access_fandom | Entries tagged with [access]: wheelchairs

Danuta Kean at the Guardian:

Young Adult Literature Convention Under Fire Over Disabled Facilities

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/01/young-adult-literature-convention-under-fire-over-disabled-facilities

Authors who appeared at the YALC young adult literature convention over the weekend, including Alex Wheatle and Joanne Harris, have spoken out about what they feel was a lack of disabled facilities at the event. Their complaints centre on the sequestering of one of two disabled toilets for the use of celebrities attending the associated Comicon festival on a lower floor.

sasha_feather

Annie Elainey at Tumblr: Accessibility at VidCon

http://annieelainey.tumblr.com/post/147472735779/accessibility-at-vidcon

sasha_feather

Liz Henry at Model View Culture: Unlocking the Invisible Elevator: Accessibility at Tech Conferences.

I’ve been speaking at tech conferences for the last ten years. I’m usually the only wheelchair user at the conference. Every time, I tell conference organizers how to improve access. It takes years to make minor improvements. The culture is hard to shift.

ysabetwordsmith

Today I'm running a Poetry Fishbowl in the series P.I.E., which you can explore via that link. This is urban fantasy about a mobility-impaired private investigator who handles paranormal cases and her accident-prone cop boyfriend.

You may also want to browse recent discussions about disability in F&SF and the vocabulary of disability on my blogs.

Please drop by my Dreamwidth or LiveJournal to leave prompts for what you'd like to see me writing along the themes of urban fantasy, life with disabilities, or romance. You can watch those posts for thumbnails of poems available for sponsorship, and at least one will get posted for free as thanks for the prompts.

Current Mood: creative

ysabetwordsmith

Based on an audience poll, there will be a bonus fishbowl session in my series P.I.E. on Tuesday, September 16.

This series is urban fantasy about a wheelchair-riding private detective who handles the really weird cases, and her able-bodied but kind of accident-prone policeman boyfriend. When the fishbowl theme is something that doesn't get much attention, I try to spread the word to relevant audiences. So please tell any of your friends who are mobility-impaired or otherwise interested in this topic that it will be featured in a prompt call where they can come suggest things to be written. If you're new to P.I.E. then you can find links to all its published poems via the series page; several these were prompted by folks with limited mobility.

Current Mood: busy

sasha_feather

Derek Handley writing at Jim Hines' Blog:
Representation Without Understanding

At a very basic level, wheelchair users are not an under-represented group in fiction. We’re just very misunderstood.

jesse_the_k

That Crazy Crippled Chick

spazgirl11 encountered frustration upon frustration at the Long Island Dr Who con held 8-10 November 2013. Wheelchair access promised but not delivered on the shuttle, leaving a paid-up member in the street; narrow corridors; heavy doors preventing travel; jam-packed panel rooms; and total indifference from con staff.

She wrote an outstanding complaint letter, posted in full here:

http://thatcrazycrippledchick.blogspot.com/2013/11/an-open-letter-to-staff-of-long-island.html

quoting from the rousing finish:

begin quote The Doctor says that he’s never met anyone who wasn’t important. But your convention and apathy towards accessibility made me feel like my fellow disabled Whovians and I were not important enough to be worth considering. I am saddened and disgusted that a convention representing such a diverse fandom failed to include people with disabilities. quote ends

I loved this letter because it was specific, forceful, yet not furious. From personal experience, I know how being furious makes me incoherent. When I can turn off the snark and fire, I can organize my complaint as thoroughly and clearly as

spazgirl11 has. Non-disabled people generally need all the detail we can stand to give to make their cons accessible.

(I'm trying not to make the "tone argument", but may have failed.)

sasha_feather

Inside Higher Ed: Disabilities Studies Meeting Wasn't Accessible to Those with Disabilities

“Access is a problem. No thought is really put into cultivating professors with a disability or students with a disability. And what happens is disability becomes a spectacle and it becomes a problem that has to be managed and solved," Peace said. "What took place at Hobart and William Smith Colleges was a microcosm of what could happen at any place.”

sasha_feather

If you have more links or information on this topic, please share them in comments or via DM!

Mari Ness at LJ: World Fantasy Con,
2013

In comments, an attendee reports that the hotel elevator to the programming floor is broken!

DW cross post: World Fantasy Con, 2013.

sasha_feather

Cheryl Morgan: Welcome to WFC

From the latest Progress Report from World Fantasy:

[...]

Because the Hilton Brighton Metropole is an old building, please note that access to some areas may be limited or unavailable for those with mobility issues. This includes the Registration area in the Sussex Lounge, which is inaccessible by wheelchair.

sasha_feather

Liz Henry: Taking up Too Much Space

I am not an emergency or an obstacle! Get used to it! My public presence will just have to be YOUR mild inconvenience!

Liz Henry: The Superfest Dissie Awards

It was lovely to feel the audience reaction all around me as we cheered and booed how bad all the performances were as they played off stereotypes and made disabled people the butt of humor. It was often a hard call which movie to boo the loudest for as the judges watched and listened to the crowd, because the spectrum of Hollywood badness was so vast!

sasha_feather

Rose Lemberg: Disability, Diversity, Dignity

What this means is that fans and professionals with mobility issues may feel fairly isolated in their regular places of residence; cons then become an important social outlet, a respite from this unwelcome social isolation. But when the disabled SFF geeks go to cons, they may end up spending thousands of dollars only to be in pain, to be humiliated, to be told that one is overreacting, in short to be treated as less than human.

mariness

The Disability in Science Fiction panel at Worldcon/Lone Star Con did not have ramps to the stage. Because they knew I would be there (I use a wheelchair), they set up tables in front of the stage, so at least I could sit at the same level as the rest of the panelists. (At the Prose by Day, Poet by Night panel, which to be fair I was only added to about two hours before the panel started, I was on the floor and the other three panelists were on the stage.) The disability panel also did not have an ASL interpreter.

sasha_feather

Liz Henry: Thank you Allies

The travel lanes and other things like good signs about what was where, meant that I could move around the space, and it was easier for me to participate, talk with other people. It benefited many other people, not just me. It made the space more usable for everyone. Though, I have to hold in my beliefs that improved access for ONE person is enough. To keep asking and going out, I have to belief that I am enough; I deserve it. This last 2 weeks, that belief solidified and expanded inside me. I don’t just deserve to ask and fight. I deserve to be welcome.

Captain Awkward: #478: I use a Wheelchair, and People are Condescending as Fuck [From June 14]

What you’re going for:

Tone: Flat, on a scale between coolly reasonable and Fuck You.
Response: Short.
Apologies & explanations given: Zero.
Fucks given: Zero.

ETA: Content warning for comments, in the "why can't you be nice and educate" variety.

jesse_the_k

Body of Work is an 11-day festival in Chicago this May 15-25, 2013, with scores of events across many venues. Films, spoken word, 2D art, theater, dance etc, check details at
http://www.bodiesofworkchicago.org/festival/festival-schedule.html

The festival's access resources points to the best cultural access manuals I've ever seen:
http://www.bodiesofworkchicago.org/resources/access.html

This looks like the TL;DR summary:
http://www.bodiesofworkchicago.org/images/Documents/bow_manualUpdated.pdf
which explicitly includes the 2010 ADA standards.

This manual provides backing (to wave in the face of US decision-makers: it's the law!) and also implementation details (how wide should the aisle be? minimum size type on signs?).

Awesome tool!

sasha_feather

mariness has several posts at Live Journal regarding lack of accessibility at World Fantasy Con:

Oct 30th: You have got to be kidding me

Oct 30th: No subject

Oct 31st: OK, Let's Talk BASIC ACCESSIBILITY

sasha_feather

mariness: Hugos Post

As I type, the Hugo and related Awards are being awarded, on a stage in a Chicago hotel. To reach the stage, you have to climb three steps.

No ramp.

Same as last year.

sasha_feather

mariness: The Hotel Rant

Mariness writes about a bad hotel situation at World Fantasy Con in San Diego.

sqbr

My partner and I are pondering a visit to the US for a holiday. I have chronic fatigue syndrome and fairly significant mobility issues: I can't walk very far, up more than a couple of stairs, or up steep hills, and will plausibly be hiring a mobility scooter.

Do people have recs (or anti-recs) for cities or sites that are likely to be interesting to two Australian geeks and are particularly amenable to these kinds of constraints?

Any good sf cons that are accessibility friendly and held in interesting cities? (My partner is alas not convinced that he would find Wiscon very interesting)

Our plans are very tentative at this stage, so any and all suggestions or ideas are welcome. Currently pondered locations include San Francisco, Yosemite National Park, New York, Las Vegas, Chicago and Boston.

sqbr

Using a mobility scooter at Worldcon 2010

In short: it was amazing, huge thanks to

karenbabcock for organising it.

Access Fandom

improving disability access in fandom

Access fail at a young adult lit convention

VidCon report

Access at Tech Conferences

Poetry Fishbowl Open!

Upcoming Event: P.I.E. Poetry Session

1 link 27 Feb 2014

1 link: Barriers at Long Island NY Dr Who convention

1 link 19 November 2013

More on World Fantasy Con

World Fantasy Con

(no subject)

1 link 5 September 2013: Accessibility at Conventions

I just appreciate the whole irony of this.

2 links: 25 June 2013

Access Resources for Cultural Events

3 links 31 October 2012

1 Link 2 Sept 2012

Con Report

Mobility impairment friendly places to visit in the US

Using a mobility scooter at Worldcon 2010

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