The Trevor Project’s Post

https://lnkd.in/e8cgJG29 If anyone is interested in How My going trans and later desisting happened, the actions of myself and others that led me there, and the thoughts behind it, I have a rough version here. Planning to do a more refined, well thought out version due to the amount of interest there, but this is the raw, dark humor version and I ended up liking it a lot #substack #writing #personalgrowth 

Fantastic resource here if you want to know more about writing text descriptions in the most helpful way. Some good reminders: Remember that text descriptions aren't just for websites - they can be added on social media platforms too, as alt text and image descriptions at the end of a post (particularly useful when uploading videos and the alt text option might not be available). Screen readers cannot read images of text. Better to have the text content in the html and provide alt text or an image description in the caption area for social media. Descriptions of diagrams and infographics can be really confusing. It's quite likely that instead of a diagram you could convey the same information in a bullet point list. And a final point as I've noticed this a lot over on Twitter (nope, I'm still not calling it 'X'): Alt text is not an opportunity to back up sarcastic posts. For example writing something like 'Here's my tidy desk', when the picture is actually a very messy desk.

For those of you who followed my blog posts about the importance of humanity and servant-leadership in the workplace, I have embarked on a new journey as a writer. Please check out my blog. It’s just as vulnerable and authentic as anything I write. Heplayedwithdolls.com

As a career journalist and communications professional, I firmly believe in the power of the pen. Look at how even short blogs of 3000 characters start a movement. I have been writing all my professional life covering topics across the spectrum: news reports, feature stories, cover stories, business stories, finance stories, tech stories, development stories, white papers, research reports, marketing content, press release... But most of my writing was commercial. The only writing I have done for myself were in the form of poems and my research thesis. I am hoping to put my pen to better use now. Write to raise awareness about disability, write to make people think, and write to convert thoughts into action. #ConversationsAroundDisability #DisabilityPrideMonth #blog #disabilityawareness

The BBC has put detailed guidance together (https://zurl.co/5KTx) on how to write the most meaningful and effective Alt Text descriptions for all imagery. Although this guidance is targeted towards journalists, it actually can assist everyone when it comes to describing the imagery you use online. Find out why this is so important to assist visually impaired users in understanding and gaining equal access to your content in our blog: https://zurl.co/CDRj #A11y #Accessibility #Blind #VisuallyImpaired #Inclusion #AltText #Disabilities

Fact: I love working with journalists. Another fact: Many of the journalists we work with want to interview disabled young people and their families, through our work with the Disabled Children's Partnership. This is so important, as their stories need to be heard. One more fact: It takes A LOT of energy, time, bravery, preparation, thought and planning for a disabled young person, or their parent or guardian, to do a media interview. If a journalist hasn't had much experience in this kind of reporting, they might not realise this. So Sam Carlisle has written this brilliant blog, with excellent contributions from Isaac Harvey MBE, containing loads of helpful advice and pointers for journalists who want to interview a disabled young person, and/or their parent or guardian, on how to make sure that interview is a success. Newsrooms are flat out, production schedules and shoots are manic, the news agenda moves at breakneck speed. But some simple preparations - like being punctual and explaining clearly how much time you need - can make all the difference. If you're a journalist, editor, producer, researcher, writer, director, student or just someone who's curious about any of this, then you can read more here 👇 https://lnkd.in/eeYtxuX8

As a writer-director of genre with a focus on feminism and horror, I am fascinated by the way in which genre affords to hold up a mirror to society. It is commonly understood among film folks that the 'monster' is subject to its time and Zeitgeist; a reflection of whatever people-made (dare I just call it as it has been for the longest: men-made, literally, there you are) horrors have been inflicted on society. As I am working on my debut feature film as well as a short film that explores female-driven psychological horror, I started to take a look at how women genre writers have addressed mental and emotional distress. Shirley Jackson in particular has used her storytelling voice to ask about sanity vs insanity as a society-imposed choice or endurance test for the tye of woman who tries to survive in the 1960s, post-WWII economy, and the related image of what 'a good' or 'a successful' woman should be branded as. In Jackson's case, that branding is 'to function'. Exploring agency and free will are the opposite of social role and expectation fulfilment, or rather performance, in her world. That's scary AF! While – similarly to Goethe, btw – her characters' success of agency often coincides with their social demise, sometimes even death, the mirror she has created is one that uses the mind, emotions, and body of a woman to actually ask about the toxic masculinity of men at the time. Today, we are nowhere near post-truth, post-metoo, or post-misogyny. But I demand that a woman who takes her cup of stars doesn't just survive – but strives! That's why I work in genre. #women #genre #genrefilm #film #filmmaking #feminism #horror #writer #filmdirector #genderequality #womenempowerment #quote #storytelling

My network is predominantly comprising designers, artists, and folks who would call themselves "creative." Fortunately for you all, Octave is running a couple free virtual sessions with its professional therapists (who have both worked in creative careers themselves) to discuss the struggles inherent in being a creative person. Might be worth joining if you, like me, have ever struggled with the following concepts: • Difficulty separating yourself, and your self-worth, from your creative output • Reacting emotionally to feedback about your work (as if it's an attack on you) • Inability to describe yourself as anything but "I'm a designer" when you introduce yourself • Difficulty recognizing that design is a job, not who you are as a person • As a creative person you are extremely empathetic, and this wrecks you in surprising ways all the time Get yourself some therapy. This one is free!

In case you need to know why writing in plain language is important!

*Trigger Warning - Harsh Truths About #DiversityandInclusion Last year, I made a 90min supernatural mystery starring PWDs (people with disabilities) with a team of PWDs. I used my savings to make this film because like most on my team, I was tired of getting rejected so I created an opportunity for myself & other PWDs. Tabla & RICE Media did articles on us. The making of this film won a prize from Louis Ng (Nee Soon GRC MP) at IAMinVISIBLE film festival organized by the wonderful Ningpei Chua Once I finished filming, I reached out for grants/sponsorships to complete postproduction. I was confident people would understand why this film was important. 1. This was true #disabilityrepresentation (A team with disabilities wrote, directed and acted in this film) 2. This was actual disability inclusion. The story did not center around #disability. PWDs were acting in a story & roles just like an abled person would. 3. PWDs were taking back the horror genre which has often exploited disability 4. This was a film made by POC(people of color) with disability. The representation for this group is dismal. But, I was wrong. Most could not wrap their head around the idea that a supernatural mystery made and acted by PWDs will help the disability cause. People got used to the idea of teaching community inclusion, disability acceptance etc through workshops & talks. Don't get me wrong. These have their place. BUT, community & society isn't going to magically embrace disability when you shove the idea down their throat. For community inclusion & acceptance, people's mindsets need to change. And that's where media comes in. We consume media 24/7. If you normalize disability in media, the bias in society will be erased over time. It's not a quick fix where it's easy to show KPI. But it works. HOWEVER, this is where POKKA PTE LTD and the amazing Melissa Ng stepped in. The mini-docu drama we made, which showed our feature film journey, won 3rd place in the Pokka Film Festival last year. It was part of Let's Pause, Let's Pokka campaign which encouraged people to be mindful about taking breaks. The campaign was Ms Ng's brainchild. She highlighted my cause to Pokka's management & Pokka offered to cover part of the postproduction costs! Pokka isn't only a disability champion because of the sponsorship. It's what their actions say. Pokka truly stands for disability inclusion because they understood that a person with disability has a right to act in any role & any story just like an abled person and I didn't have spend hours explaining why. That's true disability inclusion. That's true disability acceptance. Warren Sheldon Humphries Puneet Singh Singhal Debra Ruh Angel Kilian Pearl Lee Sai Kaustuv Derek Tan Lori Samuels Tiffany Ang Sarah Bagharib Amelia Teng Zat Astha Laura Winson (nee Johnson) Elle Cheng Heather Dowdy #EmpowerDisability #InclusionMatters #DisabilityAwareness #BreakingBarriers https://lnkd.in/gYnathcZ