Rooted in Rights hosted the “Digital Storytelling: How Disabled Womxn Advocates Amplify their Activism” panel discussion on Sunday, January 21, 2018 during the Womxn Act on Seattle. Rooted in Rights team members Courtney Cole, Emily Ladau, Vanessa Link, and Cuquis Robledo shared their stories of advocacy and activism with the attendees.
Cuquis Robledo, Storytellers Coordinator, had this to say about her participation:
What I enjoyed the most about the Womxn Act Panel was that I felt we were actually teaching people in the audience about the importance of captioning and having audio descriptions in videos, and what an impact that can have of someone’s overall experience of an event. I think the audience came in without really understanding the importance until someone in the audience who was hard of hearing called out the filmmakers before us who had not captioned any of their videos of the Womxn’s March. Then when we went up and showed our Storyteller videos and I think it clicked with the audience on how using open captions and Audio Description (AD) is so important in making any experience an inclusive one.
Emily Ladau, Editor-in-Chief, shared how participating in the event aligns with the empowering work done at Rooted in Rights:
Having the opportunity to present at the Seattle Womxn’s March with my colleagues while on the other side of the country from them truly highlights that our mission to empower disabled womxn – and to be empowered ourselves – knows no bounds.