The Internet, Disability and Artistic Expression

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Female artists with disabilities are no exception. As a marginalized group, they struggle with representation in the larger art world. However, in the later half of the 20th century, the disability rights movement also fostered the creation of an entire genre of art (Disability Art) that explores the experience of living with a disability (Barnes, 2008). Many modern female artists with disabilities cite both the disability rights and feminist movements as dominant inspirations in their work.

Here is just a small list of amazing women (mostly from the U.S.) who at least in part benefit from the use the Internet to spread the impact of their work: Petra Kuppers, performance artist and founder of The Olimpias project; Ju Gosling, multimedia storyteller and performance artist; Cheryl Marie Wade, writer and performer; Laura Hershey, writer and poet; Anne Finger, author; Victoria Ann Lewis, performer and writer; Riva Lehrer, painter and writer; Sunaura (Sunny) Taylor, painter; Veronica Elsea, composer and musician; Carrie Sandahl, performer and head of the UIC Program on Disability Art, Culture, and Humanities; and many of the AXIS Dance Company dancers. This is nowhere near an exhaustive list. …

Read the entire article on Yahoo! Accessibility.

Original Cyborgs: Disability and Technology on Yahoo Accessibility

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While reading this and other papers that have attempted to extrapolate further on “the cyborg myth” it often strikes me that they are missing a really obvious connection when discussing various intersections; many people with disabilities have been cyborgs (under Dr. Haraway’s definition) since long before “technology” or the concept of a cyborg was even a popular discussion. There is some rare exceptions, such as this piece on Frida Kahlo and a brief mention in the Cyborg Manifesto itself (as pointed out by Theresa Senft):

Here, she makes what is her only real reference to prosthetics and disability in her entire essay, in a discussion of Anne McCaffrey’s 1969 novel, The Ship Who Sang. The novel death a severely handicapped [sic] girl whose brain was connected to complex machinery, in which machines serve as “prosthetic devices, intimate components, friendly selves.” Haraway wonders aloud, “Why should our bodies end at the skin, or include at best other beings encapsulated by skin?”

Indeed, those of us with disabilities and chronic health issues would be hard pressed to separate ourselves from technology. Our lives are intrinsically linked with technology, and our identity is often defined by it.

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Read the entire article on Yahoo! Accessibility.

Privacy Issues Continued

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In our last post — Privacy, Women with Disabilities and Online Space — we discussed online privacy issues for women with disabilities, as well as some of the things we do to address them as a group. Though it is impossible to summarize all privacy issues people with disabilities face, our team thought it was important to look at privacy through a broader scope. Invasions of privacy are a constant and pervasive part of the experience of having a disability, for many people.

To recap our last post, most online privacy issues are related to creating identity. The Internet has some ability to “normalize” people with disabilities and allow them to disclose whatever information they want when they are ready. If someone is uncomfortable with their disability, they may have no need to disclose their disability online to have a place where they can be free of stigmas that may be difficult off-line. Conversely, if someone is totally comfortable with their disability, they can be totally upfront about it online in order to reach out to others in the disability community. People have different expectations of what privacy means online, but the ability to control what information is disclosed can be a powerful experience that many people with obvious disabilities ordinarily wouldn’t have the freedom to do. The same could be true of gender or any other identity. People can experiment with what they disclose online in ways that feel safe to them.

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Read the entire article on Yahoo! Accessibility.

Privacy, Women with Disabilities and Online Space

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There is frequently discussion about privacy concerns online, but little discussion about the implications of how it impacts individual lives in both positive and problematic ways. As community organizers who work with and in vulnerable communities, privacy is a constant topic of conversation. To prepare for Privacy Camp, we discussed how privacy applies to our community and how it benefits our work in supporting the lives of women with disabilities. We outline the main points from the key questions raised below…

Read the entire article on Yahoo! Accessibility.

Social Media Makes Us “Less Human”?

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There has been a lot of interest on the Internet recently over MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) professor Sherry Turkle’s new book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other and her assertions about how technology, including social media, makes us “less human”: “we are changed as technology offers us substitutes for connecting with each other face-to-face” (Turkle 2011). So, what exactly is “human”? The Wikipedia entry for the term “human” points out that “…self-awareness, rationality, and sapience, are considered to be defining features…” As humans, sharing that essential human nature of commonality of our experience with people who understand our reality is necessary to maintain mental health. We are social creatures, after all. So, is it the essential nature of social media and technology that make us more disconnected, or is it how people choose to use these technologies?

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Read the entire article on Yahoo! Accessibility.

Accessibility and Online Communities

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Universal Design extends the notion of accessibility to include design that is useful to people with and without disabilities. It was introduced by a team whose leader, Ron Mace, is a disabled architect. While the ideal physical world is accessible to everyone; universal design also applies to the Internet and online communities.

“Universal design seeks to encourage attractive, marketable products that are more usable by everyone. It is design for the built environment and consumer products for a very broad definition of user.”

- Ron Mace

Virtual worlds, i.e. Second Life, have made specific efforts to improve accessibility for people with certain kinds of disabilities. For example…

Read the entire article on Yahoo! Accessibility.

Remembering Laura Hershey

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[This post is also on our LiveJournal community]

Laura Hershey was an internationally known American writer, poet, activist, consultant, partner, mother and woman with a disability, based in Colorado. She passed away suddenly on November 26, 2010, after returning from a family vacation.

She had just written about her trip here: The Good and Bad of Gratitude

Some tributes:

Many will remember Laura Hershey in the days, months, and years to come, and learn from her work, as we have.

Women with Disabilities in the Modern World: A Brief Introduction

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The modern web is full of great advice for the modern woman. There are lots of lifestyle sites to be found, a plethora of “mommy blogs”, and a cottage industry of communities for women from all walks of life, like our friends at the all-encompassing BlogHer.com. There are countless campaigns promoting issues specific to women’s health and wellness, self-esteem, human rights and abuse, and in this age of social media, they are able to receive the exposure they well deserve.

What many don’t realize as they seek advice, share stories, commiserate, and fund raise with other women is that (at least in the United States), as many as 1 of 5 of their fellow moms, aunts, sisters, colleagues, and friends is a woman with a disability.

Why would they necessarily realize it? Many of us who are women with disabilities are busy enough just trying to live our lives the way any woman would, with the same stresses, stories, and successes as our non-disabled neighbors.  We are similar in as many ways as we are different, so self identifying as a woman with a disability doesn’t always come up. …

Read the entire article on Yahoo! Accessibility.

GimpGirl Community Moves to New Second Life Home, in Collaboration with the Experiential Design and Gaming Environment Lab at Ryerson University

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GimpGirl Community Moves to New Second Life Home, in Collaboration with the Experiential Design and Gaming Environment Lab at Ryerson University

September 15, 2010 – The GimpGirl Community, an international online support network for women with disabilities, is launching its new home within the virtual world of Second Life, in collaboration with the Experiential Design and Gaming Environment (EDGE) Lab at Ryerson University, based in Toronto, Canada.

GimpGirl Community was established in 1998 as a support network and resource center for women with disabilities. One of the first of its kind, it has brought together women with disabilities, allies, and supporters from around the world, using various Internet-based platforms. GimpGirl Community is active on several sites, including Flickr, LiveJournal, the social networking platforms of Facebook and Twitter, and its own website forums, among others.

Since February 2008, GimpGirl has maintained land within the virtual world of Second Life, previously sponsored by 3D Embodiment. This in-world environment includes space for weekly support group meetings, events and presentations, and areas to showcase art and items for sale created by community members, along with residential areas.

The EDGE lab is a transdisciplinary research lab exploring virtual and mixed-reality applications at the intersection of developing technologically embedded social and cultural practices, and shifting economic landscapes. The lab is supported with funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation and the Ministry for Research and Innovation of the Province of Ontario.

This new partnership will allow us to expand and more fully utilize our presence on Second Life and beyond,” said Jennifer Cole, program director of the GimpGirl Community. “Our goal is to create and maintain spaces online where women with disabilities can express themselves, support each other, and and engage their creativity.”

The new partnership with the EDGE Lab will allow GimpGirl Community access to the lab’s research and development infrastructure for the exploration of virtual and mixed-reality projects. The partnership will also increase traffic to the GimpGirl Community presence in Second Life, and ultimately support all of the community platforms used by the GimpGirl Community. This will allow for continued and exciting improvements in how the GimpGirl Community can reach out and support the lives of women with disabilities it connects with every day.

A “moving party” will take place within Second Life on September 19th, 2010 from 12 PM to 3 PM (PDT), which will include live music, as well as a DJ and dance party, a tour, and a guided storytelling hour. The event will also be accessible outside of Second Life via the GimpGirl Community website chat room and audio stream, and related projects and discussions will take place across the various GimpGirl Community outposts on the web.

For more information, visit http://www.gimpgirl.com.

Contact:
GimpGirl Community
info@gimpgirl.com

Dr. Jason Nolan
Director
Experiential Design and Gaming Environments (EDGE) Lab
Ryerson University
jnolan@ryerson.ca
http://ryerson.ca/~edgelab

SLCC 2010

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Come join GimpGirl Community at the Second Life Community Convention in person or online! Katherine Mancuso (SL: Muse Carmona) will be representing GimpGirl Community in the following SLCC 2010 events:

GimpGirl: Weaving a Virtual Support Network for Women With Disabilities
Saturday, 6:30 to 7:30am Pacific – Thoreau
UStream Channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/slcc6

GimpGirl’s mission is to connect women with disabilities through social technologies to support each other’s lives. We believe the lessons we have learned about how universal design and accessibility apply to facilitating conversations about healthcare and support across platforms are translatable to other community building, education, and collaboration efforts in Second Life.

Virtual Worlds Standards: Why You Should Care
David Levine (SL: Zha Ewry), Katherine Mancuso (SL: Muse Carmona), Jeanne Spellman (SL: Jeanne Solo)
Sunday, 8:00 to 9:00am Pacific – St. James
UStream Channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/slcc2/

As virtual worlds evolve, standards will be part of the dialogue shaping the growth of their technical architectures and social ecosystems. Topics will include: standards for Second Life-Like worlds, compatibility with existing Internet technologies, accessibility for persons with disabilities, and standards for meshes and graphics.

Utilizing Virtual Worlds for Real Life Good
Joyce Bettencourt (SL: Rhiannon Chatnoir), Henry Allen (SL: Jaywick Forcella), Kathey Fatica (SL: Katydid Something), Katherine Mancuso (SL: Muse Carmona), Janyth Ussery (SL: Saxet Uralia)
Sunday, 11:30am to 12:30pm Pacific – St. James
UStream Channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/slcc2/

Can a virtual world manifest real life good? This presentation will be an overview and panel discussion of best practices and learned experiences of five people working formally and informally on social good, nonprofit and philanthropic projects within Second Life. Topics such as using virtual simulation for support and awareness, fundraising, community outreach, and event planning along with the opportunity to askquestions, and pick the collective brains of the panelists.

All events can be viewed from Second Life at the SLCC sim (SLurl: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/SLCC%201/233/24/25 ) in the room listed, or on the Ustream address in each event listing above!