[personal profile] jazzyjj
Hi all. Sorry if the subject line is a bit vague, but I'm wondering if the song that I've linked to here was actually meant to be sort of a disability-rights advocacy thing or if the timing when it came out was just right. The reason I ask is because I just heard another song by these guys a few minutes ago when I was at a neighbor friend's place across the hall. I've always really enjoyed these guys, and there is an advocacy organization here in Chicago called Access Living. Their website used to have a video with this song playing in the background, and it might still be up there but I haven't gotten it to play. Anyway, I was just curious about this. https://is.gd/D0UXiG
jesse_the_k: harbor seal's head captioned "seal of approval" (Approval)
[personal profile] jesse_the_k
Save this link to Annalee Flower's outstanding "Geeks Guide to Disability." I think it's a great resource for folks who are wondering why there are issues beyond just getting into the con.

http://thebias.com/2016/02/16/the-geeks-guide-to-disability/
quote begins
I’m hoping that if I walk through some of the more common misconceptions, I can move the needle a little–or at least save myself some time in the future, because I’ll be able to give people a link instead of explaining all this again.

[… snip …]

The science fiction community tends to take this diluted version of the medical model to extremes. Because we’re used to speculating about abilities that humans could have if certain fictitious conditions were met, some of us consider all human bodies fundamentally broken. It’s easy for us to fall into the trap of thinking that, for example, since being able to fly unaided would be really cool and convenient, we must all be disabled because we can’t fly.

Here’s the thing, though. Because we can’t fly, we have built a world that is accessible to people who cannot fly. We build roads and sidewalks to facilitate ground travel and elevators to provide access to tall buildings.

quote ends
jesse_the_k: iPod nestles in hollowed-out print book (Alt format reader)
[personal profile] jesse_the_k
Wolf Schweitzer, a Swiss forensic pathologist (and above-elbow amputee), has a rich blog full of details on low-tech amputee hardware design.

He also has extensive thoughts on "Mad Max: Fury Road,"
begin quote
Again, the Punch & Judy department of Warner Brothers throws a faked disability, a faux handicap, at us, in their Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) movie, and again, we consider it, just as we considered the attempts in Kingsman, or, Home of the Brave (2006), or, maybe in the ill-fated attempt for cinema titled “Hancock”.
[...snip...]
So, here they go again; what do they do there? Is it good? And, before glorifying it just because (they even write “watch Furiosa punch Max in the face, with her nubbins” which she really doesn’t; she punches him with her hand while sticking the nubbins out in the air) – why not actually *use* our eyes, to look, to ogle, to view, and (in a more strict sense) “watch” it? It is so much a visual and so not much a verbal movie so we really have to switch on our eyesies. What is there to be actually seen, what do they really show? Is this empowering or what does it really say?
end quote


The full article is on his blog:
http://www.swisswuff.ch/tech/?p=4762
jesse_the_k: Head inside a box, with words "Thinking inside the box" scrawled on it. (thinking inside the box)
[personal profile] jesse_the_k
Video Game Accessibility: A Legal Approach
George Powers, Vinh Nguyen, Lex Frieden

The authors all work at the Southwestern (U.S.) ADA Tech Assistance Center, so they're familiar with the law and its limitations. They believe a legal approach would result in more, lasting access.

Video game accessibility may not seem of significance to some, and it may sound trivial to anyone who does not play video games. This assumption is false. With the digitalization of our culture, video games are an ever increasing part of our life. They contribute to peer to peer interactions, education, music and the arts. A video game can be created by hundreds of musicians and artists, and they can have production budgets that exceed modern blockbuster films. Inaccessible video games are analogous to movie theaters without closed captioning or accessible facilities. The movement to have accessible video games is small, unorganized and misdirected. Just like the other battles to make society accessible were accomplished through legislation and law, the battle for video game accessibility must be focused toward the law and not the market.

Full article in Disability Studies Quarterly
http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/4513/3833

May 2025

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