Brief Project Description

A curated series comprised of narrative nonfiction and personal essays written by Blind people of color. Each contributed piece will bare witness to a particular perspective/theme on life at the intersection of race and disability. 

Although creatively written, Eyewitness Accounts will be true to the lived experiences of each contributor. Once the project is launched, each piece will range from 400-2,000 words. The series will serve as a collection of embodied evidence gathered directly from Blind folks of color on the scene of social struggle, pleasure, pain, parenthood, believability barriers, beauty standards, artistry, advocacy, Personal accomplishments,  crises/conflict, pay disparities, carceral systems, educational endeavors etc. Some accounts will reflect whimsy and wonder while others may convey harsh realities and harmful situations. With such an intentional approach, this series will offer vastly different vantage points that explore and affirm the experiences of diverse Blind people of color.

In addition to audio companions for each respective piece, graphic art sequences will also accompany each story as a means of creatively embedding multiple layers of access for individuals who have difficulty processing lengthy written material. In doing so, Eyewitness Accounts will also serve as both a written and graphic essay collection. Illustrations of Eyewitness Accounts will be created by a team of 2-4 graphic artists in collaboration with each Blind storyteller.  

According to the Centers for Disease Control:  

• Approximately 6 million Americans have vision loss and 1 million have blindness.
• More than 1.6 million Americans who are living with vision loss or blindness are younger than age 40.
• Over 350,000 people with vision loss or blindness are living in group quarters, such as nursing homes or prisons.
• There is a higher prevalence of vision loss among Hispanic/Latino and Black individuals than among White individuals.

The Purpose  

Eyewitness Accounts are made in defense of our credibility and in honor of the lives we both desire and deserve. They detect hidden truths and decipher coded messages of discrimination. They are joy personified, dreams realized, community prioritized, and self-authorized. Our stories deserve space to grow beyond binaries and margins. We write ourselves whole because we believe ourselves to be so much more than merely a footnote in someone else’s narrative. 

We write to testify against historical erasure. We write to preserve our present-day stories. We write to win a place for us in the future irrespective of the odds and opposition. There is no shortage of books and articles that feature and center white Blind people in general, and white Blind men in particular. In contrast, this series seeks to offer more color and nuance. The purpose of this project is thus to widen the scope of available stories on vision loss/Blindness as a means of creative expression, personal validation, peer support, and collective freedom dreaming.    

The Delivery 

Eyewitness Accounts will be made freely available online. They will be highly publicized to groups that focus on racial justice and disability justice issues. This type of collection is most powerful when in reach of those who seek to learn, grow, and build community.  

Project Details 

• Location: All contributions will be archived online and made freely available to anyone interested. 
• Timeline: June 2024 – June 2025 
• Contributors: The total number of contributors will vary based on participant availability and project funding. Ideally, the series will feature between 10 – 15 contributions. Contributors will be selected by the curatorial team on a rolling basis.  
• Compensation: Each contributor will be granted an honorarium between $500-$1,000 (based on available funding) for their time, truths, and talents.
• Graphic Artists: The curatorial team will strive to secure a small team of 2-4 graphic artists. Each artist will be compensated for their graphic illustrations based on a negotiated rate. 
• Audio Companions: SeededGround will ideally work with a singular audio engineer to edit and produce each audio companion. The engineer will also be compensated for their time based on a negotiated rate.
• Curatorial Team: Sufficient funding to compensate the curatorial team will be determined based on at least 160 hours of collective time devoted to this year-long project. 

About SeededGround 

Formed by Justice Shorter, SeededGround is an agency devoted to content creation that centers people with disabilities in general and people of color with disabilities in particular. We sow justice and harvest dreams through projects that are imaginative and intersectional. Projects are curated in consideration of community needs, creative capacities, and client requests. Our portfolio is comprised of projects that involve accessibility standards/practices, cultural work, advocacy campaigns, cross-movement organizing, multi-media productions, strategic/operational plans, research studies, generative gatherings, and archival efforts. Our work is lovingly wedded to worldbuilding disabled dreams into fruition.