My broadband stopped misbehaving long enough for me to be interviewed for STEM with disabilities this morning. I think it's at least a month out from publishing, but in the meantime read the great profiles they've already got there! https://www.stemwithdisabilities.com/
How welcome do I feel as a disabled grad student here? Well, I keep seeing image fliers sent without alt text for maskless in-person events with no creative accessible online options (or any online option at all).
🛍️Research opportunity for blind people in the UK | ‘Greetings from our research group at the London College of Fashion! We are reaching out to you with an opportunity to be at the forefront of a study that aims to revolutionize the fashion retail landscape, making it more inclusive and accessible’
#CfP for the edited #volume "#Disability in German #Literature", which will be "published by Peter Lang Verlag under the series "Jahrbuch für internationale Germanistik".
Have you nominated your favorite #IndieBooks for the #IndieInkAwards yet? Nominations are open for the month of November for several awards from Side Character MVP to Wittiest Character, & to highlight amazing #LGBTQ Representation, #MentalHealth Rep, #Disability Rep, #BIPOC Rep, & more. Open to all fiction genres and YA, NA, & Adult books. While you're there, you might find more #BooksToRead !
The #conference "#Literary and Cultural #Disability Studies. British and Continental Perspectives" will take place at the Universität Freiburg (Switzerland) on November 2-4, 2023.
Institutionalised parent carer blame is rife within services that are supposed to support neurodivergent children. A lot of this is because there is too much focus on safeguarding, and little to no understanding of the nuances of disability, how to assess need, or resources to meet those needs.
A co-follower that I've had many interactions with, posted the following mutual aid request for me on several platforms. I thought I should give some details:
I'm used to be one who helps, and have never had ask for mutual aid but, the need is increasingly desperate. My SSDI (SS disability) was unjustly cut off and the fight to restore it could take months or years.
I don't even know how to go about mutual aid but, I've been laboring over a more detailed explanation of my situation to post at a later time. In short, I'm struggling to have enough to eat, facing eviction from an ablest/abusive environment and having what little I own being held hostage by a person who offered storage in the guise of "Christian" charity. When I did not respond to his recruitment and grooming, he became aggressive, abusive and locked my belongings away from me.
The belongings include sentimental items, all of my legal docs and IDs, medical devices, and a few furniture items, one of which is an expensive recliner to accommodate my physical disabilities. The individual is threatening to sell them, give them away or throw them out. There are many other challenges I'm facing and have set a goal on my ko-fi page that I hope will be enough.
There's not a lot of work for a person with one functioning hand and a myriad of other physical and invisible disabilities. My numerous attempts to find online work from home have been unsuccessful and soon, may not have a home to work from. As my health allows, I spend 24/7 writing and fighting for disability rights, posting regularly on Mastodon.
Any assistance in the form of mutual aid and online "work from home opportunities" would be greatly appreciated. Monthly donors of small amounts would be a tremendous help to help me to continue what I do. One-time donations of any amount would also be helpful to my survival. My phone has also recently been cut off. If I end up on the street without it or Internet access, it could spell the end of my writing and advocacy efforts. This is not considering what may happen to me in that situation. I would be internally thankful for any assistance that would help me to survive and continue my work.
Immediate needs: food, funds for housing, phone reactivation. I also apparently need to rent a truck and pay people to retrieve my belongings from this "director of international Christian missionary ministry" who has possession of everything I own.
I am looking for suggestions for social/party games that can be played digitally over zoom (can also take suggestions for in person games) that are accessible for as many ppl as possible, especially blind and deaf players.
I find with digital social meetings it's really difficult to get a convo started until everyone has warmed up to each other, and social games are a great way to fast forward that.
Stuff like werewolf can be made more accessible with a GM or narrator that recaps everything that's happened every night (and a sign interpreter or simul-subtitling), but I don't know how well it'd work for the wolf-meeting parts. I do not want to arrange any kind of game meant for ppl to get to know each other that excludes some ppl from some of the roles.
Philosophy and Madness a combination that makes me smile!!! #MadLiterature
Too mad to be true II - The promises and perils of the first-person perspective
The second Too Mad To Be True conference that was dedicated to exploring the various links between philosophy and madness. The atmosphere was vibrant and it initiated new ways of thinking and communicating around issues of madness and philosophy. The central theme was both relevant to philosophical and mad theories and practices: ' The promises and perils of the first-person perspective'. The conference was hybrid: both in person, in Ghent, Belgium, as well as online.