jesse_the_k: person wearing dress, head inside a box, that text scrawled on outside (thinking inside the box)
[personal profile] 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?

jesse_the_k: Pipe from Magritte's Treachery of Images captioned "this is not an icon" (Default)
[personal profile] jesse_the_k
It IS exciting to see kids interested in engineering, and I know [personal profile] selkiechick posted with the best intention.

However, that announcement pushed a whole row of my Assistive Technology Geek buttons, and I gotta rant. I'll can use the "BRAIGO" to illustrate why I get so hot under the collar. (My cred: I've hung out with people who use assistive technology since 1982; I designed and sold braille translation software and embossers in the late eighties; and I've personally depended on assistive technology since 1991.) Based on thirty year's close attention to the development/PR/funding/purchasing/abandonment cycle for assistive technology, here's my take on the BRAIGO announcement.

DESIGNERS GET COOKIES FOR PROTOTYPES, NOT AFFORDABLE PRODUCTS )

DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT EXPERT ENDUSERS IS POINTLESS  ) That's why the BRAIGO can't create useful braille.

PR BECOMES DISINFORMATION ) A $350 embosser would be an amazing thing. Hundreds of well-intentioned editors and readers are willing to take the inventor's word for it. But this device is not a embosser.

EXPERTS ARE AVAILABLE on REQUEST! ) We live in a press release culture: what the company wants to say is what we hear. Or in this case, what a 12 year old (who mentions absolutely no contact with braille users) says gets broadcast.


FAST FACTS RE EMBOSSERS & BRAILLE )

Start from the first dot at the RNIB's Learning Braille site or pick an excellent start for adults at the Achayra firm in India. Teach more at the National Federation of the Blind's Braille is Beautiful resource for kids.

tl;dr Just because assistive technologies are tools for people with disabilities doesn't mean we must accept only good intentions. We want the best engineers working on our designs, the best marketers making them affordable, and the best politicians making them subsidized.
access_fandom_mods: a dolphin and a zebra gazing at each other, with MOD in corner (Default)
[personal profile] access_fandom_mods
Hello, this is one of your friendly mods (sasha_feather), and I am posting this on behalf of [livejournal.com profile] selkiechick who is the author of the post.

I have been the Access Services Coordinator for Arisia for a couple of years now, and I feel like I am really starting to learn the job. But I have one real question- what is the best way to reach the general populace. I feel like there are some ways in which we could make the con both more inclusive, but also a better experience for everyone, but it requires a little education. I fell like posting these things to the Access Services page doesn't reach the intended audience.

This last year I sent a great article (written by Kestrell) on how to assist people with disabilities (though really it apples to everyone...) in Clear Ether, the con's Daily Newspaper, as well as a small ad asking people to leave the service dogs alone. This was great, but the newsletter is a one-sheet, and I feel like adding more will make it the access services newsletter...

What are the next best ways to reach out and ask people to do things like, say, cover their food in the elevators, minimize perfume use, and make way for people carrying heavy things and with mobility aids in crowded hallways. Facebook seems like a poor tool, as you can only post snippets. There is a Livejournal group, and I have thought about posting some of these things in the weeks leading up to the con... but will that get lost in the shuffle- or worse, invite trolls and flamewars about inclusion and accessibility?

Are there other at con and pre-con venues I am missing?

Thank you,

Selkiechick

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