Accessibility Buu-chan for 2023

[soc_puppet]

My feelings about AnimeIowa these days are still decidedly mixed. I miss a lot of the people I spent time with on staff, and I enjoyed the work and making the convention a fun place (and more accessible in general), but I'm still hurt over everything that went down. Still, I did offer my services for while I'm off staff in making art for the Accessibility Passes.

This is the art I made for this year. As prompted by chanter1944, it's Buu-chan using a white cane!



After going back and forth with the idea for a while, I decided to give Buu-chan dark glasses reflecting the Disability Pride flag instead of a t-shirt this year. I know that not many blind people wear dark glasses, but it can still be useful visual shorthand, even if it's outdated, and I don't think it's offensive. ...In retrospect, I should have actually researched that before making the art. Oh, well. Things to remember for the future. I can always make a new blind Buu in five years or so, do things better. Having multiple versions of a disability represented is better than just one, either way!

I'm not entirely sure what I'll do for next year's art; maybe I'll give Buu-chan a prosthetic? Hearing aids are an option, as well (especially since Buu-chan doesn't have enough fingers to use ASL, and I'm not sure there's a specific sign for "anime" anyway aside from spelling it out). Invisible disabilities are naturally going to be a little harder to depict, of course, but I'll also be trying to find a way to work on those! Oh, maybe I can have him cosplaying a zebra for EDS...? I wonder if other invisible disabilities have mascots like that...

Comments

[satsuma]

(especially since Buu-chan doesn't have enough fingers to use ASL, and I'm not sure there's a specific sign for "anime" anyway aside from spelling it out)

probably not helpful but possibly entertaining: I did try looking up anime in several ASL dictionaries and was baffled by the repeated redirection to pages on how to sign “resin”…evidently anime is also the plural form of gum anima

[soc_puppet]

😂 Okay, that got a laugh out of me.

alexseanchai went looking for an ASL sign last year, and the only one they found was just finger-spelling "anime". I might do some more asking around, but considering the ultimate size of the buttons/passes is 2.25"/around 6cm, whether I can actually coherently communicate an ASL sign on it remains to be seen.

[jesse_the_k]

It's probably why one-hand-only signs like 🤟 are iconic: easier to fit on a badge or a pendant

...and I'm just noticing your fabulous Dreamsheep x Disability Pride icon! (Remembers "dreamsheep" is a thing, visits comm, wallows in your amazing all-the-pride-sheep post, snags half-a-dozen icons.

[soc_puppet]

Most likely, yeah; I definitely thought about removing Buu-chan and just drawing out hands finger-spelling "Anime" (and there's enough letters for each stripe on the Disability Pride flag!), but a quick run by the person who would eventually take over Accessibility for AI didn't care for/quite get my initial scribble, so I'm still not sure about it. Still, I may give it a go anyway eventually!

😁 Hehe, enjoy!