Pagan Accessibility Project – Community Input Requested

Subject: Pagan Accessibility Project – Community Input Requested

Contacts:
Janet Callahan janet@lakotacreations.com
Tara “Masery” Miller tara.miller21@gmail.com

Permission granted to print or pass on this press release.

Janet Callahan and Tara “Masery” Miller are writing a book to assist Pagan event organizers and Pagan members of the disabled and Deaf communities improve accessibility. Our focus is to write a guide for making Pagan events more accessible and to help leaders and volunteers assist people at Pagan gatherings and events. Most of the information we present will be geared toward public gatherings, but the principals will be useful even in smaller private ritual groups. We would like to include essays from leaders and attendees, encompassing the benefits of imporoving accessibility for all and the impacts when events aren’t as accessible as one would hope. We will also include legal and process information to help disabled attendees advocate for themselves and to help leaders/volunteers understand how to organize an even that is more accommodating.

There are two ways to participate:

1. Write an essay for the book for be interviewed about your experiences with accessibility (or lack of). The deadline is October 1, 2013.

Submission guidelines are at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/paganswithdisabilities/2013/07/writers-wanted-for-new-book/

2. You can also take an anonymous survey about your festival experiences as a person with a disability, illness, or addiction, or someone who is part of the Deaf or Blind Community. The survey will be closed after August 1, 2013.
http://www.janetcallahan.com/survey/index.php/survey/index/sid/231897/newtest/Y/lang/en

We appreciate any way you can participate in this project to make our community a better place.

About the editors:

Both editors are in the upcoming anthology Rooted in the Body, Seeking the Soul: Magic Practitioners Living with Disabilities, Addiction and Illness.

Janet Callahan is a Pagan author, lecturer, and workshop leader. She’s published many articles and posts across the Internet. She has essays in several Pagan anthologies including Manifesting Prosperity: A Wealth Magic Anthology and Shades of Faith. She currently writes two blogs: http://www.janetcallahan.com and writes about life as a Pagan parent of children with multiple special needs at http://ourlittleacorn.com

Tara “Masery” Miller has Turner Mosaic and PTSD. She graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a degree in mass communications specifically media studies and a minor in religion. She’s a panentheist Gaian who has a deep relationship with the Goddess Gaia and a member of the Unitarian Universalist Larger Fellowship. She’s been involved with Pagan Pride Day, the Pagan Leaders Recommended Reading list with Elizabeth Barrett, and other wonderful magic circles over the years. She has written the Staff of Asclepious blog at Patheos for over three years. http://patheos.com/blogs/paganswithdisabilities/ and also has a new website at http://taramaserymiller.com Currently, she lives in Missouri with her husband, Michael, and a myrriad of pets.