Commoning Accessibility

05 May 2022 / Online
Language: English and Dutch

We are excited to share Commoning Accessibility – information and tips on grassroots, mixed-ability accessibility organizing, assembled and written by Staci Bu Shea (with many, many others), design and images by Lotte Lara Schröder.

Find the full document (design and plain text) as well as audio-recordings on our resource page.

“Commoning Accessibility” does not separate body from mind, instead understanding the mind as embodied. Improving accessibility for all bodyminds is a way to find commonality among differences and to establish new ways of un/learning together. Art and culture are privileged fields in which to practice accessibility, precisely because of the inherent possibilities of multimedia experimentation and expression. We want to share some of our findings after a year-long intensive exploration of accessibility practices, supported by the City of Utrecht.

This is not an exhaustive list on access and disability, nor is it a comprehensive manual (there are many more thorough ones out there!), but a summation of tips learned along the way that reflect our particular findings during the period of exploration. These languages and tools will inevitably change over time, particularly as accessibility becomes a creative life practice for more people.

Whether you are well-experienced in this life practice or just arriving, we hope that you feel seen and/or you find this information helpful.

Colophon:

Commoning Accessibility by Staci Bu Shea
Designed by Lotte Lara Schröder
Copy edited by Samantha McCulloch
Produced by Casco Art Institute: Working for the Commons (Utrecht, NL), May 2022

Thank you to organizations IN Gebaren and Text4Live/P2P Subtitling.

Also practiced within the education contexts of KABK’s Wxtch Craft: the poisons, the remedies – Spring Cycle ‘20/’21 and Sandberg Instituut Design Department and Unsettling Rietveld. Thank you to these students for their attention and work.

With financial support from Gemeente Utrecht’s subsidy Toegankelijkheid.

We hope that you find this information helpful!

Thanks to all who were directly part of this journey in big and small ways, alphabetically:

Agata Bar, Ezra Benus, Jeanine van Berkel, Dayna Casey, the Casco team (Leana Boven, Binna Choi, Luke Cohlen, Marianna Takou, Erik Uitenboogard, Victoire Raffy, Ki Hyun Park), CA Conrad, Jeanette Chedda, Ching-In Chen, Annie Dieckman, Flavia Dzodan, Clementine Edwards, Sven Engels, Taraneh Fazeli, Kevin Gotkin, Aneesha Goswami, Anja Groten, Veerle Haverhals, Lisa Hinderks, Jerron Herman, Nimo Hersi, Lisanne Houkes, Camisha L. Jones, Janneke Koers, Annette Krauss, Sandra Lange, Judith Leysner, Ana Linhares, Alexa Mardon, Cannach MacBride, Mia Mingus, Setareh Noorani, Rosa Paardenkooper, Amy Pekal, Pernilla Manjula Philip, Ying Que, Norma Sanchez, Erika Sprey, Linde Terpstra, Mira Thompson, Jetske Tinnevelt, Nathaly Tweeboom, Vivian Ziheral, Roos Wattel, Nagre Willemsen, Leane Wijnsma, Jos de Winde, and many others, living and ancestors elsewhere and from previous projects, where access was prioritized.