Still more FLGBTQC Gratitude plus transportation jargon

RantWoman has meant to write more celebration of the recent FLGBTQC mini-midwinter gathering, particularly in terms of accessibility points that matter to RantWoman. RantWoman has meant to do this but her first draft got swallowed in a nightly automated file cleanup. Grrrr.

 

RantWoman recognizes that the second draft is going to get all fractal with lots of “where the hell did that come from?” and “where the hell is that going?” branches and tangles. Consider these your daily blessing like the sun after winter. If RantWoman were writing verbal counterpoint, RantWoman would also mention repeated references to “safe.”

 

If you are wondering why the hell counterpoint is in here, Google JS Bach, aka Protestant mystic. And if you are still wondering what planet RantWoman is on, please forgive RantWoman’s humanities major reflex to code-switch in many different directions and not realize she is doing so and then get crabby because others have not made the same gigantic conceptual leaps. Some of the time RantWoman manages to fill the spaces here with love herself. Some of the time it is Grace. Some of the time it is just RantWoman more unvarnished than she would necessarily prefer.

 

And here the program notes might also mention leadings about welcoming seekers and about Friends younger than 60 bringing their gifts….

 

Key event accessibility points important to RantWoman, in no particular order.

 

A safe enough space for a young Friend to acknowledge that he has tics. RantWoman had been trying to think of a polite way to ask. And the Friend was moved one day at the end of Meeting for Worship.

 

Explicit mentions in the registration process about fragrance free space. RantWoman knows what a big safety issue this is for one thing because RantDad had LOTS of problems in this area.  RantWoman finds fragrance free a big challenge but does strive to keep fragrances to a bare minimum. RantWoman herself has issues with some kinds of scents but cannot live without her preferred lip balm. In preparation RantWoman also changed her hair washing routine. RantWoman CAN do that.

 

Digressions about accessibility beyond this event

RantWoman needs to jump up and down on the “CAN DO THAT” because RantWoman hears in some quarters “Oh we are going to have to make very big changes…” First logical question: say more. What kind of big changes are you thinking of? Have you seasoned them with anyone like maybe including RantWoman?  Because you know, what is the point of “big changes” if they take a lot of effort and wind up making little difference. And besides, sometimes LOTS of people learning little changes they can make is even bigger than attempting some galactic overreach.

 

RantWoman can certainly think of some very big changes that she would welcome, but RantWoman in Queen of Recording Clerk Forever personage has been over a NUMBER of different people’s Recording Clerk terms TRYING to speak clearly with gratitude of things that matter. RantWoman is unclear whether it is lack of ability, lack of familiarity with concepts, lack of clarity on RantWoman’s part, or lack of inclination to record these points in minutes as if they are important enough to remind the community again.

 

RantWoman is particularly vexed by this issue because she can cite several months of minutes that speak in glowing self-congratulatory terms of all that is wonderful about what Meeting is doing and then say “RantWoman spoke at length” and do not say a dang thing about what RantWoman said. Is RantWoman maybe getting a little repetitive about this last point?

 

These two threads are only ONE reason besides multiple flavors of ableism affecting the work of a certain Care and Accountability committee why RantWoman is clear both about need for focused work on disability and specifically attention to minutes. Stay tuned. And if that just sounds wonky, please enjoy the option of hours and hours about something called minutes.

 

Invitation to make needs known.

Invitation in the registration process and during introductions to make access needs known. RantWoman appreciates the Friend who said she has a medical device that beeps occasionally. RantWoman knows someone else whose body beeps like that.

 

During introductions, RantWoman introduced Ambassador Thwack, the badly behaved white cane. Then RantWoman admitted that Ambassador Thwack rarely works inside the Meetinghouse. RantWoman knows the place really well. RantWoman also needed to warn people: don’t let the glasses on RantWoman’s face confuse you. RantWoman will not necessarily see others.  There were no kids present so RantWoman did not have to ask for help not stepping on kids.

 

Worship Sharing queries printed in giant print to fill a whole piece of paper. There were two worship sharing groups. There were two pieces of paper. Everyone had to pass things around if they wanted to refresh their memories. Equality!

 

USE OF THE MICROPHONE in large circles. To all the people who think you can be heard without a mic, NO YOU CAN’T. People’s voices drop off mid-sentence. People are just timid speakers. Some of the rest of us rely on the sound system!

 

Actually having the sound system in time for the event. Bear with RantWoman here; RantWoman is a little bit stuck.

 

Revisiting sore points

Event #1: event planner just hung up on RantWoman before RantWoman could get a reasonable accommodations request out of her mouth. Event Planner in question is already noted on blog with SEVERAL rounds of gbehabior RantWoman considers, to put it politely, dismissive. In the event RantWoman wound up deeply regretting not getting to hear what people said and also filled with free-floating RantWoman annoyances. Look, um, RantWoman already has more than enough things to hold people in the Light over, AND RantWoman would never mind having been wrong about (a twitch from the past)….

 

Event #2: A retreat. Phone / group effort FIASCOES. Demand in person meeting. Then say need to go on vacation. Then offer to meet AFTER the event for which the sound system is needed. But never fear, people who need to make reasonable accommodations requests,  by people RantWoman means at least herself are expected to go down a list and guess who is in charge and figure out who can help. Never mind whether it feels SAFE to ask especially when one does not want to have to ask in the first place.

 

At the FLGBTQC event, RantWoman found more than one person who could just thread needles so RantWoman could sew reflective tape on one of her new canvas bags. See RantWoman is allergic to getting run over in the first place. In the second place going anywhere is a lot of trouble and RantWoman adapts by doing a lot by conference call. So RantWoman often says “as a reasonable accommodation… please COPE with everyone being on the same footing visually.” In return RantWoman is happy to refrain from wondering whether others care about her time and physical safety!  

 

The sewing was also space to hear others’ stories and to hold a quest for better paths about this last communications fiasco. RantWoman can still with frightening ease hit some inchoate rage about car-dependence, insistence on meeting in person, and various other strands of Attitude and communications FIASCOES related to particular reasonable accommodations request.

 

Safety and Fixed?

RantWoman will not though refrain from talking even more about blind people and transportation and why having a phone in option for public meetings is a GIANT safety measure for instance if a blind person lives in Kitsap county and has to walk two miles on a road shoulder to catch a bus to do something in person. Well, around Meeting RantWoman is more likely to continue to jump up and down about the importance of needing to talk about what coming transportation changes mean for our community and green transportation and other tranpsportation jargon. But to do that, RantWoman is pretty sure it would be good to figure out some space to say what happened before was a giant screwup. How about instead of just trying to drive RantWoman away, we figure out how to cut down the screwup angles going forward????

 

And bless your heart to a member of RantWoman’s Care and Accountability committee who kept trying to tell RantWoman the need for microphone issue is “fixed.” Really. Have you asked RantWoman whether she considers it fixed?  Do event planners know they need to think about the Mic System? Do people who need to make a reasonable accommodations request about having the mic available have a clear consistent channel to do so? Does anyone understand the term Reasonable Accommodation?  Eureka! MORE reasons to have an adhoc committee on Disability! More items for a workplan. More wrangling about whether just to start with “see what we can do in a year” or wether to overspecify what winds up on the workplan. Stay tuned and RantWoman HOPES others besides herself can pull renewed energy from this tangle.