Nimue Brown writes about new ideas from the Pagan Federation Disabilities team
The online disabilities events were set up more than a year ago to provide a way for people who can’t get to events to get some of the benefits those spaces offer. There are lots of reasons that public events aren’t viable for many Pagans – access is not just an issue at the venue, but it’s an issue for getting to the venue. For some people, pain and fatigue make events too draining to contemplate. For people with anxiety issues, public gatherings can be just too much, and for folk who are not neuro-typical, big, busy, noisy spaces can be impossible. The list goes on. Sometimes it isn’t enough to adapt existing spaces to accommodate needs. Sometimes you have to build a whole new space.
Poverty is also a real barrier to attending events, and it is an appalling truth that disability is very likely to put you in poverty.
So, online events became a thing, with speakers, and subtitles and free access, and it’s been good. We’ve just discovered a way to take this forward and include more people in the festivals.
Not everyone can record videos. There are all kinds of reasons that might stop a person talking to a camera for five to ten minutes. We’re going to find readers to present pieces for people who, for whatever reason, can’t make their own video. There will be a round of this for the Samhain festival, and then we really want to open things out for midwinter.
Midwinter will be a bardic gathering this year, and we’re inviting people to submit poetry, short stories and songs. If you aren’t able to read or perform yourself, then you can send things in and we’ll find someone to do it for you. Please get in early so that we have time to find readers and film them. I’m also offering to put a poem to music for the event – it will need to come in by early December, and I can probably only do one, so if there are a few I will go with whatever I think I have the best shot at making work.
Email disabilities.web@paganfederation.co.uk if you’ve a poem that might be set, or anything you want read, or let me know if you’ve any videos you’d like to share. we’re looking for Pagan content, first and foremost. Seasonal is nice, but not essential, and if you want to use your bardic skills to raise a disabilities issue – that’s always welcome.
This post originally appeared on our first site, dis-spelling.org.uk in 2017