Self-care Sunday: 04.11.2012

Right now I'm in the midst of completing my final assignment for this semester of uni. Constantly reminding myself that it's ok to take a break and resting isn't the same as procrastinating has been really important for me this week. I'm a chronic procrastinator and it's gotten me into some tight spots on more than one occasion so I've really working hard to change that. You may notice I've changed the layout of the blog slightly this week. That was very much treading the line between taking a break from study and procrastination haha.

In changing the layout I've tried to improve accessability. There's definitely more I'd like to do, but that will have to wait until my assignment is out of the way. I've downloaded Glenda Watson Hyatt's excellent (and free!) eBook which is easily the best blog accessibility resource I've found so far. I definitely recommend taking a look at her website. I've also been making sure to get out of the house every day even if it's just a walk around the block. I find that being outside and moving around improves my mood and it sure beats being hunched over my computer all day (apologies to my physiotherapist - I swear I don't hunch all the time and I'm sitting up straight right now!).

I've also been painting my nails and making regular trips to our local coffee shop.

I got some awesome Essence Colour & Go nail polish half price from Priceline. It's usually really cheap anyway, so half price was a freakin' steal. I'm really impressed with the quality too. It's quick dry, but not gluggy like some of the other cheap quick dry nail polishes I've tried. The above photo is the morning after I applied two coats and it lasted another three days before some minor chipping (which is pretty excellent given how I generally bash my hands about). Thanks to Patchwork Cactus for recommending Essence.

I best get back to my assignment, but I'm really looking forward to dusting the blog off when I'm done. I want to post more regularly, work on accessibility more and make a fancy header image haha. Thank goodness for uni holidays!

Gaming, 'gimping' and my irregular gait

In a recent episode of Good Game I was introduced to a new term. 'Gimping'. Apparently it means to play as a character stripped of skills and abilities. But it also means something else. Something incredibly offensive to myself and many others. Because 'gimp' is an ableist slur.

'Gimp' is a derogatory word used against people with disabilities that affect their walking. 'Gimping' is used to describe the way in which such a person may walk. I often walk with an irregular gait and sometimes limp thanks to ankylosing spondylitis (a form of arthritis). This could, if someone wanted to be an ableist jerk, be described as 'gimping'. To use that particular word to describe limiting a gamer's abilities trivialises the lived experiences of myself and countless others. It tells us that our feelings are unimportant and we are 'other' and 'less than'.

I'll go out on a limb and suggest that a lot of gamers probably don't care about people with disabilities. Lord knows a lot don't care about other marginalised groups. But I like to think, hope even, that we can change that. The fact that Good Game (and others - a quick search of Kotaku Australia yielded three instances, Gamasutra fourteen) uncritically repeated a term like 'gimping' only serves to legitimise its use. There has already been a call for Good Game to apologise. Personally, I'd just like to see an acknowledgement that people with disabilities do actually play videogames and we shouldn't have to put up with language rooted in ableism.