What I Would Have Said

I was asked to talk on a panel for an educational developer event happening in a few weeks and I backed out today. I backed out because something didn't smell right, which is saying a lot for someone who is anosmic. But I realized that having this space as a platform would be a good place to do two things:

• To give some guidance in terms of what kinds of questions you need to ask and have the answers to before you say yes to talking on a panel, and remind folk it is completely okay to walk away if you find out they lied or withheld information from you. 
• To give point form what I would have said if I did sit on that panel, not that I would have been given the space to say it considering how it played out but the points are valid points I feel and need to be shared

So first, say someone approaches you and asks you to be on a panel but they low key give you no information except the date and time and nothing else. Here are some suggestions of things you should ask. This is not an exhaustive list. I see it as a place to start reflecting on the kinds of things you should know and the kinds of things organizers love to hide from you unless you specifically ask. 

• How is this panel being conducted? Is it in person? Is it virtual? 
• What kind of COVID precautions are in place around this event? Masks, vaccinations, filters?
• What kinds of accessibility supports have been secured and put in place. Not we are thinking about it, what has been paid for and in place for the event? Captions, CART, hybrid engagement, ASL/BSL/ LSQ/AUSLAN etc interpreters? Resources shared ahead of time?
• Who is going to be on the panel with you? Are you signing up for a Manel? Are you signing up for an all-white panel? Are you signing up for the most ableist and heteronormative of panels? Ask these kinds of questions
• Is there a moderator? Who is it? What is their role? Is there question and answer period and if so how long and how will it be conducted?
• Is this a paid ask? Is there an honorarium? 
• Do I have to sign a thing to be part of this event? If so what are the legal implications of this thing I am signing?
  
• Will it be recorded? If so where is the recording being held and who will have access to it after and for how long?
• How much are folk paying to attend the event? What is that money going to?

I would super love if folk have other questions that they think folk should ask when asked to do a talk or be part of a panel that they share it on Twitter. This is the kind of information that needs to be shared and talked about so we can make informed decisions on the time we are spending on asks and not putting ourselves in bad situations. 

Now in terms of what I would have said, as I say I will just give in point form because well I don't have the capacity to type out any kind of talk right now after the shite week I have had. It will also make it super easy for the folk who have been trolling this blog for ideas and talking points for years, because they don't have any of their own, to find what they need quickly and pretend they came up with it. But maybe if they say it and not me people will actually listen for once and I can stop having privileged academics in my mentions telling me to stop being so angry- when the spaces have been set up for them so they have no reason to be angry, or no empathy. Collegiality right?  Maybe it would also stop folk from telling me how "brave" I am for just saying what needs to be said when no one else will. So here are the Coles notes:

• Who picked the ridiculous theme for this event? Did anyone think that the theme coupled with the really bad image you are using to promo it is pretty much inspiration porn? And if you don't know what inspiration porn is then take time out your lives to watch this Stella Young video. (9mins) (opens in a new tab)
• Like honestly, who picked this ridiculous theme? Did no one think about how it creates weird power framing, especially in a space when educational developers already have weird power framing?
• Why has everything about this event been so secretive? You do realize that right? No information about speakers, no information about modality? Not really a great modelling of accessibility going on here
• Does no one see the irony that you asked folk to come together to talk about wicked problems when the organization and communication about this event is in fact a case study in a wicked problem?
• Was that the point? Did you create this crap modelling on purpose to show how not to do it?
• What we should be talking about is performative equity in particular performative accessibility and how educational developers really suck at accessibility. Like really suck. And we need to acknowledge about how badly we suck at accessibility and stop talking around it. And we need to reflect on how we suck at accessibility and therefore how the support provided to instructors also sucks at accessibility and therefore we are really really part of the f-ing problem.
• We need to talk about how as a group, educational developers super suck at acknowledging that some of us are disabled and need supports within spaces like this to even participate in these spaces. You know what is a wicked problem?-how much these spaces create anxiety for fellow educational developers and are constructed with only the most extroverted privileged abled people in mind.
• We need to talk about how being ostriches about these issues will not make them go away, and the more we collectively ignore these issues, the more that we will lose out on being in community with the people who actually want to work on these issues. And then in the end you will end up with that Spiderman meme  (opens in new tab) where everyone is exactly the same kind of "yes person" as the other and are pointing at each other as being the problem. You did want superheroes right?