Accessibility in Tabletop Gaming Resources

[davidgillon]

Jennifer Kretchmer just posted a link on the Fans for Accessible Conventions FB group to her collection of resources on disability and tabletop/RPG gaming. I only just started looking at it, but it looks very good - starting out with Stella Young's TED talk is just plain classy. Stella never once mentioned gaming, but she did talk about the same attitudes that go on to be problematical in gaming representations of disability (and in non-disabled gamers reacting to disabled gamers). The compendium seems to cover everything from disability theory, to practical access to gaming, to how RPGs should handle disability within the game in a way that's non-offensive (and mostly don't). Definitely worth a look : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZFSXz-Yva1KZAsP7NblCdkoiQ6RcjxSV2gj98eXusJs/edit

ETA: Most of this should also be applicable to writing disabled characters outside of gaming.

Also in disability stuff today:

Friend: couldn't park at a shopping centre because the coronavirus queuing system was all over the disabled parking.

Me: And the government guidance says explicitly not to block disabled bays, AFAICS most stores misread it as 'by blocking disabled bays'.

Friend: Got a link?

Me: It's here.

Also me: Oh, hang on, you're in Scotland.

Me: Yeah, that's the England advice, let me follow the link for Scotland to see if it's the same

Me: Nope, there's a checklist for opening, but it doesn't mention disabled parking.

Also me, after spending 15 minutes digging. "Found it. It's in a link buried in the appendix to the guidance on opening public spaces"

That's not quite in a filing cabinet in a toilet in a cellar with all the lights and the staircase removed, behind a sign saying "beware of the leopard", but it's definitely trying.

*Headdesk*

ETA2: The main page for the Scottish guidance is marked "Accessibility: This document may not be fully accessible".

It's a coronavirus public safety document, disabled people are one of the at-risk groups. Seriously!?!

Comments

[lilysea]

Have you seen the wheelchair-using figurines for tabletop gaming?



"Painting Polygons: Not strictly a P&P project, but I have recently donated my time, along with my fellow sculptor Tom Lishman, on a project to create miniatures that represent wheelchair users in D&D! This was done in solidarity with Sara "The Dislocating DM" (mustangsart on twitter) who has produced some 5e friendly combat wheelchair rules! And 25% of the project sales is going to her chosen charity as well! If you'd like to take a look, please follow the link below Minis available as print-on-demand or STL for those printer owning hobbyists among you!

https://bit.ly/DungeonDiversity

Thanks also to Steamforged Games for their encouragement and support!"

[davidgillon]

I hadn't seen them, but I've read the combat wheelchair rules and both they and the miniatures are linked to from the document.

[davidgillon]

I've now poked around looking for the Welsh and NI reopening guidance to go with the English and Scots. The Welsh doesn't actually mention parking and queues, but repeatedly stresses considering the impact of changes on disabled people and following the Equality Act. The Northern Ireland guidance is just incredibly brief (at least what I found) and never gets down to the level of mentioning disabled people.

[cloudsinvenice]

One thing I'm hearing about locally on Twitter is that stuff like cafes opening out onto the street for distancing reasons has had an impact on street accessibility - there's more of those bloody A-frame signs, plus outdoor chairs and tables all over the place. And people like IMTAC have highlighted that, but as usual there seems to be a huge grey area between "disabled orgs highlighting things" and anyone taking ownership and ensuring the rules are adhered to. I'm still not going out except for the odd medical thing so my whole sense of this is mostly secondhand.

[davidgillon]

Yeah. I'm not venturing out much, and the only place I go is Rochester, which is effectively already pedestrianised. On-the-footpath tables were already an issue before coronavirus, so any expansion is guaranteed to be an issue, but I haven't been down that end of the high street.

The London pedestrianization/cycle schemes are apparently causing havoc - the new cycle routes mean taxis now can't get to the kerb to put their ramp out for wheelchair users - news clip by Mik Scarlet here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-53670087/london-s-pop-up-cycle-lanes-stopping-disabled-travel Apparently they did also film stuff about the effects on ambulant disabled people, but it got dropped in editing. I counted about a dozen blocked dropped kerbs as someone filmed while riding through Manchester's new on-street eateries, which I saw via Chris Boardman tweeting it being a 'Wonderful improvement', while I've seen pictures from both Brighton and somewhere in Ireland (unclear where to the point I didn't know if it was North or the Republic) with disabled parking bays turned into extra seating for cafes. York removed all of its city centre disabled parking and the guy representing them at a meeting about it outright said it was for economic reasons.

[cloudsinvenice]

And of course they have recourse to the ultimate comeback that disabled people shouldn't be out in a pandemic. This whole thing really has been a lesson in how fragile our gains are.

[davidgillon]

Anyone trying that with me will have it pointed out, at length, that of the four of us in semi-direct family, I'm both the only disabled one and the only non-clinically vulnerable one!

[yhlee]

Thanks for the link, David! I've downloaded for future perusal. (Sometime when I have a brain again, ahahahahaha.)

[vass]

*muffled screaming*