CONFERENCES: IMC Leeds 2018: #disIMC: Current Challenges to Accessibility and Ways Forward – A Round Table Discussion
Today at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, I was
part of a round table discussion on current challenges in Academia. It was an honour and privilege to be invited
to be a part of this – which I managed despite a last-minute scheduling clash. It was a powerful discussion about the
current challenged faced by Medievalists with Disabilities in our research
environment and work. I’m grateful to
those who organised it, and to all who contributed.
My own short paper was on the concept of Active
Accessibility. In my view too often accessibility
is seen as a standard, and only related to the built environment. I would argue that accessibility should be an
active process – one of continued change, based on asking the questions – is this
accessible, how can we ensure it stays accessible, and how can we improve
it? Active accessibility also involves
widening our view of accessibility to include not just the built environment
but also the intellectual environment and the emotional environment. The key takeaway is we can do much better, we
need to stay strong and keep pushing for the improvements we need in order to
be able to fully engage with our work.
The video livestream can be found here.
