INNOVATIONS IN ACCESSIBLE COMICS FOR BLIND & LOW VISION READERS
A Showcase of our Prizewinners’ Creations
Table of Contents
“Seeing InBetween,” from Rae Lanzerotti and Illi Anna Heger
“This queer comic conversation, in cooperation with Rae Lanzerotti, is about seeing and being seen in between abilities, genders, and spaces.”
“Life is Blurry,” from Darren DeFrain, Aaron Rodriguez, and Marieke Davis
“From my first brain tumor diagnosis at age ten, to the three resulting brain surgeries to remove recurring tumors, to chemotherapy, to my resulting visual impairment and my initial struggles with my disability I chronicle them all in my strip with my usual sense of irony and cynical positivity.”
“Embodied. A Memoir Comic,” from Rae Lanzerotti
“Embodied is a symbolic memoir of change and adaptation. It’s part of my personal story of vision loss during the early covid pandemic.”
“The Land of Uncertainty,” from Hatiye Garip and Paddy Johnston and the Good Comics, Tuba Kaya, Lisa Madl, and Áine Kelly-Costello
“A poetic and accessible comic book shares a poem with readers using abstract shapes, thoughts and other imagery. It includes a poem that is written for the lands that haven’t been visited yet.”
“Punk’s Undead,” from Casey O'Ceallaigh, Leo Cosh, and Brian Rutherford
“The team will be providing theatrical audio description for an original western style comic.”
Seeing InBetween
From Rae Lanzerotti and Illi Anna Heger
Greetings from Illi and Rae! Designed accessible for low vision and blind readers, Seeing InBetween started with our exchange of drawings. It became a multimodal comic and queer conversation about ways of being, belonging and seeing in between. All audio is subtitled for deaf readers. Choose your own adventure to read, listen or view! Eavesdrop on two non-binary queer people chatting about spaces in between and navigating accessibility.
COMIC: www.annaheger.de/inbetween/
We created an introductory video to share with the audience. It has been used on our tiktok and instagram accounts, @raerotti @illiannaheger. Here is a description of those video visuals: While Illi and Rae talk, the comic website scrolls in the background, with audio subtitles.
Life is Blurry
From Darren DeFrain, Aaron Rodriguez, and Marieke Davis
“Life is Blurry” is a personal comic from Marieke Davis, chronicling her first brain tumor diagnosis at age ten, to the three resulting brain surgeries to remove recurring tumors, to chemotherapy, to her resulting visual impairment and initial struggles with her disability. It’s infused with her usual tone of irony and cynical positivity.
Darren DeFrain and Aaron Rodriguez have rendered Marieke Davis' comic, "Life is Blurry" to be compatible with the app Vizling that they developed so that readers will be able to use haptic and audio features to interact with the narrative and spatial elements of the comics in the way that best suits their access needs.
APP DOWNLOAD:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vizling/id6444816899
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=vizling&c=apps
Embodied
From Rae Lanzerotti
Hello! I made Embodied, a short memoir comic with mix-and-match audio narration, text, and drawings as well as tactile elements. Embodied necessarily has many parts, and I built a website to hold my accessible comics.
COMIC: https://www.rlanzerotti.com/stories/embodied
Here you’ll find background and all the links to read as you choose. There’s information there about the touchable, tactile zine that I hope you’ll hold soon. Also, I shared Embodied freely on Instagram in the form of 16 posts with narrative text, image descriptions, and alt text (no audio) in my account @raerotti.
Rae Lanzerotti, 2023
The Land of Uncertainty
From Hatiye Garip and Paddy Johnston and the Good Comics, Tuba Kaya, Lisa Madl, and Áine Kelly-Costello
"The Land of Uncertainty," shares a poem with readers using abstract shapes, thoughts and other imagery. It includes a poem that is written for the lands that haven’t been visited yet. The graphic composition of the comic is optimized for visual accessibility, using thick, dark lines and high contrast colors. The comic is accompanied by dynamic audio descriptions that use simile and other poetic devices to create an immersive experience regardless of the format the comic is accessed in.
COMIC: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/64rc6at8i9sszth/AAADVQEQAlL5JJric0gucfWEa?dl=0
Punk’s Undead
From Casey O'Ceallaigh, Leo Cosh, and Brian Rutherford
The team has provided theatrical audio description for an original western style comic.
COMIC: https://youtu.be/OzN3d3iJTQE
Click here for a link to the audio.