Disabled Writers Excitement

I took time last week to grieve such a one of a kind dog, because momentum is building fast for my startup concept. Eventually it was deadlines this week that got me out of bed and back to work, because they could not be put off. At the same time, I have had this sadness and disappointment that after the support from Tegan during the last years of feeling lost searching for my career direction, I thought she would be here with me to enjoy the momentum that this new direction is taking, and this week is a prime example.

We were invited to a second round zoom pitch session, and I had to hone my presentation, as well as loop my team member into it and what he would presentl Monday morning I had to start the week reviewing the topics with my business coach, and then connecting with my team member to adjust what we prepared. From there I went to training for a position proctoring exams at a local University. Tuesday up early again for the next workshop for our women's group. Reviewing data gathering questions to ask potential customers about what they read highlighted a great USP for my concept.

Wednesday was the online pitch with my teammember, coordinating the order we would speak. It was fairly direct and painless. Present, answer a few questions, and then be finished. Meeting the requirements for that long anticipated event, then I had to get ready for the networking event with all of the women's start-up groups across the city. Presenting my concept in a networking circle brought out immediate excitement and enthusiasm for what I was doing and deep followup conversations with some of the new woman I met.

In addition to that, all of the phone and online chat conversations I've been having about our Kicstarter promotion this week for disabled writers, and feeling my genuine excitement for what our writers have given me! Talking with my father, a friend in Academia, and one of the very interested new friends at the networking event, some people loved the concept of highlighting this group of creatives, but I wasn't fully sure if they knew why it was something really different. That's something I wanted to cover here, as I've discussed several times this week! I think in the back of my head, I am probably aware that Disabled Writers try to advocate hard in publishing just to be accomodated. The publishing world and professionals are frequently a lot of staunch gatekeepers that do not lie to make exceptions for people. Not only was working with incredible creative talent with Disabled Writers an inspiration for my anthology, it's also baked into my publishing startup concept. In my mind, if things are logical and you CAN do something, why shouldn't you. For me, what this looks like is there ARE tools to offer versatility in the submissions and publishing process for these story tellers to get their stories into the world. In my mind it's not a question of why or how not just to accomodate them, but for them to feel comfortable presenting their creativity, should be fairly easy in this day and age with the technology available. It is really just a matter of asking what they need and picking the tool to make it happen, as far as I am concerned. Obviously disabilities are all so unique, I cannot offer a one-size fits all solution for accessibility. However, there are themes, or trends. One of the women in my Sunday night women writers support circle is disabled. She said it can be hard for people in the community to ask for the help they need. However, she had an observation that with a disability, you can have acute flares ups or disruptive events and situations that interrupt your schedule and goal progression. As a result a theme was offering flexible deadlines.

Other than that, the solution that I offer someone who is hearing impaired is completely different than someone who is visually impaired, than someone who has chronic illness. There does need to be some ability for the creators themselves to communicate to me what will help them the most, before I can offer them a solution.

However, because I am blown away by the creativity by so many writers in this community, I feel like "accomodating them" feels wrong. Their stories are textured and immersive, and that's the ind of story and creativity I want to publish. They are not a secondary class of writers that should be begging to be heard.

I also really want to highlight my writers again. Katie Marie submitted her story fairly early in our submissions. When I responded to her inquiring about her knowledge of accessibility, she was very excited to meet someone interested in this topic! She got very excited and said if I am publishing writers, could I start to create a community also for them to come together. Honestly, I am running a startup with a lean, very small team where we all wear a lot of hats, and I do not have the badnwidth to add more functions to that. I just went a full week with impared exectuive functions after the death of my dog, and it's graduatlly returning to be able to handle the amoung of balls I have in the air. Of course! I have expressed support fot he idea, but the expectation for me to personally oversee it is too much for this one person. What I can give the group, is what I've set out to acheive, a place and process that is different and more welcoming than fighting to be accomodated.

While people this week were wildly enthusiastic about this concept. I am not sure if they are aware that other people might not realize WHY it would offer something so new, and hopefully, so needed. Abled people might not understand how difficult publishing has been. They might think, well of course that maes sense to do that, who wouldn't? Well the answer, apparently, is a lot of people who are not me. So please remember to get out and make people aware that we are doing somethign really special and new here, and it is important and cannot get done without their help! Interestingly, my father tells me from time to time that he is color blind, dyslexic, and (obvious to me) left handed. He has told me about his elementary school where being left handed wasn't accepted. However, I never would have nown as a child that he was disabled. He's an engineer. He had a publishing company for egineering codes back in the day where he had to print them before the internet. But more importantly he is an AVID reader, and I inherited that from him. Spending my childhood with a father who did not watch TV, and was a voracious reader, and read to me every night, I never saw a single sign of him being dyslexic, and to this day still have no real concept what this means to him!