Just an FYI for you all!

Can't wait to see you at the talk in a little under an hour!

This Wednesday, Prof. Leslie Rescorla is giving a talk on evidence-based strategies for coping with depression & anxiety at BMC. FB event here:

Thursday night I'm hosting a screening of FIXED: the Science/Fiction of Human Enhancement. It's a fantastic documentary about the intersection of disability and technology.

Friday, I'm going to be giving a talk at BMC in Dalton 119 from 12-1:30 (lunch provided) called "Illness, Impairment, Injury: Complicating What Disability Means". Here's the blurb:

So as I was writing this, I actually saw that Sarah had already gone through and done a much better job listing them out. Most of my commentary is building off of others, so most of the bulk of my post is in comments today.

In our promotional materials, I want to make sure that we're checking everything for technological accessibility. PDFs tend to be one of the more universal formats from what I understand, and I know people we can check this with. 

In order to continue the work of engaging multiple senses through the exhibition, I think it would be really cool if possible to have a designated “please touch” section of art pieces with interesting textures or hands-on components that would make for informative tactile experiences.  

While thinking about accessibility and engagement, the first question that comes to mind is “Who are our audience?” By that, I’m asking, are we presenting to just students and faculty in the bi-co? Artists and their families from CCW? People from the community near Haverford? Do we have a priority for any particular audience? How can we accommodate for people who are deaf, or blind, or people who can’t read/who don’t speak English? People who are unavailable at the time of the exhibition? People who feel uncomfortable around large crowds? Also, how about people who are wheelchair users or are very short?

My idea about making the exhibition more accessible relates to how to make it accessible to those who are not able to attend the event. I am assuming there are going to be many pictures taken, and, along with those, I am planning to write an article about the exhibition (and the overall partnership with CCW) for Haverford's newspaper, The Clerk. I am not sure what form this article should take (i.e., straight news, or more of a narrative format), but I am open to suggestions! I am going to try to gather as many quotes from the participants as I can during the next time we meet with CCW and at the exhibit itself. If it is ok with them and with the makers of the catalog, I might incorporate some of the "artist statements" into the article.  

Talk at Penn: "Cripping Intersectionality: (Neuro)Diversity and Disability Justice" by Lydia X.Z. Brown, who blogs as "Autistic Hoya"

Saturday, April 23rd at 4:30, Penn LGBT Center, FB invite with details below 

I mentioned last week in class that there's a font we might consider using for the signage in the exhibition, called Dyslexie font. Because many people with dyslexia flip, rotate, and swap letters, each letter in Dyslexie font is designed to be unique (as I said in class, they all look kinda "funky" because they're angled, slanted, and not symmetrical). The font also adds space between letters and words, to avoid the crowding effect, and makes the first letter of each sentence bold to draw attention to them. The font is really expensive for schools, but I think we would be able to get the home version because we're not using it for a school interface or server or anything (I don't know technology words if you can't tell). 

Field notes: April 15, 2016

10am

Week 5 (4/11)

What

One thing I really loved from A Fierce Kind of Love was the "Know Before You Go" guides - especially the social narratives they provided for both the play and the venue. I also found the Smithsonian's social guides and they are so helpful as well: http://www.si.edu/Accessibility/NMAH-Social-Stories