Getting the gears back in motion
September was a pretty terrible month, but it is just about over, and I'm getting the gears back in motion! I have no interest in ever getting COVID again, but I believe it is fully behind me now and I'm moving forward.
Ottawa 🇨🇦 is rescheduled to the second weekend in November. Everything is just about the same - appointment times, participants (save one who hasn't responded yet), and even the same flights up and back that I had previously. It cost about $50 more to rebook than I had received in credit, but that's fine - I learned in 2020 that sometimes COVID makes you spend money you didn't want to.
The one major difference is that I'm now going to be staying at a hotel in the Golden Triangle neighborhood, which is very walkable, instead of at an Airbnb that was near absolutely nothing, not even the museum I'll be working with. I'll be much closer to the main attractions for my day of touristing, and most importantly, there is vegetarian poutine within a two-minute walk! (Look, I have priorities.)
Plans for Berlin 🇩🇪 are making slow progress, but I think it's about to pick up. My meeting with museum staff, and my time slot for the focus group, are both on the calendar. I also have an old friend from Gallaudet who lives near there now, and she's planning to join my focus group and will also share the call for participants with her friends. Now that the call is officially out, I've posted the Berlin Participant Information Sheet if you'd like to look that over. (You'll note that I haven't actually locked down what the museum is offering people, besides the €10 I'm giving them, but there's time.)
Today, I emailed one of the deaf co-authors of an article about deaf accessibility in a museum in Amsterdam 🇳🇱 - I'm hoping to find out if there will be a free tour in Dutch Sign Language (NGT) while I'm there. If not, I will see about paying for one myself. They're quite expensive, the Van Gogh Museum charges €80 for a private NGT tour, but it's part of my research and I'll pay for it.
No plans yet for London 🇬🇧 but it's not going to be a very significant stop. See a few museums, freeze myself for a walk along the Thames.
Very minimal plans so far for Buenos Aires 🇦🇷 but that's okay. I have confirmation from the museum that we'll work together, and I have a friend who is putting me in touch with a Gallaudet alum who is from BA. I also have a friend from Japan who knows someone there, so that might be another route in. It'll get worked out.
I'm excited to get back to work! I have a meeting with my supervisors October 23rd, mostly because the PhD tracking system at the university told me it's been too long since our last meeting and we need to have another one. It'll be good to refresh and catch up before the Ottawa visit, though. Let's goooooo!
Sidebar time: Speaking of my supervisors, I am so proud to be working with Suzanne and Richard, and to be a University of Leicester Museum Studies student. They were co-authors on a recently released guidance document about building trans-inclusive culture in museums, and that project's team has been receiving a lot of pushback from very loud transphobic groups in the UK. They have responded admirably, and it's a true honor to work with them.
It feels good to write this newsletter and be back in the saddle. Thanks for reading!