[Comicsstudiessociety] The Best We Could Do and accessibility for visually impaired readers

[Miriam Kent]

Hi Charles,

This news story popped up on my feed today and reminded me of this thread. Looks like creators are thinking about accessibility and comics too.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/18/we-see-with-the-brain-creating-comic-book-for-blind-people-chad-allen-unseen

Best
Miriam


Dr Miriam Kent
Lecturer in Film and Media Studies
School of Art, Media and American Studies | Faculty of Arts and Humanities
University of East Anglia


My working hours may not be your working hours. Please do not feel obligated to respond to my emails at unsociable times.

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On 13 Sep 2019, at 00:35, Charles Hatfield via ComicsStudiesSociety <comicsstudiessociety at lists.osu.edu<mailto:comicsstudiessociety at lists.osu.edu>> wrote:
Dear CSS colleagues,I have an accessibility question:

A colleague here at CSUN has recommended Thi Bui's graphic memoir The Best We Could Do (2017) as the freshman common reading for school year 2020-2021. Our common reading program, organized by the office for Academic First Year Experiences, dates back to 2007, and is chosen by a committee of about twenty (mostly faculty, some students).

Graphic books have been chosen as campus common readings at several US colleges and universities, and nominated here at CSUN in the past (Satrapi's Persepolis was nominated twice); however, accessibility to visually impaired readers has evidently been a concern among committee members. The committee's first meeting re: 2020-2021 is coming up, and my colleague anticipates accessibility questions re: The Best We Could Do. Therefore she is seeking insights and resources re: accessibility for graphic books.

Of course I'd like to help. I love The Best We Could Do and have taught it continuously since Summer 2017; more to the point, issues of visual accessibility have been raised in comics studies of late, and may be discussed in a future CSS conference roundtable. I believe this is an important issue for our field to grapple with. I've been grappling with it for a while, informed by my wife's expertise in teaching visually impaired students and my own concerns as a teacher eager to provide accommodations where possible. (As some of my CSS colleagues know, I have been struggling to figure out accessibility strategies that support the aspects of comics form that I teach and research.)

To that end, three questions:

1. Are any of you aware of accessibility resources specific to The Best We Could Do (e.g., have any of you had experience reading TBWCD with Comixology's guided view)?

2. More generally, are you aware of resources meant for educators aiming to make comics more visually accessible?

3. Do you have teaching strategies or anecdotes related to comics and accessibility?

Any relevant resources, stories, considerations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you,

CH
Charles Hatfield

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