Event Hosts (all from San Francisco State University)

Event Socials

#ComicsA11Y
Facebook group: Adapting Comics for Blind and Low Vision Readers Working Group
Longmore Institute of Disability, Youtube: @LongmoreInstitute, Twitter: @LongmoreInst
Program in Visual Impairments, YouTube/Twitter/Instagram: @VIProgramSFSU
Nick’s collection of resources related to blind accessible comics on Spin Weave and Cut

Gina Gagliano (Random House Graphic Publishing Director. Twitter: @_GinaGagliano)
Matthew Shifrin (Publisher of accessible Lego instructions for blind individuals)

Description: While audio description is a rapidly growing field, efforts have primarily focused on cinema, with less conversation given to graphic novels and comics. Audio-based approaches are likely the most affordable and technologically achievable means for providing access to blind and low vision comics readers. With such a highly visual medium, how do audio-based approaches to comics access ensure that the result honors the artists’ intentions while simultaneously making something worth experiencing for a blind/low vision person? This panel will explore these questions and more, as we learn from experts who work in audio description and also experience audio description as users themselves.
Moderator: Thomas Reid (Founder of the podcast Reid My Mind, audio description advocate and voice actor/producer)
Panelists:

Chad Allen (Unseen audio comic author, magician)
Rick Boggs (Founder of Audio Eyes, an audio description company)
Charity Pitcher-Cooper (YouDescribe manager and audio description trainer at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute. Twitter: @birthchazz)
Walei Sabry (Digital Accessibility Coordinator, New York City. Twitter: @CorruptedSight)

Description: Comics are a highly visual medium. Words and pictures collide in an often dizzying array of ways across the page. For blind and low vision comics readers, text and audio description can be an effective method to convey narrative and dialogue. However, these approaches are more limited in getting across the spatial layout of the comics page and the ways in which the various elements work together, all of which can be a significant component to the work’s meaning. This panel explores ways in which comics have been both translated and created from the ground up using tactile-formats, drawing on the expertise of blind and sighted creators working in this fashion.
Moderator: Georgina Kleege (UC Berkeley professor of creative writing and disability studies)
Panelists:

Ann Cunningham (Tactile media artist and educator)
Ilan Manouach (Comics auteur, creator of tactile comic Shapereader)
Frank Welte (Accessible Media Specialist at the SF Lighthouse for the Blind MAD Lab)

Description: Is it audio? Is it tactile? Is it haptics? Or is it a combination? As comics and multimedia creators think about accessibility for blind consumers, a range of modalities might be considered when rendering comics for nonvisual consumption. With new and emerging technological advancements, the possibilities are limitless — so long as designers are oriented to how information is best conveyed in nonvisual representations. This panel, composed of individuals who have adapted comics, and blind innovators and scientists, will lead a discussion on what affordances and limitations of technology could be considered when designing digital accessible comics.
Moderator: Joshua Miele (Principal Accessibility Researcher at Amazon, Twitter: @BerkeleyBlink)
Panelists:

Darren DeFrain (Associate Professor of Composition and Linguistics at Wichita State, Vizling app co-creator. Twitter: @darren_defrain)
Sile O’Modhrain (Professor in Performing Arts Technology and HCI at the University of Michigan)
Aaron Rodriguez (Doctoral Student at Florida State University, Vizling app co-creator)
Matthew Shifrin (Publisher of accessible Lego instructions for blind individuals)
Ed Summers (Director of Accessibility at SAS Software, co-author of Reach for the Stars eBook. Twitter: @edsummersnc)

Description: Blind and low vision people have not historically had access to comics, and yet still show up inside comics, with characters like Daredevil, Dr. Midnite, Blindshot, and others. Some representations have played into the “Supercrip” trope, literal superheroes in spite of their disabilities, yet newer comics are striving for better storytelling. This session will explore depictions of blindness in comics and graphic novels, educating about the potential pitfalls and articulating the value that positive representations of disability can bring.
Moderator: Anil Lewis (Executive Director of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB))
Panelists:

Joe Strechay (Entertainment accessibility and inclusion expert. Twitter: @jstrechay)
Jose Alaniz (Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Washington)
M Sabine (Cartoonist and zine-maker)

Closing Keynote Speaker: Chancey Fleet (Assistive Technology Coordinator at the NY Braille and Talking Book Library. Twitter: @ChanceyFleet)
Closing comments