Blogging things that have caught my attention, so I can close browser tabs.

This concise guide to online conference accessibility (from the Society for Cultural Anthropology) has such lovely prose. It links to a resource on in-person conference accessibility from the Society of Medical Anthropology, if you're looking for that kind of thing as well. But -- back to that prose...

In disability theory and activism... conversations about access seek to ensure that the widest swath of human variation can be a part of an activity, collectivity, or space. As a result, reflections on access bring into view unmarked forms of privilege that are built into material and technological forms.

Mmm. See that? Straightforward, incisive, and "this is what we do" rhetoric. Not wheedling, not othering those "poor disabled people" we should "help," not painting it as some kind of charity cause or something that nice abled people do because they're so nice. Just... okay, let's be conscious, let's bring the widest swath in from the start, and let's attend to what doing so might make-visible to us. This is the rhetoric of a world where access is Already A Thing; this is the rhetoric of someone who doesn't have to beg for a seat at the table; this is the way you speak when you are confident about how the world is, and who you are, and how we ought to be to others. let's continue.

All speech should be at an easy-to-follow pace. No speed-reading! It’s not just inconsiderate when your remarks are too long and you rush through them; it actually excludes people from accessing what you are saying. Invite people in. Share your words and images in a way people can digest and enjoy them.

Notice the framing of "don't you want people to understand, digest, and enjoy what you're telling them about?" They're framing access as something that also benefits the presenter (and it does). We don't tell people to copyedit their writing because we assume a deficit on the part of readers; we tell people to do it because it makes their writing better and helps them communicate their idea more clearly. Of course readers would struggle to comprehend a page full of misspelled words and incomplete sentences; it's not them, it's the author. Of course attendees will struggle to understand rushed remarks; it's not them, it's the presenter. This is just... good communication practice.

The guide points at complexity without getting bogged down in discussing it (as I often do). For instance, while giving an example of how to make visual elements accessible to conference participants with non-normative vision, they discuss how "assumptions about race and ethnicity may come to the fore when you translate the visual into the verbal." Do you describe people as "light-skinned" or "white"? What do these words mean? When do they make a difference?

Where and how do we become cautious of our desires to communicate in straightforward ways -- "that's a white woman" -- and when does it become important to disrupt exactly that kind of straightforwardness? "Light-skinned, female-presenting... but we don't know how this person identifies?" I appreciate the guide pointing at these kinds of questions, and then leaving us with this:

There is no simple answer that fits all cases, only important choices that demand reflection... The point here is to be conscious of ways that conference participants may or may not be able to access your presentation, and to create something that strives to include...

The final paragraph frames accessibility as an art of conviviality, and therefore as a way to follow the tenets of the anthropological disciplines themselves. This is a brilliant framing; "these practices are not other, they are inherent to being better at who we already are."

Ultimately, accessibility is an art of conviviality, a means of acknowledging and incorporating disabled and nondisabled people alike. As an art of living together, it requires conscious reflection, creativity, and openness to difference. Thus, while practicing accessibility may be new to many anthropologists, its fundamental premises are at the heart of our discipline.