From the Edges to the Center: Disability, "Battlestar: Galactica", and Fan Fiction by sasha_feather

"This isn't something I can fake": Reactions to Glee's representations of disability. by David Kociemba

Both are from issue 5 of the journal Transformative Works and Cultures

Announcing access_fandom’s first Fanworks Festival, Festibility!

What: Hosted by access_fandom, Festibility is a fandom festival accepting all kinds of fanworks (fic, meta, art, icons, podfic, vids, recs, picspams, drabble sets etc) about disabled characters. Works can focus on canonically disabled characters or canonically able-bodied characters that you reimagine as disabled. Pieces can be as long or short as you like.

When: July 15 to September 15, 2010 (for those who work best under deadlines). Yes, this starts one week from today!

How: We’ll make a post soliciting prompts from you tomorrow! Prompts can be general or fandom-specific. Feel free to respond to prompts with commentfic, or use them for longer works posted during the festival posting period. You don’t have to claim particular prompts to post, and claiming a prompt does not mean you’ve committed to posting a fanwork filling it. You can also post fanworks without filling any prompt--basically, anything goes!

ETA: Here is the prompts post!

Who: For Festibility, your mods are kaz, lightgetsin, sasha_feather, and were_duck. Any and everyone is welcome to participate!

We will also host a beta pool of folks willing to check other folks’ fanworks for portrayals of disability. This is entirely volunteer and optional, though we ask that participants make a strong effort and do their research in order to create positive and affirming portrayals of characters with disabilities. Your mods will do our best to provide resources to help you reach this goal!

Please note that you can post links to fanworks or recs in this community at any time. The end date of this festival is when your mods will stop cheerleading; it does not mean that you have to stop posting. This is intended to be a low-pressure festival.

Please watch this community for more information. Leave comments here or contact one of the mods listed above with any questions or concerns.

( here is a list of canonically disabled characters that we came up with to get you started thinking! )

riko: excuse me as I'm serious for a moment

sophy: Wiscon Report: Including Disabled Characters in your works

megwrites: SF and ablism (or: a not-as-such brief thought)

It seems as though when science fiction envisions a better, or at least more advanced, version of humanity it is one without disability, and thus one without disabled people. When you imagine a future without disability, it is a future in which you imagine that there are no disabled people.

azurelunatic: Your wish to interact with me is not my obligation to respond (about responding to comments)

stepps: What to do with Dreamwidth: a list of tutorials and information

There has been some discussion lately about ableism and fanfic challenges, specifically Yuletide, many referencing kaz's October 24th post about Challenges. The are now 99 comments at that post.

Here are a couple of links I've seen from my corner of fandom; feel free to add more in comments if you like. If you would like to use this space to talk about social anxiety issues in relation to online fandom, fanfic challenges, etc, I invite you to comment as you feel comfortable.

noracharles: On the accessibility of fandom fests

sheafrotherdon: Accessibility

erda: Spoons, Emotional and Physical
Cross-post: Spoons, Emotional and Physical