soc_puppet: A young man with glasses and messy brown hair staring blankly (and somewhat tiredly) at the viewer, as if he has just been informed of some outlandish news that he should have somehow expected. (Simply out of the ability to)
Right, so, I've kept contact with some of my old AnimeIowa friends after the whole Mask Fiasco of 2022, right? Did some art for Accessibility Passes, maybe made a suggestion here or there, sold some stuff in the art show this past year. One of my AI friends commissioned a crocheted plush Minion from me this year to give to a family member for Xmas, so I pulled one together (that actually turned out pretty fantastic, NGL) and delivered it to her when she was in town for a convention meeting last Saturday.

I've been planning to rejoin AnimeIowa staff for the 2025 convention pretty much since I quit in 2022. I've gone back and forth a couple of times, but I do genuinely miss hanging out with my AI friends and helping make the convention work. The 2024 election results (and knowing some of what RFK Jr wants to do with US health stuff, as well as what Trump may let him get away with) have made me a little bit shaky about that, because I quit over disease transmission concerns in 2022; I was still leaning towards rejoining, except, well.

I saw one of the biggest anti-mask people when I went to drop off the minion; one of the people who made the decision (without telling staff at large, let alone announcing to attendees, vendors, or even guests of honor) that the con should go masks-optional in 2022, and one who I generally found a little intimidating even before everything that went down. I already knew that the Health Officer who helped push the decision was probably still on staff somewhere, if not necessarily as a Con Exec/ConCom/Con CEO/what-have-you; I know I can at least be civil with her in person and pretend that nothing has happened.

I don't know if I can do that with this other guy. I also don't know what sort of position he holds in staff at the moment; if he's in a position of particular power... IDK.

I'd love to shift focus and switch to Wiscon, but I tried that and I failed. One of the key points about AnimeIowa staff for me was that I would actually leave the house and go to in-person meetings and hang out with people there, and if I have to deal with too many of the people who made me feel like absolute dog shit for trying to make sure that the 2022 con didn't turn into a superspreader event, let alone for not being told before they rolled out the decision, I just...

Yeah. I dunno.
soc_puppet: Dreamsheep, its wool colored black and shot through with five diagonal colored lines (red, yellow, white, blue, and green, from left to right), the design from Dreamwidth user capri0mni's Disability Pride flag. The Dreamwidth logo is in red, yellow, white, blue, and green, echoing the stripes. (Disability Pride)
An anthropomorphic pig wearing a zebra hoodie, in reference to Elhers Danlos Syndrome.

Sharing the Accessibility Pass art now that the con is over!

The zebra hoodie is in reference to Elhers Danlos Syndrome; the EDS community has adopted the moniker "zebras" in reference to the medical saying, "If you hear hoof beats, look for horses, not zebras," which is a reminder to doctors to check for common causes first. Unfortunately, a lot of medical professionals seem to have taken it as a cue to ignore possible less common causes, and, EDS being a "less common cause", the community decided to embrace the zebra reference. Since it's a typically invisible disability, and a reference that not a lot of people outside the community will recognize, I threw in a knee brace as well, Just In Case.

Anyway, when I went to pick up some stuff at the con location this afternoon, the person who took over Accessibility for me said that she got a lot of positive comments on the art! Which made me really happy, because my goal with this was to make disabled attendees feel seen/acknowledged, and I'm pretty sure this means I succeeded 💗 (Incidentally, the person who turned the art into buttons also recognized the reference, and specifically asked me if that's what the hoodie was in reference to; turns out she has a couple of relatives with EDS, so I think she appreciated the art a little extra, as well.)

I'm currently planning to rejoin con staff for next year; probably around the December meeting or thereabouts. (I'm hoping my nemesis and some of my other detractors are gone, but I'm not holding my breath.) I've missed working it, and the friend who took over Accessibility says some of the congoers have missed seeing me as well, so here's to a hopefully brighter and more accessible future at the con!

Oh shit

Aug. 28th, 2023 08:57 pm
soc_puppet: Dreamsheep, its wool colored black and shot through with five diagonal colored lines (red, yellow, white, blue, and green, from left to right), the design from Dreamwidth user capri0mni's Disability Pride flag. The Dreamwidth logo is in red, yellow, white, blue, and green, echoing the stripes. (Disability Pride)
Had to stop in the middle of replying to comments when I discovered a major problem:

So for AnimeIowa 2019, I took the "wheelchair user on the go" graphic and edited in what would later be revealed as the visually unsafe Disability Pride flag as a "hubcap" of sorts. You know, the one with the lightning bolts and the black divider lines between the colored stripes that gave people migraines and seizures? (You can see the graphic here if you're curious, but there is a big Eyestrain Warning attached.)

Last I saw, AI was using the graphic I designed for 2021, which was the "wheelchair user on the go" in blue and the person edited to look like Buu-chan the mascot; I thought I would link to that page to share what that previous design looked like. Only, when I got there, the design wasn't Buu-chan using a wheelchair; it was a slightly altered version of the 2019 graphic, with altered stripe colors, but still in the visually unsafe pattern.

I just emailed the Accessibility line, and contacted the current Accessibility head for good measure, who assured me just now that she will talk to our website editor to get things taken care of. But I'm horrified to think of how long that image may have been up on the website and how many people may have been harmed by it, just because I wasn't able to inform AI staff of the danger sooner.
soc_puppet: Words "Creative Process" in purple (Creative Process)
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 [personal profile] chanter1944, it's Buu-chan using a white cane!

Buu-chan the AnimeIowa mascot wearing sunglasses and 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...
soc_puppet: [Homestuck] God tier "Hope" themed Dreamsheep (Sheep of Hope)
I cannot say this is the best possible outcome*, but it's almost certainly the best I was realistically hoping for:

AnimeIowa staff had a meeting last night between the Execs and any staffers who were concerned by the change to the mask policy. Stuff was cleared up, and, if I understand correctly from the report my current-staff ally sent me, AI's former masks-mandatory policy will be re-evaluated, and will hopefully be reinstated! (Which is good, because the alternative option had more holes than swiss cheese. Doubly so, since apparently the county the con takes place in has the highest Covid transmission rate in the state 😬) The Execs have also become aware of just how badly a big chunk of staff took that decision being made behind closed doors, and I'm pretty sure they'll think twice before trying something like that again.

Anyway, I plan to (virtually) attend the AI staff meeting taking place tomorrow, and depending on how that goes, it's entirely likely that I'll feel comfortable rejoining AI's staff 💖


* The absolute best IMO would have involved combing through WisCon's Covid policy and implementing as much of it as feasibly and legally possible, but that's not something I ever actually expected to happen.
soc_puppet: Dreamsheep as Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time (Default)
AI Execs forgot to remove me from the staff mailing list, so I just got to read an email obliquely shaming me for wanting to protect people from Covid.

I've sent them a separate, direct email to alert them to their oversight. I kept it nice and professional, too, instead of replying directly to the staff list via the email in question and attaching screencaps of the entire "conversation" we had.

As much as some part of me wants to be kept in the loop on AnimeIowa behind-the-scenes, I know it will ultimately be healthier for me to make this separation now and to receive any news at one or more remove—or not at all.

(Hugs welcome again. I was doing a lot better, but I really, really shouldn't have read that email.)
soc_puppet: [Homestuck] God tier "Hope" themed Dreamsheep (Sheep of Hope)
In a bid to spend less time stressing over AI bullshit, I'm going to try and focus more on other things. I will probably bug some of my staff friends for updates in the next week or so, and possibly also during/after the con, but in the mean time I also need to distract myself so I don't make myself sick over That Bullshit. I've got a bunch of crochet projects I've been meaning to get to, and honestly I might spend some of my new "free time" on Language Town, but also...

I managed to bring up what happened on the official WisCon staff communicating/planning website, and was not only comforted over what went down, but warmly welcomed to continue on as staff ♥ I'm hoping to start brainstorming ideas for new Access projects right away!

I also told my boss that I might not be needing AnimeIowa weekend off this year, though I'm going to give it another couple of weeks to make sure, which she agreed was a good idea. (Incidentally, she and all of my coworkers were very supportive ♥) I don't think it's likely that they'll beg me to come back, or that there'll be a hostile takeover and someone with sense manages to enforce actual good anti-Covid guidelines, but I'm not going to completely rule out the possibility of the latter, at least. That said, since I'm not expecting to be at AI this year, and I wasn't able to make it in person to WisCon, it did occur to me on the way home: I could take a trip that weekend to Madison and stay at the hotel WisCon uses to get a better idea of the city and the space where the con takes place. It's not the same as being at the con in person, but it would still give me more information to work with, and would be a good distraction that weekend. I'll have to give it some more thought, and again, a miracle might still happen in the next couple of weeks, but it's definitely an idea.
soc_puppet: [Homestuck] God tier "Life" themed Dreamsheep (Sheep of Life)
...I just checked the AnimeIowa homepage out of a petty need to see if they've actually added an update to the front page informing visitors of the changes to the mask policy.

Here is the exact text they added yesterday, probably after I quit:

Please note the Covid policy changes as health information changes at the state and community levels. Check back often to keep up on the most recent guidelines. We care about your health.


Italics original, though I would have added emphasis anyway, because that is hilarious.

So yeah, basically what I'm seeing here is a last-minute, cover-your-ass, "Now you can't blame us for not telling you when we make changes!" while still not actually admitting to any changes they have made.

I still don't know if any of the vendors, artists, or guests of honor have been informed of the changes, or if they're expected to go look and find out for themselves. I wonder if I should ask one of the friends I have who are still on staff.


On a related note, I am actually feeling much better than I even did last night. I was feeling actual, physical discomfort when I went to bed last night, and then most of this morning, but I think I finally managed to get through to the other side of that. In part I credit one of the aforementioned friend staffers, who kindly Replied All to my resignation email with something along the lines of, "What the flying fuck, when did this happen and why wasn't the masking decision something the entire staff was invited to discus?" Only more "professional", don't'cha know.

Edit: As I was typing this, another person Replied All to ask when masking going optional became a thing, because they "didn't get an email". Bless this person, and bless this vindication!

Edit 2: More news: I just texted a friend of mine who has a booth in the dealer's room. Apparently he hasn't gotten any word of the change, either, so I expect none of the vendors or artists have. I'm dying to know if the Guests of Honor have been informed.
soc_puppet: Dreamsheep as Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time (Default)
I just quit AnimeIowa staff.
soc_puppet: [Homestuck] God tier "Mind" themed Dreamsheep (Sheep of Mind)
That RSD feel when people keep piling on you because you are vocal about not liking that the con you've been working for 14 years:

1) Has changed their mask policy from "mandatory" to "recommended"
2) Did not give the staff at large a chance to comment on this change
3) Made the change public and official without informing the staff at large via email, thus going against convention bylaws

Dear brain, can we work out a thing where you don't actually make me feel like shit for trying to defend the health and safety of the con-goers and trying to make sure that staff-at-large is included in big decisions that affect the entire con? Because I would really appreciate that!

(Hugs very welcome, as are cute and funny animal stories. Also people reassuring me that I'm doing the right thing, because I know I am, I know, but brain weasels are being very loud 😥 It probably wouldn't be so bad if I had at least one person to back me up in the staff Discord, but... Well, last I checked it was five against one, and my staunchest ally is on a camping trip and unavailable to help. I'm not sure I dare to look again just yet.)
soc_puppet: [Homestuck] God tier "Doom" themed Dreamsheep (DOOOOOOOM)
Currently getting news of a second convention pulling at least part of the ACen shit: The higher-ups decided to make the con masks-optional and go public with the news without consulting the rest of the staff. The major difference here so far is that there's still a good chunk of time before the convention in question, so people should be able to alter their travel and hotel plans more easily.

I am also hereby advising all people who wish to attend or staff a convention to check said convention's Covid policies weekly, because this happening twice is... distressing, to say the least.

Edit: Apparently it was already announced on social media, even though it's still not on the con's official front page as of 22:00 today and the staff haven't gotten an official email about it yet, so I don't feel bad letting everyone know:

The con in question is AnimeIowa.

Yes, the con I've been staffing since 2007. No, I'm not pleased about this.
soc_puppet: [Homestuck] God tier "Mind" themed Dreamsheep (Thinking thinky thoughts)
A delightful turn of phrase entered my mind as I was getting ready for work this morning:

Fandom Police are not exempt from ACAB.

I immediately extended it to the Purity Police and Identity Police, and am perhaps a bit too proud of myself.


In other news, the theme contest for next year's AnimeIowa has opened! Turns out attendees will be the ones to vote on next year's theme, which is. Interesting. I sincerely hope it doesn't kill my chances, but I'm prepared to keep submitting themes every year until I get one that will support Bikers Against Child Abuse as our annual charity.
soc_puppet: Dreamsheep, its wool colored black and shot through with five diagonal colored lines (red, yellow, white, blue, and green, from left to right), the design from Dreamwidth user capri0mni's Disability Pride flag. The Dreamwidth logo is in red, yellow, white, blue, and green, echoing the stripes. (Disability Pride)
I don't know if I've mentioned it here yet, but in addition to the staff person from the "rival" convention who reached out to me for tips on running Accessibility, one of our sister conventions also wanted to learn! I've forwarded the email I sent to the "rival" con person, and hopefully we'll get to have a meetup sometime in the near future to discuss more in person. It sounds like they have actual formal training, so I look forward to learning some stuff from them, as well!
soc_puppet: Dreamsheep as Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time (Default)
In other news, I've been working on some nifty symbols/decals/art things for the Spectrum of Heroes theme at AnimeIowa this year. I'm very pleased with how they've turned out, and am looking forward to sharing them publicly!

I'm also hard at work on the art for this year's Accessibility Pass, which takes the form of a 2.25"/6cm diameter button/pin that attendees can attach to their badge holder/lanyard or their clothes. Last year was the "wheelchair user on the go" art, except I drew our convention mascot, Buu-chan the pig, as the wheelchair user; in 2019, the con before that, it was the same "wheelchair user on the go" art, but with the previous version of the Disability Pride flag (the one with the lightning) incorporated into the wheel. This year, I'm drawing Buu-chan again, but he'll be using forearm crutches! Using wheelchairs all the time to represent anyone with a disability is limiting at best, so I wanted to start branching out. I'm not sure yet what I'll do for next year's pass; I wonder if there's an ASL sign for "anime" that I could draw Buu-chan doing. (The fact that he has hooves, not hands, complicates that idea a bit 😅)

Anyway, sleepy time now.

Success!

Jan. 20th, 2022 03:49 pm
soc_puppet: Dreamsheep, its wool colored black and shot through with five diagonal colored lines (red, yellow, white, blue, and green, from left to right), the design from Dreamwidth user capri0mni's Disability Pride flag. The Dreamwidth logo is in red, yellow, white, blue, and green, echoing the stripes. (Disability Pride)
I called the local Tourist Info board, and they were able to direct me to a company that rents out wheelchairs, and it's (more-or-less) in my budget to rent some for the weekend! They don't make arrangements more than a few weeks in advance, though, so I need to call them again in early July, but now I know 1) Who to call, and 2) That they do rent out wheelchairs, and that's at least half of this particular battle!

Time to go add this to my Hit By A Bus notes.
soc_puppet: Dreamsheep, its wool colored black and shot through with five diagonal colored lines (red, yellow, white, blue, and green, from left to right), the design from Dreamwidth user capri0mni's Disability Pride flag. The Dreamwidth logo is in red, yellow, white, blue, and green, echoing the stripes. (Disability Pride)
Done today for AnimeIowa Accessibility:

Emailed the hotel/venues team about:
- Doorway width
- Carpet depth
- Hallway length (main hallway only)
- Hallway width (main hallway only, though maybe I should also ask about the secondary hallway; hmm...)

Emailed the person who puts together our Accessibility Pass buttons about getting button blanks; with the way supply chains are now, I want to make sure we get blanks ordered ASAP!


I posted about the possibility of an AI Rickshaw in the Staff section of our Discord, but haven't seen any response (I am dead certain that we wouldn't be hurting for volunteers to pull a rickshaw for an anime con; as a bonus, we could use it for transportation of equipment!). Nor any response to my "accessible font" suggestion/feedback in December. Don't know how proactive I should be on these...

Edit:

Me: Let's search the internet for someplace I can rent extra wheelchairs from, for our attendees! Last I knew, the hotel had a couple, but I want to have all my bases covered.

The internet: This website rents wheelchair ...vans! This website is for motorized scooters that you use in the street, not the sort intended for disabled people! This website only rents to New York! This website only rents to Colorado! This website is full of viruses! This website is for sale! Here's a website with a list of chain stores that rented wheelchairs to the public two years ago, but stopped!

Me: 🤬

Squee!

Oct. 26th, 2021 11:17 pm
soc_puppet: Dreamsheep, its wool colored black and shot through with five diagonal colored lines (red, yellow, white, blue, and green, from left to right), the design from Dreamwidth user capri0mni's Disability Pride flag. The Dreamwidth logo is in red, yellow, white, blue, and green, echoing the stripes. (Disability Pride)
I got an email last night from someone who wants to start an accessibility department sort of thing for their own local anime con and wanted my advice!

I just spent over an hour getting down everything I could think of in a reply email, including a few of my own shortcomings and foibles, because it's good to know that nobody's perfect, and also getting accessibility better everywhere is the goal. It was a lot of words and a lot of thinking, but it was totally worth it, and I really hope that person can do everything they want with making "their" con accessible ♥

And now I need a drink of water; that was a lot of work!
soc_puppet: [Homestuck] God tier "Breath" themed Dreamsheep (Sheep of Breath)
Back from the con, and I just wanted to share a few quick Accessibility Department victory moment things:

1) Lots of people being totally jazzed about the services we offer, particularly the Accessibility Pass and the ability to take a person of your choice with you to skip lines (though also lots of people only just learning about said pass, which means I need to do a better job of advertising)

2) A "Cosplay For Spoonies" panel! It had some really good advice in general, and some that I am definitely going to steal for future Accessibility Department stuff

3) Okay, tonight, when we were basically all packed up and the pizza had just shown up for our "Thank god the con is over and we survived, yay!" party? One of my fellow staffers told me about a conversation he had with someone else, who was not only delighted by everything that AnimeIowa was doing to be accessible, but was planning on taking the evidence of our con being accessible to a rival con and tearing strips off their concom/convention executives/the people in charge of it for not being nearly as good and I just. For a department of two people, with the person in charge being completely self-trained and often having eir butt kicked by executive dysfunction... Yeah. I definitely did a tiny little victory dance.

I am sooooooo looking forward to making things even better next year ♥
soc_puppet: Dreamsheep, its wool colored black and shot through with five diagonal colored lines (red, yellow, white, blue, and green, from left to right), the design from Dreamwidth user capri0mni's Disability Pride flag. The Dreamwidth logo is in red, yellow, white, blue, and green, echoing the stripes. (Disability Dreamsheep)
Dear Self,

Listen. If you finish your Accessibility Department stuff on time, then you can think about joining Pod Together this year. Until then, you had better forget about it.

Sincerely,
You

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