GimpGirl Community:

Women With Disabilities Rethinking, Redefining, and Reclaiming

Community

GimpGirl: A Tech Timeline

• Started in 1998 on SerenityMOO, a text-based virtual world

• Had four email lists to start, serving niche subcommunities within the women with disabilities community

• Transitioned to LiveJournal in 2003

• Opened on Second Life, IRC, Facebook and Twitter in 2008

GimpGirl: Our WebsiteMoodle

GimpGirl: Facebook

GimpGirl: Twitter

GimpGirl: Flickr

Second Life

Second Life• Provides opportunity to network with other disability, women and nonprofit groups

• Allows easier collaboration within our community

• We have weekly support group meetings for women with disabilities only

• We have events that are open to the general public for fundraising and discussion or presentation of issues relevant to women with disabilities

• Needed adaptations for further accessibility

Interdependent Models of Access to Virtual Worlds

• Accommodation for individuals as requested

• Architectural access to community space● Look accessible in virtual spaces

• Universal Design for use of community tools ● Put forethought into basic accessibility on website, virtual space, and any online tools or physical space used

Conclusion• We come together to share our lives, in a safe space that centers more on the strengths we have as a collective

• Radically inclusive of all disabilities and a broad definition of "woman"

• Over the years it has developed into a growing and evolving collective dedicated to peer counseling and advocacy with a DIY, sexy, geeky spirit

• Over 1500 members, mostly English-speaking and in a range of different countries

GimpGirl Staff

• Katherine Mancuso / Muse Carmona

• Jennifer Cole / JennyLin Arashi

• Lucy MacDonald / Ofelia Pevensey

• Alejandra Ospina / Aleja Asturias

GimpGirl Board

• Liz Henry

• Len Burns

• Jason Nolan

• Ricky Buchanan

08/27/09