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'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.

[yhlee]

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

[vass]

*muffled screaming*