Working with Jamilah Dei-Sharpe, Project Manager and Supervisor of the Anti-Racist Pedagogy Project (hereinafter, ARPP), the AIM Lab had assisted with making a more accessible website. Spearheaded by Nicholas Goberdhan, and in conversation with fellow AIM Lab members including, Prakash Krishnan, Raphaelle Bessette-Viens, and Arseli Dokumaci, we strategized on the various ways disability justice can be included in website design. Quintessential to the Lab’s name, our generative discussions were truly access-in-the-making, in which we continually learned, unlearned, and grew upon each other’s ideas as the meetings progressed.
With knowledge gained from the ARPP x AIM discussions, Nicholas sought out to complete two major tasks. 1. Complete a “visual description” of all the video presenters on the ARPP website. 2. Produce an information sheet on how to complete an “visual description” in the future.
For the first task, Nicholas emailed all the presenters to request a visual description. A visual description, loosely defined, is a written description (usually done by the individual) in which one describe how they visually look. Put another way, “Now imagine there is a blind and/or visually impaired person that is watching your presentation, how would you describe yourself to them?” The visual description was completed by some presenters, and Nicholas wrote them for others. These emails were generative, not only to make the ARPP more accessible, but to actively engage in anti-ableism and anti-oppressive work.
The second task was completed at the end of the project. Nicholas created two documents, a “presenter’s guide” and a “editor’s guide” on how to integrate visual descriptions into their work. In the end, the ARPP and AIM Lab collaboration was a massive success. The ARPP has since moved to a new platform and can be found at www.respondtocrisis.com .