The accessibilities audit of the REACH Community Health Centre was performed on December 22nd 2011 by the Radical Access Mapping Project, for the All Genders Wellness Centre. Learn more about the AGWC here:
http://www.allgenderswellness.com/All_Genders_Wellness_Centre/About_Us/About_Us.html
You can learn more about the Mapping Project and find other audited spaces here
http://buildingradicalaccessiblecommunities.blogspot.com/p/accessibilities-audits.html
If you would like a space audited, or have questions about accessibilities in general, please contact rampvancouver@gmail.com and let's talk!
REACH CHC Accessibilities Overview
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18RIa0lK8c0oCyIafIvufV2fRqQYM3ID4L_5AFqoBR58/edit
REACH CHC Full Accessibilities Audit
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkEveutSlMoVdGNkNGJOUENrRk1OX3k0eXRzY2Vtanc
Sunday, March 11, 2012
M2M Vancouver steambaths Audit
This accessibilities audit of M2M Vancouver steambaths was performed on March 1st 2012 by the Radical Access Mapping Project, with assistance from the good folks at sTeam: Bathhouse For All Gender.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Supporting Kids and Parents through childcare
Don't Leave Your Friends Behind- Concrete Things You Can Do To Support Parents In Your Scene (Repost)
These suggestions are from the “Don’t Leave Your Friends Behind: Anarcha-feminism & Supporting Mothers and Children” workshop at La Revolta! To get a copy of the 22 page workshop handout: you can download it from: http://bengal.missouri.edu/~maxwellr/DontLeaveYourFriendsBehind.pdf or send a dollar to Vikki Law P.O. Box 20388 NY NY 10009 or China Martens P.O. Box 4803 Baltimore MD 21211 USA
http://femmeminister.snappages.com/blog.htm#.T093J2ptfeI.facebook
Saturday, February 18, 2012
fiddling...
please note that im currently fiddling around with the settings here, it'll be up and making sense soon enough :)
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Inspiration Porn
[photo: black and white image of a bearded, white, tattoo'd, bespectacled person wearing a black tshirt, overalls and cap, sitting in a motorized mobility scooter, clasping their hands together while smiling big, with their forearm crutches sticking up behind them; text reads: "Know what i'm tired of? Images of disabled people doing random things, turned into "inspiration porn". These images (e.g. children joyfully running with their prosthetic legs, someone painting with their toes, an elder skiing, etc), are then emblazoned with text like "what's your excuse?", "your excuse is invalid", "if ___ can do it, why can't you?" and other gems. They call on non-disabled people to buck up and stop making excuses for not doing something, and guilt other disabled folks into feeling like crap for not being able to pull themselves up by the proverbial bootstraps & "just do it". These images & sentiments are an ableist tool. They exceptionalize disabled people based in ablesist notions of accomplishment & worth. They build on & reenforce able bodied pitydom of gimps. Just fucking stop it ok? We're just doing our thing, yknow? We are not a goddamn guilt-trip tool to get you to do stuff. Please, if you need to use gimps as a tool to get you to do stuff, yer using the wrong starting point. (*for example, in this photo, i am simply enjoying a moment with a friend... I AM NOT YOUR INSPIRATION!)"]
- - - - - - - >
Think about it... if you wanted to surf, i bet you've seen many photos of random people surfing, and if you're reading this now you've got access to a computer and, like, so many photos and videos [e.g. when i type in "surfing" into google, i get about 298,000,000 results]. So ask yourself: why does it take the image of a disabled person doing it to get you to do it? Here's what i think, take it or leave it, i just ask that you ponder it some:
Society creates stories out of disabled folks. Stories which vilify us or exceptionalize us, and in the case of these images it's the latter (but it ultimately leads to the former as well, but that's for another post).
It seems like it taps into a few things:
A sense of pity (however subconscious) for the disabled person, because wow, is that ever sad!
A sense of "well if they can do it so can i!". But why didn't you have that reaction when you saw 297,999,990 shots of able bodied people doing the exact same thing? Just the mere SIGHT of a disabled person propelled you to do it? Wow! Now THAT'S power and influence!
A sense of "duty" / "obligation" somehow. Because if disabled people are doing this, you cant possibly say no. That wouldn't look right. What would your friends think? How could you look at yourself in the morning if there was a poor disabled child out there running joyfully with their prosthetic legs while you whined about schedules and whatnot?
Society creates stories out of disabled folks. Stories which vilify us or exceptionalize us, and in the case of these images it's the latter (but it ultimately leads to the former as well, but that's for another post).
It seems like it taps into a few things:
A sense of pity (however subconscious) for the disabled person, because wow, is that ever sad!
A sense of "well if they can do it so can i!". But why didn't you have that reaction when you saw 297,999,990 shots of able bodied people doing the exact same thing? Just the mere SIGHT of a disabled person propelled you to do it? Wow! Now THAT'S power and influence!
A sense of "duty" / "obligation" somehow. Because if disabled people are doing this, you cant possibly say no. That wouldn't look right. What would your friends think? How could you look at yourself in the morning if there was a poor disabled child out there running joyfully with their prosthetic legs while you whined about schedules and whatnot?
[Us just existing and not crawling into a hole you can see really makes folks think of the big picture, of humanity, of you know, the like meaning of life and shit.]
You look at that kid running [ that same running kid i mentioned earlier ], and maybe you see the joy on their face. You want to capture some of that for yourself, maybe remember what it's like to feel like that. But what you're also doing when you read the words "your excuse is invalid" [aside from probably not even thinking about the use of that word "invalid" in this context] and you leap off the couch to find your old track suit, is that you are creating a story for that kid based on able-bodied perceptions of worth, of success, of joy; you are pitying that kid, you are maybe feeling silly for ever thinking you couldnt do it because wow, that kid can do it!
And that dear reader is ableism.
Just ponder it, ok?
Just ponder it, ok?
And before i get any "you don't want to see gimps doing stuff!!" messages, that's not what this is about. i love seeing images of gimps doing stuff. What i don't dig is the ableist sentimentality which so often accompanies it. i dislike having our lives used as a tool to reenforce the very systems which cause us to be "disabled" in the first place [you know, disability as a social construct and all that jazz]. Different stuff.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
that awkward moment when...
--------------------------------------
from
http://thededucer.tumblr.com/post/17330582800/that-awkward-moment-when"that awkward moment when you gently question someone’s use of the ableist word “lame”, and suggest that they have a look at this post over at FWD, and their only response is to delete their original comments. errrrrr."
--------------------------------------
Seriously.
i think sometimes folks do it because they feel embarrassed, or maybe they think it's not ok to keep a post up there once its been called out, maybe they don't want anyone to get offended, who knows. The point is, getting kindly, softly called on something needn't be so embarrassing that it stops you from working on it. Its a learning moment. Try to sit with it, let it be what it is. And don't do it again.
Friday, February 10, 2012
how do you be compassionate with yourself when all you want to do is rip your eyebrows off?
i've spent so many years doing work to love and understand my survivor body | my fat body | my trans & genderqueer body | my aging body | my sober body | my gimped ache-filled body, working to turn down the volume during pain flares and pump it up during the rest of the time | to love my cunt in a cunt-hating world | and to love my tits | love my stretchmarks | even love this bald head of mine | love the complex shit that makes it hard to love freely sometimes, that i've lost sight of taking care to love my whole, complete, integrated body, the whole thing, as one big package, all at the same time. i want to know what that feels like. i'm trying.
A friend suggested to me tonight that --given the time and energy and passion i give to other things in my life-- i might need to ask different questions of myself; suggested that instead of judging myself for the things i'm not able to or am not doing, that i instead ask "what is the most self-loving thing i can do right now?", and i broke down crying. (cue Kinnie Starr lyrics from Soar that've been stuck in my head since, like, 8 or 9 years: Forsake the answer, rename the question, what lies deep enough not to be mentioned, should be brought to the top to be spoken")
Clearly, there's more work to be done. But i'm gonna try to think of it not as work, as drudgery, as a desperate need because i once again am in fucking agony right now, but rather as coming from a place of love, forgiveness, compassion.
i wonder: what will it feel like to truly love myself --and not simply these bitesize portions which used to feel like enough-- in words and actions?
What do you do when you want to feel integrated and in touch with and compassionate and loving and responsive and accountable to a body that is consistently being an asshole to you?
A friend suggested to me tonight that --given the time and energy and passion i give to other things in my life-- i might need to ask different questions of myself; suggested that instead of judging myself for the things i'm not able to or am not doing, that i instead ask "what is the most self-loving thing i can do right now?", and i broke down crying. (cue Kinnie Starr lyrics from Soar that've been stuck in my head since, like, 8 or 9 years: Forsake the answer, rename the question, what lies deep enough not to be mentioned, should be brought to the top to be spoken")
Clearly, there's more work to be done. But i'm gonna try to think of it not as work, as drudgery, as a desperate need because i once again am in fucking agony right now, but rather as coming from a place of love, forgiveness, compassion.
i wonder: what will it feel like to truly love myself --and not simply these bitesize portions which used to feel like enough-- in words and actions?
What do you do when you want to feel integrated and in touch with and compassionate and loving and responsive and accountable to a body that is consistently being an asshole to you?
i suppose i'm going to keep trying to come back to "what is the most self-loving thing i can do right now?"
xox
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Fragrance Free Femme of Colour Realness Draft 1.5
Another amazing piece by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha!
by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
brownstargirl@gmail.com
"Dedicated to all my fierce femme of colour disabled and chronically ill warrior fam.
When I think about access, I think about love. I think that crip (disabled and chronically ill) solidarity, and solidarity between disabled folks and non(yet) disabled folks is a powerful act of love and I-got-your-back. It’s in big things, but it’s also in the little things we do moment by moment to ensure that we all- in all our individual bodies- get to be present fiercely as we make change. ...
One small (and huge) thing you can do to ensure access is to work towards being scent/fragrance free. Folks who have chemical disabilities need to be able to participate in the worlds outside our bedrooms- in our parties, queer/trans of color cultural events, the subway, the grocery store, etc.
It’s easy to get inexpensive scent/fragrance free products at Trader Joe’s, Walgreens, Whole Foods (they suck, but they make $3 scent-free shampoo, conditioner and lotion), independent health food stores and co-ops, and you can also just get some cocoa butter, coconut oil or shea butter in the raw and make your own products, which is cheap and fun.
Cutting out scents may seem like a pain in the ass, but it means that awesome, ass-kicking community members you love can attend events you're at and make out with you without having seizures, throwing up or otherwise getting really sick.
Are you curious about going scent-free but totally overwhelmed by the prospect of having to replace your whole product line of fiercely researched POC body care products? You're not the only one. Fear not!"
...
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Scarlet Road: A Sex Workers Journey
So i was finally able to watch the full length version of this today. It's a look into sex workers working with clients with disabilities, and about the connections between our communities, the stigmas faced, and how we can connect and be in solidarity with one another.
Aside from some moments of ugh (in particular, there were several mentions of how "inspiring" and "rewarding" it is to work with disabled clients, which didn't get too into it, but just singed around the outside), i thought this was an interesting look.
(this one is not yet subtitled, but im gonna work on it!)
id love to see it paired with "Every Ho I Know Says So: Advice for lovers, partners, dates and sweethearts of sex workers"
"EVERY HO I KNOW SAYS SO is a response to the total lack of accessible online resources for people looking for advice on how to be a good date or lover or partner to a sex worker. We want to support our lovers to continue unlearning the internalized stigma against sex workers, especially in intimate relationships"
(i did english subtitles for this some time ago, enjoy!)
Have thoughts about either or both of these?
Friday, December 2, 2011
Gimps Against Gentrification!
[photo description: night street scene at a construction site, approximately 12 people, ranging in age, size, ability, colour, stand or sit in the rain in walkers, with canes, and a scooter at the front left, blocking one of the entrances to the under construction Paris annex condo development in Vancouver's DownTown EastSide]
REVOLUTION IN PROGRESS.
EXPECT DELAYS.
While 24 folks occupied the Paris annex condo development in DTES today, many more linked arms blocking the doors so more cops couldnt get in, including Elders and disabled folks who used our big beautiful bodies and mobility aids to increase our collective strength.
We chanted "NO CONDOS IN THE DTES!", "NO HOUSING, NO PEACE!", and "WHAT DO WE WANT? HOUSING! WHEN DO WE WANT IT? NOW!!" in solidarity with all those fighting the condo onslaught in this area and the unwillingness of the City to do anything about it which reflects & respects the needs of this community.
While 24 folks occupied the Paris annex condo development in DTES today, many more linked arms blocking the doors so more cops couldnt get in, including Elders and disabled folks who used our big beautiful bodies and mobility aids to increase our collective strength.
We chanted "NO CONDOS IN THE DTES!", "NO HOUSING, NO PEACE!", and "WHAT DO WE WANT? HOUSING! WHEN DO WE WANT IT? NOW!!" in solidarity with all those fighting the condo onslaught in this area and the unwillingness of the City to do anything about it which reflects & respects the needs of this community.
In the words of the folks fighting gentrification throughout the DTES:
"Condos at this site would be a gentrification bomb in the heart of the DTES.
The 100-block of East Hastings is symbolically important because it includes single room occupancy housing for about 400 low-income people.
It also includes key gathering places where low-income DTES residents feel comfortable, including:
- Carnegie Community Centre which serves 5000 low-income people and is a hub for food and recreational activities.
- Insite which ensures access to critical health services for thousands of IV drug users..
- Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre which is a drop in and safe-space for thousands of low-income women.
- Aboriginal Front Door which is the only centre in the area run by and for Indigenous people.
Bringing condos to this block could change all of this. Condos cause higher property values, higher rents in SROs, and displacement of low income people from the SROs as we have seen with Woodwards. This contradicts the “without displacement” part of the city’s policy of “revitalization without displacement” in the DTES. The condo-social housing mixed development at Woodward’s caused rents in neighbouring hotels to increase and pushed out low-income residents. Expensive restaurants and boutique stores sprang up and more private security guards and police pushed low-income people out of public spaces. This is why we want 100% social housing, not 80% condos with 20% social housing."
Disabled folks and Elders are some of the hardest hit by the gentrification process in the DTES. Rising poverty rates, reduced disability benefits, health care supplements being slashed, Elder community spaces in uncertain futures, welfare rates at all time lows (and increased barriers), and condo developers encroaching further and further into the heart of the DTES, this pattern will only continue.
But disabled folks and Elders are also often the first on the line when fighting back. There are networks of folks working together to stop these developments, and you can be part of that! There are many victories to celebrate. Get in contact with the folks at the link below, or just come on down to an action. There are many people --including other disabled folks-- able and willing to stay alongside for support, to find ways of working together, to keep each other safe and connected. However you do it, join in the fight! See you out there!
Please, read more here, get informed, come out to an action, support in whatever way you can!
http://dtesnotfordevelopers.wordpress.com/
And you can always get a realistic media reflection of events here: http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/photo/paris-block-condos-confiscated/9201
And you can always get a realistic media reflection of events here: http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/photo/paris-block-condos-confiscated/9201
Monday, November 28, 2011
free traveller accessible transit information study
"Free Traveller is a Loughborough University project to study how different forms of information help disabled people plan their journey in confidence.
The aim is simple, to understand how different forms of information effect the usability of a mashup (thats the thing with the information balloons on a map). Does different information effect how users see the mashup, and if so how can we use these judgements to make better mashups, websites and products in the future? This is done by creating three custom maps to explore under what conditions information influences user information perceptions. Participants are then asked to view these maps, interact with them and then share their thoughts on how confident they would feel using that information when travelling in the future."
hey folks,
i did this, and it was actually pretty neat, a great project designed to figure out how folks who use accessibility information for transit traveling deal with the info (value? usefulness? clarity? accuracy? etc). They made a mistake with the time it takes to complete it, which has now been corrected, and they really need folks to try it out!
(doesnt hurt that you can win a chunk of change for participating!)
please note there are a couple glitches/issues right now:
As of right now, you can't increase the text size of the info boxes in the maps yet, but i alerted them to it. i ended up cut n pasting the info into a word doc and increasing the font size myself, but that's not a good solution and they're on it.
Currently, there are only 2 gender options (neither of which suit me. sigh). i mentioned this, and perhaps if more people do, there'll be movement on that.
(doesnt hurt that you can win a chunk of change for participating!)
please note there are a couple glitches/issues right now:
As of right now, you can't increase the text size of the info boxes in the maps yet, but i alerted them to it. i ended up cut n pasting the info into a word doc and increasing the font size myself, but that's not a good solution and they're on it.
Currently, there are only 2 gender options (neither of which suit me. sigh). i mentioned this, and perhaps if more people do, there'll be movement on that.
Monday, November 14, 2011
not knowing / not bothering
[And also, like i've said elsewhere, gimps can (and often do!) do this aaaaaall day long. We aint goin' anywhere (especially since folks seem to insist on using non-accessible spaces!). So, y'know, we're meeting up with each other, drawing up plans, making change happen. You can come along for the ride and help steer every now and then, or you can get sick in the backseat. Your choice. Either way, change is happening, friend!]
Monday, October 24, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
THE FIRST LIVE AUDIO DESCRIPTION SERVICE IN CANADA
Hey folks :)
Here's a bit of news from the BC Coalition of People With Disabilities about a new service available to blind & low-vision folks:
THE FIRST LIVE AUDIO DESCRIPTION SERVICE IN CANADA!
http://www.gvpta.ca/vtg-audio-descripting/
A program of Kickstart Disability Arts & Culture, VocalEye Live Audio Description Service provides the visual details of live performance to blind and low vision audience members. Each patron is given a personal receiver with a single earpiece and volume control that allows him or her to hear both the show and the live audio description at the same time.
The broadcast begins 15 minutes before curtain with detailed descriptions of the set, characters and costumes. Once the show begins, the describer transmits pertinent physical action and visual detail between the lines of dialogue.
A new feature introduced at the end of last season is "Advance Audio Previews", pre-recorded descriptions of the set, costumes and characters, background info, reviews and plot synopsis available prior to the described performance. Please contact VocalEye for more details about the service: info@vocaleye.org and contact the theatres directly to arrange your tickets. Remember to mention VocalEye Live Audio Description to reserve your equipment.
SEASON 2 of LIVE Audio Described performance 2011-12
2011
Sunday Oct 2 at 2 PM Next to Normal, Arts Club Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage
Sunday Oct 2 at 2 PM Next to Normal, Arts Club Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage
Friday Oct 21 at 8 PM Tosca Cafe, Vancouver Playhouse Theatre
Sunday Nov 13 at 2 PM The Penelopiad, Arts Club Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage
Friday Dec 9 at 8 PM La Cage aux Folles, Vancouver Playhouse Theatre
Sunday Dec 11 at 2 PM White Christmas, Arts Club Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage
2012
Friday Jan 27 at 8 PM Red, Vancouver Playhouse Theatre
Friday Jan 27 at 8 PM Red, Vancouver Playhouse Theatre
January TBA Don Quixote, Surrey Arts Centre
Sunday Feb 19 at 2 PM Calendar Girls, Arts Club Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage
Friday Mar 2 at 8 PM Hunchback, Vancouver Playhouse Theatre
Sunday Apr 8 at 2 PM The Importance of Being Earnest, Arts Club Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage
Friday Apr 27 at 8PM God of Carnage, Vancouver Playhouse Theatre
Sunday Jun 3 at 2 PM High Society, Arts Club Stanley Industrial Alliance Stage
For more information on Kickstart and the VocalEye Audio Description Service, including show descriptions, ticket information, and accessible directions to theatres , email info@kickstart-arts.ca
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Future Tripping.
So i saw a film (fabulous by the way, highly recommend it: "Gen Silent") recently, and the discussion afterwards got me thinking. Well, it got me to leave quite frankly, but also thinking.
A panel was talking about the film and about aging LGBT folks more generally. And one of the things that kept getting said was different versions of: "We're all going to have to start planning (for aging and care we may need) soon!"
It struck me that this was all very clearly being couched in pretty able-bodied terms.
Because of course, people aren't dealing with these kinds of questions already! Or so many would like to believe, because this culture does not centre or prioritize or even scratch the surface of the voices and experiences of folks with disabilities; and because both aging and disability (together or separately) are terrifying to most folks.
But for many of us, we're already planning. We're already having people wiping our asses, spoon feeding us, getting our groceries, manipulating our bodies, speaking on our behalf, blocking out our lovers, relying on strangers, and so forth. Many of us already live with this reality, so what felt like an unexamined refrain of "ZOMG it's going to happen someday!" was a little exhausting quite frankly, albeit predictable.
i'd love it if more people would challenge this constant centering of able-bodied stories/ realities. i wanted to stay for the end so i could say something, but just couldn't. And i needed to pee. And then i got lodged in the bathroom in my scooter. So y'know, no commentary from me. See? Plenty of us are already there. Having to be extricated from the bathroom by some strange (but very nice lol) dude. Awesomesauce. Reality. And there are so many folks in my life for whom this stuff and more is already a daily reality.
And yeah it does scare me to think of how things are gonna go down as i age. A queer, fat, trans, gimped and getting gimpier, with no connection to my family of birth, who will not be getting married, who will have limited rights (as will my lovers) to care for me and have my wishes respected, it scares me for sure.
i wonder if it's actually a gift to be going through some of these things now instead of having them crash into me later? Just please don't call it a privilege lol. It's just practice.
And yeah it does scare me to think of how things are gonna go down as i age. A queer, fat, trans, gimped and getting gimpier, with no connection to my family of birth, who will not be getting married, who will have limited rights (as will my lovers) to care for me and have my wishes respected, it scares me for sure.
i wonder if it's actually a gift to be going through some of these things now instead of having them crash into me later? Just please don't call it a privilege lol. It's just practice.
So i guess when i'm watching things like this --and wow, it really was incredibly touching, i felt for each of these folks and related in some ways as well-- i'm thinking about who's in the room with me, and who isn't. How do we find each other, and how to we lose each other?
Sometimes, we can be right there, sitting right next to you, and it seems we don't even exist. And isn't that the very problem we (and this whole movie we're there to see) are talking about?
Sometimes, we can be right there, sitting right next to you, and it seems we don't even exist. And isn't that the very problem we (and this whole movie we're there to see) are talking about?
Forest? Meet trees.
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