Access Fandom

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 —

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

quote begins

---

She asked for access, but look how she asked. (Too quietly, too loudly, too soon, too late, she was rude, too wishy-washy, too oblique, too pushy, she asked the wrong people, she did not write an essay about it, she wrote essays in all the wrong places, we did not see the links, she sent emails to the wrong people, we lost the emails, conrunners work very hard).

---

quote ends