Category: Accessible arts

Art Beyond Sight: Official press release for the Tactile and Sensory art show

Published March 16, 2018 by L. Legendary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 16, 2018
Contact: Cheryl Gleason (916) 273-5712
cheryl@cordovacouncil.org

Art beyond sight? Exhibit offers Insights
What if you were an artist, but could not see? What if you were blind, but yearned to experience art?
Those are questions explored by “Insights: Art Beyond the Eyes,” opening at The MACC (Mills Station Arts and Culture Center) Wednesday, March 21 for a four-day exhibit, open to the public. Admission is free of charge.
Insights is being presented in cooperation with the California Council of the Blind, which is meeting in Rancho Cordova March 22-25 for its state convention.
The exhibit includes the works of nine artists who are low vision or blind, and the works of three sighted artists, created with low or no vision art lovers in mind.
Featured will be artists Alice Wingwall (photographer, sculptor, film), Angela Palmer (ceramicist, Mosaics), Noel Runyan (mixed media using computer parts and lapidary), Jennifer Justice (woodwork), Laura Legendary (braille jewelry), George Wurtzel (woodwork), Sheela Gunn-Cushman (Jewelry), Deborah Kent-Stein (sculptor) and Robin Patche (mixed media), who have excelled in art even though they do not have the advantage of excellent eyesight.
Artists Garey Porter, Michele Burr and Lyla Paakkanen will be exhibiting works created for enjoyment by the blind – tactile pieces which run contrary to the old art exhibit dictum of “Don’t Touch the Art.” In this case, it’s mandatory.
For example, Porter, a Viet Nam Vet, creates wood bas reliefs of images which impacted him while visiting churches and Abbey’s in England. Burr’s focus on the female figure using glass casting, bronze and metal is both seductive and playful. Paakkanen’s 10’x4’ panel of a dragon uses impasto acrylic paint and raised scales to make a traditionally two-dimensional work into three dimensions.
The works include carved wood pieces, jewelry, prints, paintings, sculpture and more.
An artists’ reception will be held from 5-8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 21, and gives the public a chance to chat with the artists about their work. There is no admission charge for the reception.
The reception will be accompanied by “Beethoven and Friends Chamber Ensemble,” a chamber orchestra affiliated with the Rancho Cordova Civic Light Orchestra.
The exhibit will also be open from 3-6 p.m. Friday, March 23, and from noon-6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, March 24-25.

“Insights is a thought-provoking exhibit which challenges the definition of an art exhibit,” said Cheryl Gleason, MACC Coordinator and curator for the show. “Art is for everyone and should be by everyone. Insights asks us to think about art in a new way.”
This is the second exhibit this month at The MACC, which occupies the ground floor of the century-old historic Mills Station Building, located at the Mather/Mills Station Light Rail Station at 10190 Mills Station Road. For more information visit www.rcmacc.org.
Produced by the Cordova Community Council and supported by the City of Rancho Cordova Community Enhancement Fund, Insights is appropriate for art lovers of all ages. Descriptions and other information at the exhibit will be posted in both print and braille, giving all visitors an opportunity to experience art and more from a new point of view – including relying on the sense of touch rather than sight.
In addition to the Insights exhibit, those wishing to support the California Society of the Blind through a dinner experience can purchase tickets to “Dining in the Dark,” a fundraising gala featuring dinner prepared by Christine Ha, a blind chef and winner of the third season of television’s “Master Chef” competition show. The event will be held at the Sacramento Marriott Rancho Cordova on Thursday, March 23.
Guests will be invited to enjoy their meals wearing eye shades in low light conditions and will utilize their other senses to maximize a unique culinary experience. The event also includes an auction and dance, hosted by Dan and Michelle, from MIX 96.1 radio station. Tickets are $75 and available at cccbnet.org.

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Eyes-free art: Your ticket to the Tactile and Sensory Art Exhibit

Published March 1, 2018 by L. Legendary

March is a busy month for many of us in the accessibility and assistive tech community. Two of the largest and most relevant international conferences and exhibitions take place this month, the CSUN Conference on Disability and the South By Southwest event. there are other, smaller conventions this month as well, one to which I’d like to draw your attention now.

The California Council of the Blind is hosting their annual state convention in Sacramento, California, with events from March 22nd to the 25th, 2018. It will be held at the Marriott Rancho Cordova. As mentioned in the previous post, which you can read here, the California Council (CCB) is hosting a Dining in the Dark event, along with the regular convention activities. However, there is another event happening concurrently that will deliver a fascinating new world into the hands of people who are blind, as well as to those in the art community.

It’s called the Tactile and Sensory Art Show, Art beyond the eyes: An exhibit of works for and by blind and low vision artists, in conjunction with the California Council of the Blind Cordova Community Council.

Artist reception:

5-8 p.m. Wednesday, March 21 Featuring music by Beethoven and Friends Chamber Ensemble.

the exhibit:

3-6 p.m. Friday, March 23.
Noon-6 p.m. Saturday, March 24, and Sunday, March 25.

Where:

MACC mills station arts & culture center
10191 Mills Station Road Inside the Historic Mills Station Building.

Admission:

Free.

The MACC is supported by the Rancho Cordova Community Enhancement Fund a fresh take rcmacc.org.

The art show is an excellent opportunity for anyone to examine art works created by people with disabilities. I have been invited to exhibit my own Elegant Insights Braille Creations at the show, so spread the word and bring your family and friends. The Tactile and Sensory Art Show is not limited to members of CCB or the blind community, it’s open to everyone. Please stop by and say hello!

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Not heading South for the CSUN conference? Head north instead.

Published February 12, 2018 by L. Legendary

Wait…what? There’s another event happening in March besides the CSUN Conference on Disability? Well, yes, and I’m not just referring to my birthday. Which,, by the way, is on the 22nd, so you had better get started on those gifts. Ahem.

there are actually a few events upcoming that might interest you, and all of them are happening in California. The California Council of the Blind is holding their state convention in Sacramento this year, and there are a couple of must-attend events associated with the conference you’ll want to know about. I’ll post more info over the next few weeks, but here are the details about one of them:

When: Thursday, March 22nd, 2018
Event: Dining in the Dark will bring together community leaders, industry professionals and caring citizens for an evening of fine dining to raise awareness and resources for the California Council of the Blind. Guests will be invited to enjoy their meals wearing eye shades in low light conditions and utilize their other senses to maximize this unique culinary experience. The event will feature Christine Ha, Blind Chef, and winner of Master Chef season three. There will also be an exclusive auction, local Celebrity Emcees, and dance music provided by blind DJ’s from J & J FM.

Tickets are available for $75 each and will sell out fast! Please go to www.ccbnet.org or call 916-441-2100 to purchase your tickets today.

In addition to the Dining in the Dark event, there will also be a Tactile and Sensory Art show, as well as the CCB conference sessions and exhibit hall, which you will find at the Marriott Rancho Cordova in Sacramento, California. Check back here for updates, as I’ll provide a schedule of events as well as press releases and links to more information.

You will find me at the Dinner in the Dark, as I am a table sponsor, and I’ll also be showing my Elegant Insights Braille Creations jewelry and accessories in the exhibit hall as well as in the art gallery for the art show. There’s plenty to experience in Sacramento this year, so after you’ve had your fill of the CSUN conference, just head straight North to the California Council of the Blind State convention over the weekend. See you there!

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Published April 6, 2016 by L. Legendary

Every once in a while, some great meme or catchphrase turns up on social media, and it becomes the newest way to express a complex concept or sentiment in the shortest possible number of characters. I enjoy them all, since I have always loved slang, jargon, quotes, and words in general. So, I love it when the catchiest new hashtag perfectly represents a feeling or frustration. One that I use often on twitter is #KillMeNow, or #DroneMeCoffee, or its variations, #DroneMeWine, #DroneMeChocolate, or just #DroneMe if I want something. One that comes to mind right off is, busy much? That one certainly describes me of late.

If I haven’t driven my followers insane with my crowdfunding campaign, which, you’ll note, I’ve wasted no time in mentioning, please go to IndieGoGo page igg.me/at/ElegantInsights to contribute, campaign ends April 10th, then you may also be aware that I have been promoting another new project.

A few months ago, the assistant managing director of ACB Radio Mainstream, Debbie Hazelton [@DebbieHazelton], invited me to host a program on the network. She and the staff of acbradio.org offered me a wide latitude as to what topics I might explore on the show, and since Debbie is the type of person that you adore instantly and find yourself saying yes to before you know it, I agreed to give it a try.

Skipping right over all of my angst-ridden questions about audience interest and show themes, we came up with a half-hour program that will air every other month, alternating with another show. Beginning Thursday, April 7, 2016, at 8 p.m. Eastern time, 5 p.m. Pacific, you can tune in to Legendary Insights. We will discuss issues of the moment, at least to the degree that they can be discussed every other month. the show will alternate with Larry Turnbull’s show, “Handy Around the House.”

On occasion, I may talk about an upcoming event, such as the summer convention for ACB National, or I might offer up a show on home decor or interview skills. Maybe the tag line for the show should be, “Legendary Insights is like a box of chocolates…you never know what you’ll get.” Or, not.

Still, I plan to listen to feedback, and if you have any show suggestions, feel free to send them my way. You can follow me now at @LLOnAir for relevant tweets during the first airing in each program cycle, which will be the first Thursday of the month, again, alternating with Larry’s show. If you send me comments during replays, I may not respond in real time, because the show may be airing…I don’t know…at 2:00 am.

You will also be able to drop me an email at laura@acbradio.org, and I look forward to hearing from you.

So, between ,my crowdfunding campaign, which ends April 10th, don’t forget, running my business, Elegant Insights, posting content for this blog and for The Fashionability Channel, and doing an occasional radio show, all I can say is, busy much?

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New show to debut on ACB Radio Mainstream: Legendary Insights

Published April 6, 2016 by L. Legendary

A few months ago, the assistant managing director of ACB Radio Mainstream, Debbie Hazelton (@DebbieHazelton), invited me to host a program on the network. She and the staff of acbradio.org offered me a wide latitude as to what topics I might explore on the show, and since Debbie is the type of person that you adore instantly and find yourself saying yes to before you know it, I agreed to give it a try.

You will also be able to drop me an email at laura@acbradio.org, and I look forward to hearing from you.

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A crowdfunding campaign you can get behind: Help make it happen for a blind entrepreneur

Published March 29, 2016 by L. Legendary

Since Accessible Insights is a blog devoted to advocacy, accessibility, and assistive technology, I get a little squishy whenever I post something unrelated to those topics. However, to paraphrase an old song, it’s my blog, and I’ll write what I want to, write what I want to, write what I want to…

This post will consist of a short explanation and a call to action. I need your help.

My little enterprise, Elegant Insights Braille Creations, has enjoyed a five-year run as your source for all things beautiful Braille embossed jewelry and accessories. Now, I have a bit of a problem, and, as they say in entrepreneurial parlance, it’s a good problem to have. My business is expanding, thanks to an invitation I received to showcase my products on the new Amazon Handmade platform. Amazon is seeking to aggressively compete with Etsy, which, in case you don’t know, is an enormous online destination for all things handcrafted. There you can find everything from woodwork to knitted pet blankets to scrapbook supplies. There’s plenty of handmade jewelry there, too. You will not find me there, instead, I chose to go my own way, and set up shop on my own domain, elegantinsightsjewelry.com/.

Etsy does billions per year in business. That’s right. I said billions. Amazon wants a piece of that very sweet pie, so they solicited artisans from a variety of sources to showcase their items on the Amazon platform. I applied, and was accepted. I think I may have read the congratulations letter about a hundred times. I was very excited.

My excitement was quickly quelled, though, by the realization that I was somewhat unprepared for the task. I needed to buy a whole lot of jewelry making supplies, sheet metal, findings and components, tools and other assorted parts and pieces. Not to mention the extra hands I would need to hire in order to put it all together in sufficient quantity to meet demand. I realized that I needed to raise some money.

To that end, I’ve launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indie GoGo. Wow, has that been a learning experience. As is the case with many other adventures in life, there’s more to crowdfunding successfully than one might think, given the many startup victory dances that seem to be going on everywhere. Just when I think my head is about to explode from learning yet another new skill, I find out I have a lot to learn. My head may explode anyway.

I’m raising a relatively modest amount of money, just enough to get the ball rolling on my plans. The campaign period is 30 days, and I’m just over halfway through it now. Here’s where you come in. Remember that call to action? Here it comes.

Crowdfunding is, to some degree, part advanced planning, part momentum, part luck, and part numbers game. It’s also a ton of work. the more traffic you can drive to your campaign page, the more likely you are to attract a stranger who thinks what you’re trying to accomplish is cool, investment worthy, and they may decide to back your campaign by throwing some coin your way. In exchange, you offer perks, or thank you gifts, as a way of showing your appreciation for said stranger’s contribution. Hopefully, your family and close friends have already contributed, so by the time said stranger hits your page, you are already a small percentage of the way there.

I’m about 35 percent of the way there, and with just under two weeks to go, I feel the distance between me and success is a long one. I have worked tirelessly to this point, and have abandoned just about everything else in an effort to shepherd my campaign to the finish. Please take a look at my page, read my story, and contribute. If making a direct financial contribution is not an option for you, please let me leverage your network. Please tweet, blog, share, and nudge your friends on my behalf. Let them know that there is a video, photos, explanatory text, and a one-woman army driving the campaign. I appreciate any and all support, even if that support is in the form of an interview on your podcast, a guest post on your blog, or a link on your Facebook page. Please help me spread the word about my efforts, and help me make it happen.

Here’s the link: igg.me/at/ElegantInsights

If you need a gift for an upcoming birthday, or for Mother’s Day, which is right around the corner, I’m offering some great perks in exchange for your contribution, so check it out. I’ll keep you posted on my progress, which is another way of saying I’ll be promoting the ever loving daylights out of this. It’s been pretty hard to get away from me recently, I’m all about this right now. Thank you for your help, and for your patience.

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The Fashionability Channel waves goodbye to the old home, and invites you to the new!

Published February 3, 2016 by L. Legendary

Happy New Year! A long break has resulted in a big announcement about Fashionability…we’ve moved! In addition to setting up shop on our own web site, we have now established our own podcast feed. This means we will be discontinuing Fashionability on the AudioBoom platform, as well as the old iTunes feed. After you listen to our farewell episode, linked below, follow the instructions to unsubscribe from the channel on AudioBoom, and resubscribe to the new feed, either via our new web site, or through our new iTunes link.

Listen to our final podcast on AudioBoom here:

tinyurl.com/zf8mb56

Unfamiliar with Fashionability? The Fashionability Channel is your guide to accessible style. Finally, style within reach…of everyone!

Join Emily, Laura, and channel contributors…the innovators, influencers, and inspirational people who love to talk all things fashion. Topics include style and trends, beauty, skin care, hair care, health and fitness, jewelry and accessories, and much more, in an audio podcast that is inclusive of everyone. Fashion can be fun, a creative outlet, a shared experience, and a form of self-expression. No matter your gender, body type, age or ability, you’ll learn ways to make a spectacular style statement all your own. You’ll hear interviews with industry professionals, tips, tutorials, and discussion topics on everything from attitudes about disability, barriers to shopping, inaccessible product packaging, and how the needs of people who have disabilities are addressed in the fashion industry. We will also be covering different organizations an charities who specifically develop services, resources and products for people with disabilities to access fashion, style and cosmetics. We want to create a forum where we can encourage listeners to develop their own sense of style, and to break away from the misconceptions surrounding disability.

Founded by UK fashion blogger Emily Davison [@DavisonEm] writer of fashioneyesta.com and US Entrepreneur Laura Legendary, owner and designer of Elegant Insights Braille Creations [@ElegantInsights[, our mission is to empower consumers with relevant fashion information, and to provide creative tools and useful advice for listeners from all walks of life. We want to bridge the gap between the fashion industry and people with disabilities, and to affect change so that people with disabilities are better represented in print and digital media. Welcome to The Fashionability Channel!

New web site: www.fashionabilitychannel.com
New podcast feed URL: www.fashionabilitychannel.com/feed/podcast/
New iTunes link: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-fashionability-channel/id1076782532
Write to us! fashionabilitychannel@gmail.com

There is already a post awaiting you at the new location, so please resubscribe soon! We can’t wait to welcome you!

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The Fashionability Channel will soon be on the move!

Published June 22, 2015 by L. Legendary

Humbly, I come to you, hat in hand, to ask your forgiveness for my abysmal level of contribution to the Accessible Insights Blog. My dedication to my readers has not diminished one bit, rather, it is that very dedication that has me working hard to bring you content in a variety of formats. Since I know many of you are wondering where on Earth I’ve been, I’ll just say that there really isn’t a single platform on which you cannot find me, it’s simply a matter of where I am at any given point.

Lately, I’ve put in a great deal of focused effort on my latest project, the Fashionability Channel, of which I am a co-founder. If you need to catch up, the Fashionability Channel is an audio podcast pertaining to all things fashion and style, for both men and women, people of all abilities, and all walks of life. It’s your guide to accessible style information, delivered to you via the AudioBoom platform by myself and my partner, Emily Davison, a UK-based blogger.

The Fashionability Channel has been a spectacular success. Thanks to all of you, we have some impressive stats, based upon just 30 or so posted shows. We have plenty more planned, with no signs of slowing our creative energy. We have, however, come to realize that it is time to make a change, to accommodate our rapid growth. In just a couple of months, we will be moving the channel from AudioBoom to a self-hosted platform.

The domains have already been purchased, the blog content is being relocated, and the audio media will soon be transferred over to our own RSS feed. While we have enjoyed using the AudioBoom platform, and appreciate all they have done to provide us with a simple way to reach our audience, they have also made some changes to their platform and terms of service that are in conflict with our goals. Please watch this space for more announcements as to our timetable, where you can find the new home of the podcast, and how you can listen without missing an episode. At some point, we will be requesting that you unsubscribe from the AudioBoom channel feed, and resubscribe to our new feed. We may still post to AudioBoom, if we can do this without too much complication, but we will be doing so through a chain of technical custody that may be tricky. We’ll let you know, as the move gets closer, the easiest way to transition to our new content feed.

In the meantime, we thank you for making the Fashionability Channel a smash, and we promise to continue to bring you much more stylish content!

You can listen here:

www.audioboom.com/channel/fashionability

Or via iBlink Radio:

www.serotek.com/iblink

Or, you can subscribe to our podcast via iTunes, or by way of our blog at:

www.fashionabilitychannel.wordpress.com

Finally, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @InclusiveStyle

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New audio channel makes fashion accessible for people with disabilities

Published September 19, 2014 by L. Legendary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Laura Legendary
Co-founder, Fashionability
USA: (509) 264-2588
l.legendary@elegantinsightsjewelry.com
Emily Davison
Co-founder, Fashionability
UK: (+44) 7541858610
UK: (020) 85164981
fashioneyesta@gmail.com

New audio channel makes fashion accessible for people with disabilities

September 19, 2014 – In a partnership dedicated to making information about fashion accessible to people who have disabilities, Emily Davison and Laura Legendary have created Fashionability, a social media franchise consisting of an audio channel on the Audioboo platform, a Facebook group and page, a Twitter account, and a blog and RSS feed. Davison, blogger on the Fashioneyesta.com blog based in the UK, and Legendary, designer and owner of Elegant Insights Braille Creations, based in the US, joined forces in a very stylish collaboration to create an audio guide to accessible style.

The Fashionability channel aims to cover many aspects of fashion and beauty, jewelry and accessories, health and fitness, to provide tips and education, as well as to raise awareness about representation of people with disabilities in the media. “I have been campaigning with a team of dedicated individuals with the organization Models of Diversity to target fashion brands to add models with disabilities to their advertising campaigns.” Says Davison. “there is the fundamental fact that people with disabilities are not equally represented in the fashion advertising industry. This immediately creates problems for people with disabilities as it shows society that disability is not considered to be relevant to fashion and thus all these unfair stereotypes occur.”

Content on the Fashionability channel will also be provided by guest contributors, people with disabilities who are subject matter experts in a variety of fashion-related topics. One such contributor is the organization Living Paintings, www.livingpaintings.org, based in the UK.

The Fashionability channel is set to launch on September 19, 2014, and will be available via RSS feed and in the Lifestyles category on Audioboo, www.audioboo.fm. Plans are also in the works for text transcripts of the audio programming, which will be made available on the Fashionability blog. “The Fashionability brand will focus on accessibility and inclusion,” says Legendary. “When most people think of fashion, or more broadly, style, they may think of it only in terms of a visual medium. The lack of accessible information suggests that people with disabilities are somehow less interested in looking and feeling their best. I hope that, with the help of Emily and our contributors, we can create a resource inclusive of all walks of life, all ages, all socio-economic strata, all body types and all abilities. I want to provide sensible, approachable, fashion and style information that is within reach…of everyone.” For more information, send email to fashionabilitychannel@gmail.com. Visit the Fashionability Channel at www.audioboo.fm/channel/fashionability

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About Emily Davison: Emily Davison is a UK based writer, disability campaigner, and journalist who currently writes about fashion on her blog fashioneyesta.com which she founded in July 2012-a blog created to enable people with sight loss to access fashion and cosmetics.

About Laura Legendary: Laura Legendary is a speaker, author, and educator, specializing in disability awareness, advocacy, accessibility, and assistive technology. She is also the owner and designer of Elegant Insights Braille Creations, a distinctive collection of jewelry and accessories, made in the USA, and embossed in Braille. Visit www.elegantinsightsjewelry.com. To read Laura’s blog, go to Accessible Insights Blog at www.accessibleinsights.info/blog.

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A collaboration spanning two continents: An interview with the fashionable Emily Davison

Published September 12, 2014 by L. Legendary

After posting the news about my newest venture, the Fashionability Channel, on which I am collaborating with Emily Davison of Fashioneyesta.com, I thought I would tell you a bit more about her. I asked Emily to answer some questions about her current work and her background in the fashion industry. Emily, in turn, will post an interview with me on her own blog, the link to which I will add at the end of this post. If you think you, or someone you know, might be interested in the content offered on the Fashionability Channel, please read on so as to get to know my partner a bit better. She is smart, funny, full of life and a strong advocate for people with disabilities.

LL: Please share a bit about your current projects, and what you spend the most time working on.

Emily: I have been involved in many different projects, many of which are related to fashion and cosmetics for people with sight loss.

Some are still currently in preparation and therefore I cannot say too much about them. But, I am doing a lot of work around campaigning for braille on cosmetics products and have worked closely with one particular company who will be launching braille on their products in the future.

I have been working very closely alongside the charity Living Paintings, a charity that produces tactile, audio guides on different aspects of the visual world. From fashion, science, nature, art to cookery they are all included. The fashion guide is what I have predominantly been working on and have been advising the charity on how to best explain fashion concepts to visually impaired people.

I have also been campaigning with a team of dedicated individuals with the organization Models of Diversity to target fashion brands to add models with disabilities to their advertising campaigns.

I am an avid writer and spend a lot of time writing blogs and articles around fashion, identity and disability. I cross network with other websites and blogs and am passionate about changing stereotypes surrounding disability.

LL: How was Fashioneyesta born? What was your inspiration, and what are you most proud of?

Emily: Fashioneyesta was born from a concept to make fashion and beauty more accessible for people with sight loss. One day when going about my business I encountered my first ever comment of someone remarking that I ‘didn’t look blind.” So, this got me thinking about creating a space that I could spread ideas, positivity and hopefully break down this stereotype that surrounds not just sight loss but disability in general. I didn’t want people with sight loss to be considered as being unfashionable, nor did I want people with visual impairments to not have access to information and ideas about how they can develop their own sense of style.

Fashioneyesta has grown in the last two years and I am extremely proud of how far it has come. It has enabled me to meet so many wonderful inspirational people, charities and fashion professionals. On a regular basis I get people emailing me to tell me how it has helped them to develop their own sense of style and in turn their confidence. But, I suppose my biggest achievement that it has helped me accomplish is that this year I am due to be featured in Pick Me Up Magazine here in the UK and I have also been shortlisted for the Young Persons Achievers Award by Guide Dogs UK.

LL Tell me a bit about your background and interest in fashion. How did you get into the business?

Emily: Fashion was always something that I had a deep passion for, I grew up in a very fashion orientated household. My mother worked for a cosmetics company, my aunt worked on the stage in her younger years and my nan is an avid buyer of clothes, cosmetics and jewelry. My early memories are of my mum when I would see her curling her hair and adorning makeup for work. Fashion was something I grew up with. By the time I was 15 I was writing fashion articles for my school magazine. When I was 18 I had obtained a scholarship to study English Literature and my passion for writing intertwined with my flare for fashion and so I started my blog and the rest is history.

LL: How would you describe your personal sense of style?

Emily: I would describe it as both classic and adventurous, my style is essentially feminine but with different twists depending on my mood. One day I may choose to go down the 1950s route with a full circle skirt, but updated with a statement necklace and brightly colored sweater. On another day I may choose to opt for something a little more oriental, wearing a kimono and jeans. My style embraces classic cuts and styles like the 60s dress, but incorporates aspects of modernity into them.

LL What do you hope to achieve with the new project, Fashionability?

Emily: So much, I really want to use Fashionability as a place to spread positivity and ideas throughout the disability community in engaging fashion. I want to create a space that opens up a whole new world to people and is a place of inclusion. I want this space to be something that causes change in the fashion industry and convinces brands that disability is not something to be considered as external to fashion.

I want to use all of my knowledge, contacts and resources to make this a project that gives all people with varying disabilities the confidence to use fashion to create their own sense of style and with it there own identity. That is the crux of it I suppose, style gives people their own unique identity and that is what I want people to have and not to be characterized by what society believes them to be.

LL: What do you see as problematic for men and women who are blind, visually impaired, or otherwise disabled in fashion? What do you think are the most significant barriers, if any?

Emily: I think there are barriers that people with sight loss and other disabilities have to overcome. To begin with there is the fundamental fact that people with disabilities are not equally represented in the fashion advertising industry. This immediately creates problems for people with disabilities as it shows society that disability is not considered to be relevant to fashion and thus all these unfair stereotypes occur.

There are others surrounding accessibility and whether a shop or online store are made accessible to their visually impaired and disabled clientele. Many companies in the cosmetics industry do not incorporate braille onto their products which causes further inconvenience to visually impaired people when trying to access products. What’s more I also thing that in general companies need to provide better disability awareness training and need to provide further resources such as braille, audio and large print catalogues to their visually impaired customers to make it easier for visually impaired people to access fashion.

LL: What are the ongoing plans for Fashionability? How do you hope to reach an audience?

Emily: Fashionability is currently being planned and organized by Laura Legendary and myself. We are currently working on content, schedules, ideas and ways of interacting with our audience. We hope to engage with our target audience by promoting what we do via social media sights such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs. What’s more, I hope to use all of my media contacts and charity contacts to spread the word about what we are doing. I want to cross link with disability charities such as Scope, as well as working with organization’s such as Models of Diversity to promote what we are doing.

What’s more, I hope to feature Fashionability on media publications and websites that I have or am currently partnered with. In particular I aim to showcase the channel on the Royal National institute for the Blinds Insight Radio. Which is a UK based radio station created by the Royal National Institute for the Blind for people with sight loss. It is the first channel in Europe to be dedicated to people with sight loss and covers a range of topics from lifestyle, technology, music and health.

LL: What else would you like my readers to know about you?

Emily: Aside from fashion and literature, what many people don’t know is that I am an avid astronomer and was the first visually impaired person to qualify with a GCSE (General Certification of Education) in Astronomy from the Greenwich Royal Observatory in the UK. I also do a lot of volunteer work for Guide Dogs UK and am very keen to help charities. I am also a journalist having written for the Guardian and Huffington Post and I am also an avid disability campaigner.

I am a real animal lover and an advocate of animal rights, I am against Animal Testing for cosmetics and regularly advocate this on my blog. I am a huge fan of companies such as Lush who promote the welfare of small charities and make wonderful fair trade, cruelty free beauty products. I am a self acclaimed spend thrift and I enjoy treating myself after lots of hard work.

My thesis on life as a Classical Liberalist is to allow people to experiment with their life and unless they are hurting anyone else, to allow them to make their own choices free from control. I am a strong believer in the power of autonomy and free will and one of my pet peeves is when people try to convince others to their way of thinking. One thing I will never do on my blog is to try and persuade people to my way of thinking about style. I give them advice on different looks and how to recreate their own. But, I love creativity and that is something that fashioneyesta.com thrives on.

I hope to finish my degree in English Literature and move on to study for a Master’s degree in children’s literature. After that my goal is to write children’s books and to continue writing about fashion, style and cosmetics for people with disabilities. The one thing I want to do in life is to make others happy and to give people the chance to feel the same way I do. Many people forget that happiness is something they have to right to feel and I want to remind people of that.

Here are Emily’s social links:
Blog: fashioneyesta.com
Email: fashioneyesta@gmail.com
Twitter: @DavisonEm
Skype: fashioneyesta
Instagram: fashioneyesta2012
Audioboo: ?audioboo.fm/fashioneyestaInstagram: ?instagram.com/fashioneyesta2012
Facebook Page: ?www.facebook.com/Fashioneyesta
Facebook group: ?m.facebook.com/groups/5494521…eBayStore: ?myworld.ebay.co.uk/emilykd94?_…
Pinterest: ?pinterest.com/emilykd94/Tumblr: ?davisonem.tumblr.com
YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/user/fashioneyesta
Second YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/channel/UCX-t0TXzskGxFvNlzPT1DaA
Tumblur: davisonem.tumblr.com
Emily appears on RNIB’s Insight radio at 2.15 pm every Friday.

Please join us for the launch of our new project, the Fashionability channel! I’ll post the official press release in a few days.

If you would like to read Emily’s interview of me, you can find it here:

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