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Better Practices: A Meme-able Crip Public Education Campaign
We’ve all heard the phrase “best practices”, but what are “better practices”?
We know from principles of disability justice and Relaxed Performance that there is never one way to meet everybody’s access needs. Access requires flexibility and creativity as we figure out how to be together in supportive ways.
As many people across the world are working online, we’d like to share some of what we’ve learned about more accessible arts, activism, and communications from and with our communities.
The following educational memes were produced in 2021 by Kayla Besse during her tenure as the Public Education Coordinator with Bodies in Translation, Creative Users Projects, and Tangled Art + Disability.
Accessible Curation
An Instagram post reading, “How do you make art galleries more accessible? A guide to accessible curatorial practices and spaces.” The post has a bright pink border and features two Corporate Memphis figures using laptops.Instagram post reading, “Collaborative curation is important for many disabled and otherwise marginalized artists so that they can influence the presentation of their work. Don’t just hire disabled artists–invite disabled curators to curate, and make sure the process is accessible to everyone. For example, hire installers to help with install needs.
It’s important to think about accessibility along with implementing it. Let disability culture shape access, not the other way around!
Consult! For example, if you don’t know how to make an environment that is sensory-friendly, consult with neurodiverse folks and pay them for their expertise!”An Instagram post reading, “Me sitting in the only ‘accessible seat’ at the art gallery,” above the meme of Bernie Sanders wearing mittens sitting in a chair at the Biden inauguration.An Instagram post reading, “Further reading:
Amanda Cachia’s book chapter, ‘The politics of creative access: Guidelines for a critical dis/ability curatorial practice’
Section 3.4 of Bodies in Translation’s ‘Vital Practices in the Arts’
‘How to Put On an Accessible Exhibition’ from Shape Arts.”
Accessible Images
An Instagram post reading, “How do you make your digital images more accessible? A guide to alt-text and image description. @tangled_arts, @bodiesintranslation, @creativeusers.art”. The post features two people using laptops in the Corporate Memphis style, and a bright pink border.An Instagram post reading, “Alt-text is ‘invisible’ to sighted users but important for screen reader users. Alt-text should be a clear, brief description of your image. Include it via ‘advanced settings’ on Instagram. Image description should be included in the caption of your posts. This is a more detailed description of what we’re seeing, and can be read by sighted users and screen reader users.”An Instagram post reading, “Further reading: Follow Shannon Finnegan (@shanfinnegan) for excellent resources on ‘Alt-text as poetry,’ and check out their website:
alt-text-as-poetry.net
Follow Hannah Thompson
(@blindspothannah), and check out her website: hannah-thompson.blogspot.com
Check out VocalEye’s resources page:
vocaleye.ca/resources.” Instagram post with the text, “Should you write alt-text or image description?” above an image of the Old El Paso girl meme reading, “Why don’t we have both?”
Accessible Online Meetings
An Instagram post reading, “How do you host more accessible online meetings? A guide to making Zoom more disability-friendly.” The post features a bright pink border, and two Corporate Memphis figures using laptops.An Instagram post reading, “Tips for accessible online meetings.
Always include access info on event posters and promotional materials.
It is always best to pay a live transcriptionist for meetings and events. At the very least, use a platform that has auto-captions.
Say your name when you begin to speak.
Say ‘that’s the end of my current thought’ or something else to indicate that you are done speaking.
Verbally describe what’s happening on screen for blind and low vision participants, as well as participants without video access.
Let everyone know that it’s OK to turn off their video and still be present.”
There is a hot pink border around the text.An Instagram post reading, “Further reading:
Follow Rooted in Rights (@rootedinrights), and read their article ‘How to Make Your Virtual Meetings and Events Accessible to the Disability Community’
‘Are Your Virtual Meetings Accessible for People with Disabilities?’ from Barrier Free Canada
‘Composing Access: An invitation to creating accessible events’ from Ohio
State University”.An Instagram post reading, “When the event poster says ‘all are welcome’ but no accessibility information is provided” above screen grabs of David Rose from Schitt’s Creek sarcastically saying, “Okay, well, thank you so much for this. Um, it was entirely unhelpful, but thank you nevertheless.”
