#palsy

My mom is seventy-six years old and a technophobe. She has advanced neuropathy in her feet. She can walk, but very unsteadily. She also has essential tremors in her hands, so holding things is difficult. Her eyesight isn't great, but is manageable, if she puts on reading glasses over her regular glasses. Her hearing is bad. She has hearing aids, but I'm not sure how much they help.

What I need for her is a hobby, something she can do besides just napping while "watching" television. She needs to be more active, but I can't think of anything for her to do. She really needs something to wake her up and sharpen her mind, but she doesn't want anything to do with tablets or smartphones.

Jessica’s content is an example of crip culture because of the ways it challenges societal ideals of disability. My first cultural artifact examining this is one of Jessica’s vintage makeup tutorials, Full Face of 1950’s Make Up Using No Fingers Challenge! [CC] (2017). As Jessica states in the beginning of the video, the tutorial was not originally intended to have a “Because…Disabled!” (0:002, Jessica Kellgren-Fozard 2017) tag line.

However, palsies are a regular part of her life. By filming her  experience with paralyzed hand(s), Jessica challenged hegemonic standards of disability and non-disability at the same time. This is done through the emphasis of impairment within her video; an aspect of the social model and crip culture Liz Crow argues is understated at best and misrepresented at worst. In their article Including All of Our Lives: Renewing the Social Model of Disability (1996), Crow writes that “interpreting impairment as personal tragedy creates fear of impairment and an emphasis on medical intervention. Such an interpretation is a key part of the attitudes and actions that disable us” (6, Crow: 1996). Jessica’s video acknowledges the “pain, fatigue, depression and chronic illness, including the way [it prevents] us from realizing our potential” (4, Crow: 1996). For her, that looks like sarcastic narration about how impossible it is to hold makeup tools when recovering from a year-long loss of arm use; 

“Thank goodness for the powdered pencil! […] Oh, and the top has rolled away. Never mind, I’m sure lots more will end up on the floor. Pause for pain..." (3:40).

These comments illustrate a tangible picture of Jessica’s disability, whilst avoiding the disabled acceptance Crow is so weary of. They demand social model-structured spaces recognize impairment, “Instead of tackling the contradictions and complexities of our experiences head on, we […] present impairment as irrelevant, neutral and, sometimes, positive, but never, ever as the quandary it really is. “ (3, Crow: 1996). Once again, Jessica subverts society’s expectation of ‘functioning’ with a disability by voicing her reality because “the suppression of […] impairment does not mean they cease to exist or suddenly become more bearable” (5, Crow: 1996). In doing so, Jessica is not objectifying, nor minimizing her own experience; because of the independent nature of her channel, we are able to interact with Jessica’s disability in a manner that she feels comfortable with.  The autonomous representation of disability is so so incredibly crucial in establishing culture for disabled people, as they begin to have art or space or community that is their own.

plus heres a bonus wip :3

I was wondering about blind and sight impared readers and how I can make my posts accessible for their reading software. So I called my local institution and they pointed me to a website that lists tips on how to make a website accessible for any surfer, be it blind readers, readers who can’t use a mouse, deaf readers, colorblind readers, epileptic readers, readers with RSI etc. Because about 15% of the population is not able-bodied.

The reading software I mention is software that reads a website out loud, based on the code behind it. Not only blind and sight impared people use it, but also people whose body isn’t fit to work with a mouse and/or a keyboard.

Since the list they pointed me to is not in English, I want to translate it for you. Here’s what I learned for tumblr posts. Spread the word!

1 Navigation

1.1 Use the structuring tools tumblr provides

Use the title feature for (sub)titles, so that the software knows it’s a (sub)title. A text in bold, cursive, or in a different or larger font type is just a plain text for the software. It doesn’t know that it’s a title.

If you make a list, don’t write a dash (-) or an asterisk (*) in front of the listed elements. Use the list feature, like I did in this list.

Don’t write *** between paragraphs to structure your text.

1.2 Your links are meaningful

The reading software makes a list of all the hyperlinks in a text. It’s confusing for your reader if it lists the word “here” five times. Provide context and meaning in your hyperlinked text.

Don’t write: “You can find more interesting articles here.” but write: “You can find more interesting articles here.”

Don’t write: “Sources: (x), (x) and (x)”, but write “Source 1, source 2 and source 3.

2 Content

2.1 Your post has a meaningful title

You don’t read every post from beginning to end, you scan to see if there’s anything interesting. So does this software. It scans the main title and any subtitles formatted in the title feature, so the reader can decide if it’s worth reading the plain text as well.

2.2 Images are described or have an alternative

The software can detect that there is an image, but can’t read it.

If you can avoid it, don’t give text in an image. If you share for example a poster of an event, with a date and a venue, that’s essential information the software can’t read.

Alternatively, you can add an image description, for example: “[Image description: a printscreen of my manuscript, with the word THE END in all caps underneath the last paragraph]”.

Sometimes an image works better than describing it in words. For some of my more complex writing advice posts, I choose to put information in an image because it works better than writing it all out. In that case, I will add the image description underneath the cut (”read more”) and mention above the cut that readers can find it there.

2.3 Video and sound

Like with images, label video and sound.

Subtitle videos (because automatically generated subtitles are not dependable).

Don’t let video and sound start automatically.

This is also relevant for able-bodied readers who are in a loud environment, or choose not to activate the sound or video because of slow internet connection etc.

3 Format/design

Don’t use spaces and other characters to format your text.

Chose texts and images that don’t blink more than 3 times per second, for epileptic readers.

Make sure colorblind people can understand your post, don’t use color as a differentiating feature.

Make sure your links are distinctly recognisable as links.

I hope you find this as useful as I did. I realised that it takes me little effort to include all kinds of readers into my posts, so I will take this into account with future posts.

Feel free to add to this, or correct me if I’m wrong, or if I accidentally gave information that is specific for my language. I don’t need to use it myself, but I want to include everyone.