felisdraconis

[felisdraconis]

If we wanted to engage in nuance (lol, lmao) on the "are audiobooks reading" debate, we really do need to bring literacy, and especially blind literacy, into the conversation.

Because, yes, listening to a story and reading a story use mostly the same parts of the brain. Yes, listening to the audiobook counts as "having read" a book. Yes, oral storytelling has a long, glorious tradition and many cultures maintained their histories through oral history or oral + art history, having never developed a true written language, and their oral stories and histories are just as valid and rich as written literature.

We still can't call listening in the absence of reading "literacy."

The term literacy needs to stay restricted to the written word, to the ability to access and engage with written texts, because we need to be able to talk about illiteracy. We need to be able to identify when a society is failing to teach children to read, and if we start saying that listening to stories is literacy, we lose the ability to describe those systemic failures.

Blind folks have been knee-deep in this debate for a long time. Schools struggle to provide resources to teach students Braille and enforcing the teaching of Braille to low-vision and blind children is a constant uphill battle. A school tried to argue that one girl didn't need to learn Braille because she could read 96-point font. Go check what that is. The new prevalence of audiobooks and TTS is a huge threat to Braille literacy because it provides institutions with another excuse to not provide Braille education or Braille texts.

That matters. Braille-literate blind and low-vision people have a 90% employment rate. For those who don't know Braille, it's 30%. Braille literacy is linked to higher academic success in all fields.

Moving outside the world of Braille, literacy of any kind matters. Being able to read text has a massive impact on a person's ability to access information, education, and employment. Being able to talk about the inability to read text matters, because that's how we're able to hold systems accountable.

So, yes, audiobooks should count as reading. But, no, they should not count as literacy.

[felisdraconis]

Do you like practical effects and "wait that was a puppet" and fun forced perspective camera tricks?

Do you like hot butches whose superpower is explaining why capitalism sucks?

Do you like magical realism that uses metaphor to explore marginalized experiences?

Do you hate cops? Do you hate Elon Musk?

Did you love the superhero genre in the early 2010s but feel weird about that part of your life now that you have slightly better politics?

Are you tired of the MCU to the point of celebrating it being put on hold by the hollywood strikes?

Do you like strikes and unions and hate bosses and landlords?

Do you like that thing Elijah Wood does where he shows up in a niche roll to support what is clearly a passion project?

Do you want more clearly-neurodivergent black women in media?

Did you really like Sorry To Bother You?

Then watch I'm A Virgo. Get all your friends to watch it, especially the one that might be considering a career path Changing The System From The Inside.

[felisdraconis]

anyway I was having this very vivid and unaccountably funny dream about what I suppose you would call a heist crew, except their MO was less about stealing and more about breaking into rich shitheads' houses to throw absolute ragers and trash the place and then disappear into the night. it was all very sleek and admittedly even sexy but the main thing I remember about this dream is that the leader of the group, who's exactly the kind of smooth young hotshot you think he is, was always in the process of getting spectacularly dumped at these parties. always a different woman. months of planning and stress and then when he should be in his element kicking back, accepting congratulations on all sides, man of the hour, he's getting dumped. again. and his whole crew is watching with a very low amount of sympathy because they love the guy but ooooh they know better than anyone that he deserves this. what the fuck was my subconscious cooking with this.

[felisdraconis]

[felisdraconis]

[felisdraconis]

seeing that post that’s been going around about how everyone should brush up on their food safety knowledge even if you think you know what you’re doing, especially if you have chronic tummy troubles. And then seeing people say they store leftovers in their oven. hey I think that post was for you

[felisdraconis]

life actually gets better when you leave the house consistently btw like im serious

[felisdraconis]

TIL The chances of us eating even one spider in our sleep throughout our lifetime is close to 0%

via reddit.com

[felisdraconis]

[felisdraconis]

v.2

[felisdraconis]

They don’t actually give you an encyclopedic knowledge of something when you get in a degree in it. They give you the skill to learn more about it on your own.

[felisdraconis]

OP: When you realize you're starting to act like your parents (cr戴阿蒙)

[felisdraconis]

“afab chests aren’t inherently sexu—” please say breasts please just say breasts please please please stop throwing the term “afab” around say tatas say titties say big bahoona bazingoroos if you must

[felisdraconis]

[felisdraconis]

It's really problematic for you to post about dragon fucking. Everyone knows that humans can't consent and that dragons should be with their natural mate, the humble Ford F150 :/

man the last bit of this takes me by surprise every single time i read it. you're right though.

[felisdraconis]