I had the opportunity on the 5th to rejoin the performing world, something I had not really done much of at all since losing my eyesight. The show continues its performances tonight and tomorrow, which is a little why my time is truncated, but unrelated to any audio description today, I wanted to first acknowledge that I’ve been going through a lot of heavy emotions about this, as I hadn’t done this in so long, I wasn’t even sure what kind of accessibility I needed for myself. Like, what would make me feel OK? And, part of it is that the people I’m performing for and with, I love dearly, and there’s that feeling that we take up space or extra time? Like, I need these additional accommodations because “find your light”, “stand on your mark”, “walk to the microphone”, etc. can seem more daunting than not at times. However, I’m working on it. I’m not sure we all have everything figured out, but I know my life got a little bit easier when I stopped internalizing all of my stress, and started speaking up for what I needed to be comfortable. It might not be the same as audio description for films and TV, but I might have more thoughts on this tomorrow as well, after having gone through another show. But, it’s OK to not always be certain of what you need, but please give yourself the grace to start asking for the things you need to feel safe in secure in your world.
TV Shows Watched: Creature Commandos: S1E1 (MAX) with audio description, Jurassic World: Chaos Theory: S2E8 (Netflix) with audio description, Papa’s House: S1E6 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Get Millie Black: S1E2 (MAX) with audio description, and You Would Do It Too: S1E9 (Apple Plus) with audio description.
YouTube: Oscar Expert (Reacting To The NBR Awards)
Podcasts/Movies: None