access_fandom | Entries tagged with signal boost

wiscon is happening online this Memorial Day weekend.

WisCONline May 23-25 2025, online only
A feminist sci-fi and fantasy convention
$25 or pay what you can
Visit https://wiscon2025.sched.com
Guests of honor: ANDREA HAIRSTON; NAOMI KRITZER
Volunteers welcome--email personnel@sf3.org

Disability-Adjacent Panels include

The True Diversity of Neurodiversity
Going Beyond Representation: Speculations on Creating Disabled World Building
GOH Naomi Kritzer’s Hugo award–winning novelette, The Year Without Sunshine demonstrates how organizing mutual aid for disabled people guides a neighborhood through a very bad time. (Both text and audio at Uncanny Magazine).

soc_puppet

Not sure if this quite qualifies here, but people are fans of animals, so why not!

why-animals-do-the-thing had a colleague reach out and ask if they could help get some feedback on setting up a zoo tour for people with low vision. Honestly, I read the suggestions, and they sound pretty great, IMO.

You can check out the outlined plan over here. If you don't have a Tumblr account of your own, I'd be happy to pass on any feedback on your behalf.

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

Cassie Josephs’ excellent Tor.com essay, "Murderbot: An Autistic-Coded Robot Done Right" explores how Martha Well's series provides insight into autistic lives and rights.

( 330 word excerpt )

jesse_the_k

forwarding TheCJDS

Hey, so, the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies is doing something kinda fun in the new year.

We're seeking nominees for worst representation of disability in popular media.

Submissions due January 2nd 2022!

Check out the nomination form for more info:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0LVJ9cLe79fYZYrd-vSUrgLLO8Sn-5U9LCYkeTDBB8UOm9Q/viewform

Feel free to chat about it here, as well.

jesse_the_k

It's a hybrid one-day con, both online and in-person March 27, 2022, through the School of Art at Syracuse [New York] University. Free!

Submission deadline is 1 February 2022.

Check www.geekartconfluence.com for last year’s content.

( details and contact info )

jesse_the_k

Put your skills to work!

The Society for Community Research and Action is seeking a consultant with experience in assessing the accessibility of online conferences.

The responsibilities of the position are:

Review the accessibility of the online platforms and make recommendations for improvements.
Review and advise on materials orienting attendees to the online platforms.
Review and advise on other materials and processes as requested.

This contract is for $2,000, begins immediately upon finalization of the contract and runs through June 26th.

Interested individuals should send a resume or vita and cover letter outlining their experience to Susan Wolfe at Susan@susanwolfeandassociates.com by 5:00 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 21st.

jesse_the_k

Curated by Harbourfront Center, a not-for-profit art center on Lake Ontario in Toronto.

https://harbourfront.live/festival/postcards/

Each first-person postcard combines video, still images, spoken word, captions. The artists address what life's like for them in the COVID-19 moment. Each artist’s page offers video links with and without audio description.

Gaelynn Lea improvises a dragon song on her fiddle (audio described)

https://harbourfront.live/event/gaelynn-lea/?enhance=yes

Dawn Jani Birley, a Deaf actor, describes flying from Canada to Finland while the world was locking down.

https://harbourfront.live/event/dawn-jani-birley/?enhance=yes

Brian Solomon, a non-symmetrical Indigenous dancer documents the family- and land-based art which is sustaining him during lockdown on his home land of Shebahonaning, Ontario "colonially known as Killarney."

https://harbourfront.live/event/brian-solomon

jesse_the_k

Superfest Disability Film Festival is the longest running disability film festival in the world. For more than 30 years, Superfest has celebrated cutting-edge cinema that portrays disability through a diverse, complex, unabashed and engaging lens. Superfest is one of the few festivals worldwide that prioritizes access for disabled filmgoers of all kinds.

Visit http://www.superfestfilm.com/tickets for movie schedules, how the Zoom-based discussions will work, and sliding scale ($0 - $50) tickets for an entire weekend of programming: three film screenings and four panel discussions.

All movies are open-captioned and audio described; all live programming includes captions and ASL interpreters.

Lineup of films and panels

Friday, October 16, 5:30 - 8:30pm PT (0030 - 0330 UTC 17 Oct)
1 70-minute narrative film on Friday, followed by a panel: "Disability, Blackness, and Representation"
Saturday, October 17, 2 - 4:45pm PT (2100 - 2345 UTC)
6 short films totaling 52-minutes on Saturday followed by panel: "Representations of Disability with Superfest Filmmakers & Subjects"
Sunday, October 18, 2 - 4:45pm PT and 5-6pm PT (2100 - 2345 18 Oct and 0000 - 0100 19 Oct UTC)
8 short films totaling 74 minutes on Sunday followed by two panels: "Emerging Disability Filmmakers" and "Jurors Tell All!"

Full details at http://www.superfestfilm.com/2020-films

jesse_the_k

roadrunnertwice is working on a mobile Dreamwidth site, and welcomes testers. They've laid out exactly what needs testing, and how to report.

https://dw-dev.dreamwidth.org/215787.html

jesse_the_k

kestrell explains how we can make more books readable.

Bookshare.org provides ebooks to folks who have official status as print-impaired. Unlimited access is free for students and US$50 per year for adults.

Many writers and publishers still don't know about Bookshare, so in my emails I usually include a link to the Bookshare page describing how authors can get their books added to the library
https://www.bookshare.org/cms/partners/authors

Heartening success story: kestrell chatted with his publisher in the Readercon dealer's room and next year Chip Delany's books were on Bookshare

davidgillon

The Disabled People Destroy SF Kickstarter*, to produce a disability themed special issue of Uncanny magazine, is up and running here and well on its way to meeting the initial funding goal (about 80% funded with 29 days to go).

And the first of their personal essays on disability and SF is up here, a good piece on Mental Health/neurodiversity** getting in the way of growing up to be the SF protagonist you dreamed of, that the genre allows you to be, so sitting down and setting to work to change the genre to allow for protagonists with MH/neurodiversity. I'm so glad the first piece talks about MH/neurodiversity and invisible disability, as they're the most invisible/most often cured of SFnal disabilities.

* If you aren't familiar with the 'x' People Destroy series, it has already done POC Destroy SF and Queers Destroy SF to significant success. I was initially a little disconcerted it's swapped magazines for the disability issue, from Lightspeed to Uncanny, but the editors of Uncanny have a disabled child and they've assembled a solid team of disabled editors for the special issue, so my worries seem unfounded.

** The author talks about a bipolar diagnosis, but then settles on neurodiversity as their preferred community label. It's a view I have some sympathy with, though it can confuse people about non-MH related neurodiversity.

Current Mood: optimistic
Current Location: Poised to destroy

ghost_lingering

[Content note: discussion of psychiatric hospitals in the link]

The Atlantic is currently calling for reader notes from people who have spent time in psychiatric hospitals either as patients or as staff. E-mail to contribute is hello@theatlantic.com

Here's the discussion thus far: https://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2016/12/tell-us-have-you-spent-time-in-a-psychiatric-hospital/510512/

While I can't guarantee that this particular conversation will be productive, I will say that in general, I tend to like the discussions that come out of reader notes posted on The Atlantic. The combination of curating the reader notes and publishing notes from a wide range of readers means that the discussions are often nuanced and thought-provoking. Plus, in this case, I'm really grateful to them for posting the original note from Eva even though it wasn't prompted by a specific article or news event.

[Mods: wasn't sure how to tag this -- let me know if I should change anything!]

jesse_the_k

Published three times a year, the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies combines essays, ideas, and discussion between academics, non-academics and folks like us.

They've just issued a call for submissions for their theme issue on the relationships between fanfiction and disability.

The full call for papers is here:
http://cjds.uwaterloo.ca/index.php/cjds/announcement/view/10

A taste of what they want follows:

quote begins
However, disability and accessibility have not been explored in either academic or fan scholarship as crucial aspects of fanfiction practices, and disabled fans and fanfiction writers have not been included as significant contributors to online fanfiction communities.

Yet, disability and fanfiction are in a complicated relationship with one another. Fanfiction loves its disabled characters ( Stiles from Teen Wolf, Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon, Homestuck, House, River Tam from Firefly), and loves to disable its characters (Harry Potter is iconic in this respect), to get all the feels, to explore all the possibilities, and because you hurt those you love, a lot, especially in fanfic.

Many fans and fan creators have identified online as disabled and/or people with disabilities/impairments. Fans are sharing their experiences and having discussions about disability representation in fandoms and fanfiction, about ableism and accessibility. How disability manifests in online fanfiction works and communities remains to be brought into play in critical disability studies and in fan studies.
[ snip ]
We welcome single and multiple authored pieces. Formats can be written, video (must be captioned), audio (must include transcript).
[ snip ]
Submissions are due 15 April 2016 and can be emailed to
Cath Duchastel de M. at: electrocrip@gmail.com
quote ends

Please signal boost like there's no tomorrow.

jesse_the_k

Have you longed for a place on the web where disability is central but not "special"? A place where we live and write and make art as we are. Not a support group, and not about just the body, or the brain, or one particular assistive tech. A web-based zine which could include political rants and silly pictures to gaze at when the brain weasels swarm. Sex tips and cleaning tips and poetry and comics. A site where our disabled selves are the authors and the audience, and everyone else is welcome to learn.

untonuggan is gathering ideas & volunteers for a "blog-zine-website type thing a la The Toast or Autostraddle, but aimed at disability-type issues or interests."

RIch discussion is happening now, including what sort of content to publish, how to fund it, soliciting volunteers and other notions -- at this post:
http://lizcommotion.dreamwidth.org/267487.html
or via private message
http://www.dreamwidth.org/inbox/compose?user=lizcommotion

[signal boosts welcome!]

sasha_feather

terajk: The People with Disabilities Being Awesome Comment Fest

for

three_weeks_for_dw

sasha_feather

dark_agenda: Promotion Fest: Dis/ability

Celebrating characters of color with disabilities for the kaleidoscope challenge! A list of suggested characters is provided in the post.

meloukhia

There's a call for for submissions to a Jane Eyre zine, and the organiser is particularly interested in disability-centric readings of the text. (The call mentions Bertha specifically but there's more to mine.) Information about how to submit at the link, and I definitely encourage you to do so whether you're an Eyre-hater or -lover!

sasha_feather

lightgetsin is hosting a Disability flicrle meme (a friending/subscribing meme) as part of 3 weeks for Dreamwidth. Non-disabled allies are welcome to participate.

were_duck

Thanks to

kate, who posted about this earlier today.

evilpuppy posted about an awful experience flying United Airlines. She is a young disabled woman who was treated horribly by every United Airlines representative she encountered on her trip and after, when she tried to file complaints about the poor service.

twistedchick has also written about this incident, and further assembled a set of relevant links with contact information for various agencies, should you wish to learn more or write a letter of complaint.

ETA:

cleolinda also has a post with updates on United's response to the situation.

Access Fandom

improving disability access in fandom

WisCONline 23–25 May 2025

Disability-Adjacent Panels include

Accessible Zoo Visit

20-23 October Superfest Online Disability Film Festival

Murderbot: An Autistic-Coded Robot Done Right

Worst Disability Rep in Pop Media

Geek/Art CONfluence Seeks Disability-Themed Submissions

Paid Access Consultant for an Online Psychology Convention

21 virtual postcards from disabled artists

16-18 October 2020 Superfest Disability Film Fest Online

Lineup of films and panels

Test Mobile Dreamwidth Site in Development

boost: Advocate for Bookshare with Your Favorite Authors' Publishers

Linkspam: Disabled People Destroy SF Kickstarter

The Atlantic — call for reader notes from people who have spent time in psychiatric hospitals

Disability and/in/through fanfiction — CJDS wants you!

Happening now: Creating A Disability Site By & About Us

Signal boost

Signal boost: dark_agenda

Signal Boost: Call for Entries: Eyresses: A Jane Eyre Zine

Disability Friending Meme

Signal Boost: United Airlines Fail

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May 2025

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