other platform). The Squeaky Wheel, which bills itself as "the first-ever satire publication that focuses on the experience of having a disability" channels The Onion as it mocks our disabled lives. Here’s their first take on the series:

Audio Description Ruins Family TV Night During Unexpected Sex Scene - The Squeaky Wheel

[hero photo not reproduced here; its alt text is "a family watching Heated Rivalry"]

A recent family TV night at the household of 14-year-old Sarah Mason ended abruptly when the audio description began to vividly relay the details of an unexpected and lengthy sex scene.

“It went on and on about the positions, and how much pleasure was on their faces, and so much ‘thrusting,’” said Sarah’s mother, Beverly Mason. “It was excruciating. I shut it off and told everyone to go to bed.”

( 270 more snarky words )

I'd love to learn whether Heated Rivalry's audio description is as sexy as the Squeaky Wheel would have it.

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Marissa Lingen's Writing Workshop Processing Vertigo

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 20:32:56 GMT

Posted by: jesse_the_k

Marissa Lingen (mrissa here) is a disabled SF writer. She’s been publishing short stories since 2001—over 200 so far. Most of her work is quite short, and I’m delighted at how her subtle implications generate detailed worlds and relationships.

Her disability experience informs her work. One of my faves is “A Pilgrimage to the God of High Places”, free to read in print or in audio at Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Like the author, the viewpoint character has vertigo.

Her monthly newsletter alerted me that she’s

leading a writing workshop where people can process their vertigo experiences through the written word.

FREE
23 November 2025 1700 GMT
must register in advance or more info
ar220@st-andrews.ac.uk

FULL DETAILS:
https://dateful.com/eventlink/1965359842

She’s eager to spread the word to people directly or indirectly affected by vertigo—please share the Dateful link far and wide.

Free Story, Essay & Interview

( links and excerpts )

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“Dateful” Simplifies Timing Online Events

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 22:07:07 GMT

Posted by: jesse_the_k

My cognitive impairments mean I always mess up time zones. I’ve participated in many events in the past five years. Only one managed to sense my current time zone and adjust all the info on their site to match. (And of course I can't remember which one it was.)

Which is why I love https://dateful.com. It’s an excellent tool when you’re communicating across time zones. It’s free. It features:

Time Zone Converter: convert between major world cities and timezones instantly as you type
World Clock: up to 20 clocks to see how the rest of the world can participate in your event
Time Calculator: adds and subtracts times, dates, and durations

And best of all:

Eventlink: create a link that converts an event’s time to the user’s current time zone and day. You can add an event title, description, and URL (meeting link or a web page), and you can offer an “add to my calendar” which works with Apple, Google, and Outlook.

All that info in a single link. You don’t need an account, but if you create one, you can go back and edit your Eventlinks.

I’m able to do these things with the keyboard; I welcome insights from readers using adaptive technology.

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We're part of a movement: The Electrical Eggs

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 23:18:28 GMT

Posted by: jesse_the_k

When I started working on WisCon access in 2007, some kind soul (name lost) gave me a black teeshirt printed in tactile gold--with both Latin letters and braille. It sang the praises of ELECTRICAL EGGS, who advocated for handicap accessibility in the 1970s and 1980s. I loved the shirt but didn't know their history.

So I was thrilled when the September 2025 Canadian Journal of Disability Studies, volume 14 number 2, starts off with Eric Vero's article:

Oral History of The Electrical Eggs: Science Fiction, Disability Activism, and Fan Conventions

https://cjds.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cjds/article/view/1262

The journal offers PDF, HTML, and "simplified HTML" versions of each article; all are open access, peer-reviewed, and Creative Commons licensed CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

ABSTRACT

Before the Americans with Disabilities Act was enacted in 1990, American science fiction fans in southern states organized, collaborated, and practiced accessibility at conventions. This grassroots movement began with the work of Samanda B. Jeude and a coalition of other science fiction fans who fought for visibility and access to convention spaces. In this oral history of their organization, “The Electrical Eggs,” I interview two key members decades after their participation in making conventions accessible. I complement these oral sources with brief histories of the role of eugenics and ableism in science fiction and the rise of disability activism in America. Although, the science fiction fandom still faces historical forces like ableism that have been present since its beginnings, the work of the Eggs is a testament to the power of collective action to provide accessibility in fan communities.

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Bare Bones Convention Accessibility Timeline

Wed, 29 Oct 2025 02:24:08 GMT

Posted by: soc_puppet

Between a friend contacting me a couple of weeks ago for help setting up Accessibility at the new con he joined, and just tonight hearing about the absolute bullshit that's been going on at TwitchCon (no ramp for their Guest of Honor wheelchair user to get up to the raised stage to receive an award, third year in a row with no ramps for him as a GoH), I figure I may as well share this here.

It's far from perfect, since I'm still almost entirely self-taught, and I built it on the convention I used to run Accessibility for, so there's some stuff that's not exactly universal, but hopefully it'll help someone out there!

( Convention Accessibility Timeline and Jobs )

This is far from perfect and from comprehensive both, but if you work on Accessibility for a convention, or are looking to get started doing so, hopefully you can use this as a sort of template to build around or tweak to your needs. Suggestions in the comments are very welcome, though I don't know if I'll be up to incorporating them into the post. Questions are also very welcome; I'll do my best to answer how I dealt with things, but anyone who wants to is free to chime in!

I've got more info to share as well, but I'm going to hold off on that for another post or two, as this one wore me out a bit already 😂

Edit: For clarity, since I was just overthinking it: This isn't a comprehensive list of services that were provided at the convention I worked; it's just a behind-the-scenes look at how I was involved in setting up some of the services we provided. (Plus some that I never got around to, like the ASL interpreters and Braille documents 🤦‍♀️) If you want inspiration for that, I suggest looking around for convention Accessibility Policies. Those should list out the various accessibility measures that a given convention has in place.

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Finally! Why It’s Harder to Hear Dialogue These Days

Sat, 27 Sep 2025 18:28:55 GMT

Posted by: jesse_the_k

The 20 Thousand Hertz podcast dives deep into Why is movie dialogue so hard to understand?, providing six possible reasons why more and more people are turning on subtitles/captions for movies, TV, and the streaming services we use to watch them. Reason six comes with a solution!

Dallas Taylor, 20k.org’s founder, points out video games have solved this problem: most permit users to individually adjust the loudness settings for

music
sound effects
dialogue

Movie sound, on the other hand, is designed to be impressive in a great big theater. But of course most of us watch the screen sector’s output at home.

https://www.20k.org/episodes/subtitleson has both the 30-minute audio and a transcript

I’m a big fan of this podcast, which is often disability-adjacent. In its nine years, it's covered how artists shape sound to convey meaning, how manufacturers tune their devices to be friendly, and how Beethoven created great music when he couldn’t hear at all.

Not surprisingly, many fans work with sound. Taylor solicited listener-produced contributions; I enjoyed the sixteen he chose. The overall winner celebrates the sonic scrapbook a Canadian sound designer keeps of his blind son’s upbringing, and introduces generational delight to the stop announcements on the Montreal transit system.

Accessibility Issue: I couldn’t open the SquareSpace transcript window using my tab key (crucial for those of us who don’t use mice) so I hope this highlight link to the control opens the transcript—let know about trouble/solutions in the comments.

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Request for Testing of Another Website

Sun, 18 May 2025 03:21:23 GMT

Posted by: jazzyjj

Hi everyone. Several years ago I posted here requesting assistance with some websites. Now I'm back to do the same thing. About 2 months ago I received an email on a list to which I am subscribed, regarding a website that was being launched about Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. They wanted people to sign up for their newsletter, but as I recently found out there is a problem. Actually 2 problems on the site, but I'll get to the other one in a bit. The newsletter sign-up form uses CloudFlare, which I believe Dreamwidth used at one point for security purposes or something like that. I might open a support ticket regarding this, but thought I'd ask here first. I've only encountered CloudFlare a little bit, but each time I attempted to fill in that form a box popped up prompting me to verify myself. I tried dismissing this pop-up to no avail. The verification checkbox is a good alternative imho, but it seems this one has been incorrectly implemented. The other problem on that website is with the forum registration. There is evidently some kind of CAPTCHA on the registration form, which was hopefully meant to be accessible for screen reader users such as myself. But there's some kind of site owner error. I attempted to contact them via their contact form, but again was met with that CloudFlare pop-up. I'm wondering if any of you who don't use screen readers could check out the website and see what happens. Oddly enough, it seems a couple of forum posts were made there, which to me seems impossible given that there is a forum registration. The website in question is http://www.title2.info , and I was able to read a few news articles on there but nothing else.

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WisCONline 23–25 May 2025

Sun, 27 Apr 2025 20:41:01 GMT

Posted by: jesse_the_k

wiscon is happening online this Memorial Day weekend.

WisCONline May 23-25 2025, online only
A feminist sci-fi and fantasy convention
$25 or pay what you can
Visit https://wiscon2025.sched.com
Guests of honor: ANDREA HAIRSTON; NAOMI KRITZER
Volunteers welcome--email personnel@sf3.org

Disability-Adjacent Panels include

The True Diversity of Neurodiversity
Going Beyond Representation: Speculations on Creating Disabled World Building
GOH Naomi Kritzer’s Hugo award–winning novelette, The Year Without Sunshine demonstrates how organizing mutual aid for disabled people guides a neighborhood through a very bad time. (Both text and audio at Uncanny Magazine).

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Accessible Zoo Visit

Fri, 18 Apr 2025 00:43:09 GMT

Posted by: soc_puppet

Not sure if this quite qualifies here, but people are fans of animals, so why not!

why-animals-do-the-thing had a colleague reach out and ask if they could help get some feedback on setting up a zoo tour for people with low vision. Honestly, I read the suggestions, and they sound pretty great, IMO.

You can check out the outlined plan over here. If you don't have a Tumblr account of your own, I'd be happy to pass on any feedback on your behalf.

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Including Disability Global Summit 22-24 April 2025

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 23:59:15 GMT

Posted by: jesse_the_k

This conference is “unapologetically” online for now, forever and is free and open to all.

The IDGS ‘25 theme is “Crip Narratives: Controlling our Stories.”

Disabled researchers, journalists, artists, authors, musicians, and other creators have worked to center the voices of their communities through their projects—and have succeeded in many arenas. The digital landscape presents opportunities for innovation and collaboration in advancing disability rights, but accessibility is often seen as an afterthought. Through collective action and a commitment to accessibility, we can ensure that the digital world becomes a place where all voices are heard and valued, regardless of ability.

Registration, volunteer opportunities, and questions at

https://including-disability.org/2025-registration/

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Disability Communication & Media Virtual Con: 5 Feb & 12 Feb 2025

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 17:12:44 GMT

Posted by: jesse_the_k

Virtual Conference, CART provided, runs on two Wednesdays

5 February 2025, 9:30AM to 1:30PM AEDT (UTC +11)
In my timezone
12 February 2025, 6PM to 9PM AEDT (UTC +11)
In my timezone

Considers the intersections of disability, media, and communication across mediums, contexts, and geographies.

Detailed conference schedule at https://tinyurl.com/disabilitycommunication

These presentations, on the first Wednesday, seemed relevant to our community:

Building Microworlds for Difference on an Online Platform for Disability and Activist Arts
Crip Digital Intimacies: The Social Dynamics of Creating Access through Digital Technology
Affirming or ableist? Digital disconnection meets disability media studies

Free registration at https://ntu-sg.zoom.us/meeting/register/kooFlAjJTXiwER7TMZsO-g

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short film: Judy-Lynn del Rey "The Galaxy Gal"

Sun, 13 Oct 2024 22:29:35 GMT

Posted by: jesse_the_k

This brief documentary introduced me to a disabled hero I’d never known. Del Rey edited and published the science fiction and fantasy I loved growing up.

Explore the story of a woman with dwarfism who revolutionized the world of science fiction by editing and publishing books from sci-fi writers such as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick. See how science fiction narratives offer a more inclusive and equitable lens through which to redefine disability.

It’s part of RENEGADES, five stories of disabled artists from U.S. public broadcasting’s American Masters series: https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/

I appreciate that Lachi, the blind host, includes realistic assessments of the current state of access in SF as well as some aspirational "this is the world that’s open to everyone."

The film is available in three flavors with different access strategies —

as broadcast: with closed captions and closed audio description, runtime 12:52 https://www.pbs.org/video/judy-lynn-del-rey-3q6lsp/
on-screen ASL plus open captions, runtime 12:52 https://www.pbs.org/video/judy-lynn-del-rey-the-galaxy-gal-asl-oc-yfedu4/
larger captions and open audio description, runtime 15:35 https://www.pbs.org/video/judy-lynn-del-rey-the-galaxy-gal-extended-audio-description-oc-rkf6ic/

SF/F scholar Dennis Wilson Wise, who’s interviewed in the documentary, has more to say: https://theconversation.com/the-woman-who-revolutionized-the-fantasy-genre-is-finally-getting-her-due-240198

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RestFest Film Festival 15-22 August 2024

Fri, 09 Aug 2024 18:16:23 GMT

Posted by: jesse_the_k

Creating on Crip Time, the restfestfilmfestival.org runs August 15-22, 2024.

It's a by-us, for-us event. They're prioritizing access--including

low- and zero-cost passes
wide open schedule encourages attending from bed
captions (no sign language)
audio description
video on demand provides a 7-day window 15-22 August to unlock a screening, and then 7 more days to once unlocked to actually watch it
content warnings

among other considerations https://www.restfestfilmfestival.org/accessibility

More details ( Read more... )

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Clean and Sober Spaces in Music Fandom

Sat, 13 Jul 2024 19:08:21 GMT

Posted by: jesse_the_k

The Yellow Balloon Movement by Maria Temming

Within jam band fandoms often dominated by substance use, clean and sober fans are building their own communities

Fansplaining — a podcast and publication by, for, and about fandom — published a thoroughly reported piece, in both text and audio, about mutual aid and peer support for recovering addicts and alcoholics in jam band fandom. The Grateful Dead set the pattern for musicians who celebrate substance use while creating a nomadic community of listeners. Maria Temming dives deep into when and how clean and sober fans are building safe spaces within these communities:

( 365-word excerpt forom 4000-word article )

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WisCon Disability Audit for Members from Any Year

Sun, 30 Jun 2024 19:18:57 GMT

Posted by: jesse_the_k

from the WisCon Planning Year newsletter:

WisCon is conducting a Disability Justice Audit. We would like to know about everyone’s experiences regarding accessibility, disability, and justice at WisCon. If you’ve ever attended WisCon, in any capacity, please fill out this survey by July 31. If you’re short on spoons or time, we ask that you focus on the five questions marked with an asterisk (*). Your answers will help us determine the direction of future programming and accommodations at WisCon.

The Disability Justice Audit committee is not requesting any personally identifying information in this survey. We will anonymize info or quotes from survey results if presenting them in our audit conclusions.

Fill out the Disability Justice Audit as a Google Form: https://forms.gle/9XmZbKxRH8DU53KBA

Privacy note: If you log in with Google, you will be able to save your progress and fill out the form over time. You don't need a Google log in if you can finish the form in one go.

Visit wiscon.net for more details on the Planning Year, newsletter subscription, and the WisCon discord server.

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Question for Those of You Moviegoers

Wed, 03 Jan 2024 03:04:01 GMT

Posted by: jazzyjj

Hi everybody and happy 2024! This comm has gone dormant it seems, so I wanted to pose a question. Entry title pretty much sums it up. I'm just curious for those of you who rely on audio description at the theater, how many times have you gotten the devices for hearing impaired patrons instead and vice versa? This question was inspired by 2 recent trips to an AMC here in town. I went with my family the day after Christmas to see "Wonka". I have been blind since birth, and have become a frequent user of audio description. But the headsets that I, a sister and our brother received were for the hearing-impaired. That has happened before too, but we've always been able to exchange them for the proper headsets. I don't fault the theater staff and volunteers, because they undoubtedly have a lot on their plate and some of them might not be well-versed yet in this kind of stuff.

Fast-forward to this afternoon, when my personal assistant and I went to the same theater to see "The Boys in the Boat". This time, we were given the correct headset right away. BTW, there is a very good website about the book and movie. Check it out at http://www.huskycrew.org . I had the privilege of reading the book of the same name. Both are quite good.

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Graphic design help

Sat, 02 Sep 2023 00:26:43 GMT

Posted by: soc_puppet

Hello, everyone! I'm looking for some help offering feedback on a visual design.

Backstory: I was looking around the website of a convention I used to staff, and discovered that they were using a different graphic than I expected in the Accessibility Policy section of their website. Instead of the graphic I expected, they were using one based on the old, visually unsafe version of the Disability Pride flag from 2019; the one with the lightning bolts that triggered a lot of photo-sensitivity issues for people.

I reached out to the current Accessibility team as soon as I saw it to let them know about the problem, and the graphic design person got to work on a redesign right away; she just contacted me today to let me know that she's updated it.

The problem is, she wasn't interested in using the colors or design from the updated, visually safe Disability Pride flag, and I don't know enough to be able to say whether the current design is safe or not. The zigzag and black lines between colors are gone, but I don't know if that's enough. Is there anyone here who might be able to help me figure out if the new design is safe or not?

Thank you very much in advance!

Edit: The design has been confirmed visually unsafe, and I'll be looking into more alternatives I might be able to suggest for design elements. I wouldn't say no to more help, but I'm off to an excellent start. Thank you, everyone!

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Autistic researcher seeks autistics to discuss time and narrative in re science fiction.

Fri, 23 Jun 2023 16:36:47 GMT

Posted by: jesse_the_k

Academic Sean Yeager seeks autistics to discuss experiences of time and narrative. Get paid! Participants will be compensated $100 for discussing their experiences of time with an openly autistic interviewer.

Interviews will take place in June-July 2023. Most interviews will take place over Zoom and last approximately 60-90 minutes. The interview format is flexible and can be adapted to accommodate participants’ access needs (e.g. typed and/or AAC interview is OK)

About Sean: https://english.osu.edu/news/sean-yeager-recipient-2022-2023-alumni-grants-graduate-research-and-scholarship. They discuss the importance of neuroqueer narratives in a 36-minute podcast https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/n4sj/episodes/Neuroqueer-Narratives-e1d3neb with transcript and bibliography

( Eligibility and Narrative Focus Points )

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Article about Station Eleven

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 03:05:46 GMT

Posted by: sasha_feather

This is from January 2022:

Frank deserves better than "Station Eleven." So do disabled stories.
If anyone is built for surviving an apocalypse, it’s the disabled people who have been living it already
By Alison Stine

https://www.salon.com/2022/01/16/station-eleven-frank-disability-survival-sacrifice/

Content note for non-graphic discussion of suicide.

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Whether, why, and how to use Whisper to transcribe speech

Fri, 23 Dec 2022 21:36:12 GMT

Posted by: brainwane

Whisper, from OpenAI, is an open source speech recognition tool that also does translation. You can try it right now at https://replicate.com/openai/whisper or install it on your own computer to run privately. You provide an audio file, and it emits a text transcript as well as .srt and .vtt subtitle files.

This is a really useful (and free!) tool. I have started using it regularly to make transcripts and captions/subtitles, and I just wrote a blog post to share how, and why -- plus my reflections on the ethics of using it and similar tools trained using machine learning.

Note that it works on existing files, but does not work for live-transcribing an event as it's happening.

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Fansplaining, Disability and fandom pt. 2

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 03:31:12 GMT

Posted by: sasha_feather

https://www.fansplaining.com/episodes/186b-disability-and-fandom-part-2

Full transcript available at the link.

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Fern Brady talks about being autistic

Mon, 05 Dec 2022 03:29:20 GMT

Posted by: sasha_feather

Taskmaster's Fern Brady reflects on importance of "happy, positive" representation of autism on the show.

https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a42139920/taskmaster-fern-brady-importance-positive-representation-autism/

Content note: mention of weight loss.

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Fansplaining Podcast, Disability and Fandom part 1.

Wed, 30 Nov 2022 23:19:03 GMT

Posted by: sasha_feather

https://www.fansplaining.com/episodes/186a-disability-and-fandom-part-1

Contains a full transcript and show notes with links! I have a bit in this at the end.

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Christina Applegate talks about having M.S.

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 03:21:16 GMT

Posted by: sasha_feather

Christina Applegate talks about having M.S.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/christina-applegate-multiple-sclerosis-symptoms-new-york-times-interview/

"Applegate has been transparent on Twitter about her difficulties living with MS, showing photos of the assistive devices she uses to walk, chronicling the insomnia that's accompanied her diagnosis, and even showing love to a fellow Hollywood star Selma Blair, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2018. "

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20-23 October Superfest Online Disability Film Festival

Sat, 10 Sep 2022 16:30:01 GMT

Posted by: jesse_the_k

Since 1970, Superfest Disability Film Festival has celebrated cinema that portrays disability through a diverse, unabashed and engaging lens. They’re resuming in-person screenings and continuing the online options that began in 2020.

October 20th-23rd USA pacific time zone https://time.is/pt

They’ve made online watching easier:

12:01am PT on Thursday October 20 until 11:59pm PT on Sunday October 23! Once you begin a screening, you will have 96 additional hours to finish so just make sure to sign in by Sunday night.

Sliding scale passes $0 - $50. They also offer "watch party" options.

https://www.superfestfilm.com/2022-virtual

Out of the twenty films on the schedule:
https://www.superfestfilm.com/2022-films
I’m really excited for these eight — descriptions copied from that link

( open for cool video )

Anyone up for a watch party?

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