Idea Generation: Disability Programming at WisCon

[sasha_feather]

What Disability-related Programming would you like to see at WisCon this year?

I am happy to submit program ideas if you all can help me come up with some!

Some thoughts to get you started:

Interdependency and work sharing

Hierarchies within communities and how we disrupt them-- (ie, am I disabled or queer enough?), getting rid of the gates!

Political coalitions. Groups of disabled folks are naturally coalitions since our disabilities differ.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Free form thoughts:

1. focusing on a particular impairment and what narrative function it serves, compare with non-stereotyped examples. E.g.: blindness used to symbolize seeing more deeply; understanding the holy or the occluded; compared with literal blindness encouraging develop of AT and interdependence as well as being able to do what others do (if differently) so not carrying as much metaphorical weight. (Books? Stories? EXAMPLES, I know they exist.)

2. Let's try this one again. The holy seer, the mad fool. As in #1.

3. What narrative opportunities does disability create? Worst cases: the redemptive ending in cure; the angst-burden that the struggling parent must carry; the obviously 'justified' reason for eugenics/euthenasia. Better cases: a common experience which offers a chance to bridge species/class/ethnicity/nation etc.; the alien within a society can more readily relate to the alien without, etc.

[kalmn]

Yes please! Not enough last year!

[meloukhia]

'Disability and your mother' is something that came up on the renegade panel last year as something people wanted to talk about.

I LOVED the 'not your usual disability panel' last year, it was fun to do and I hope fun to attend as well!

'Disability and the final frontier,' because I could talk about disability in space all day--except I'd rather have a panel focusing on depicting disability in space than one talking about how there's none of it (make the media you want, etc etc).

'Disability in fantasy' or some such, I'd love to talk disabled heroines representations in fantasy (like Po in Bitterblue...).

Something on a culture and society that values independence, and views the only alternative as dependence, thus eliding interdependence and the strength made from connections (this builds heavily on the work of Mia Mingus and her great essays on interdependence might be a good starting point).

[sasha_feather]

I agree that we should do "A Very Special Disability Panel" again (and call it that!).

Can you elaborate on "Disability and your mother?"

Jesse and I sat and talked today and came up with a couple of solid panel ideas, with examples:

1. Blindness in Sf/F
Po in Kristin Cashore's books
Oree in NK Jemisin's work
Toph in A:TLA

2. Psionics in Sf/F
Telepaths and Empaths in Sf/F have features of disabled people: they sometimes have impairments such as headaches and sensitivities to crowds, and need accommodations and training. They are also subject to societal stigma and fear. Let's talk about psionics! Examples include Professor X, Sookie Stackhouse, Reese in Malinda Lo's "Adaptation", and ....

[meloukhia]

I'm honestly not quite sure about the disability and your mother thing, I just know that it came out. Cabell seemed especially interested, so she might be a good person to talk to about what she was envisioning?

[antarcticlust]

Brainstorming:

Something about disability and inspiration? Is this done to death? Is the classic hero's journey a version of this?

Something about chronic pain or invisible disability

Disability as a symbol of evil and villainy

Maybe a workshop on bringing better accessibility to your (group, meeting, club, university, con)?

[sasha_feather]

I really don't know what you are getting at with "disability and inspiration"-- lately there has been a lot of pushback around PWD not wanting to be sources of inspiration for abled folks, and that is what is coming to mind for me. I doubt that is what you mean. Can you elaborate?

[antarcticlust]

Definitely mean the push-back and critical angle-- sorry for not elaborating!

Sent from my iPhone

[etana]

Oh man, now i wanna WisCon for real. I can never afford it, this year being no different (I'm moving in May). However, if I had a pick, I'd go with:

- the politics of disability as political: what happens when Disability is a political movement but our disabilities (and thus needs, wants and desires) differ?

- Love the idea of a panel on disrupting hierarchies within the DIs/abled community; gate keeping to include divisiveness of language policing