Things that crack me up #37
This is a the latest of a series at my blog, usually consisting of an amusing visual image about disability. Visual descriptions are meant to both assist those who cannot view the image well, and encourage discussion when others see something different.
Visual description: A one-pane comic, drawn very simply. A stick figure stands next to a sign posted on a wall that reads "Third Floor Office" with some Braille just below those words. At the top of the comic: "I learned to read Braille a while back, and I've noticed that the messages on signs don't always match the regular text." The stick figure touching the Braille signage has a thought balloon translating what she reads: "S-I-G-H-T-E-D P-E-O-P-L-E S-U-C-K ... Hey!"
Comic source
h/t to Andrea at Andrea's Buzzing About
Cross-posted at Alas, A Blog
5 comments:
Oh, xkcd, how I love you.
I realized that the Braille room numbers in my dorm didn't match the painted ones. I knew that the backwards L meant a number, but three rooms in a row had the same three letter-number-dot-things after. I figured it was a Braille vs sighted thing. Now I wonder.
Also, you used 'she' for the stick figure, and that makes me happy-thinky.
You didn't mention the roll-over text! Which is as follows:
"The only big difference I've seen is in colors. Where the regular text reads 'press red button', the braille reads 'press two-inch button'."
Anyways, I find your descriptions of the pictures in this series interesting to compare to the image, and in some cases your description is an asset to understanding the image despite that I can see it fine.
Cassie: Referring to general neutral images or situations as "she" or "feminine" makes me happy too.
Marie: Thanks for the roll-over text. I am still adjusting to my new computer -- I switched from a PC to a Mac -- and I'm happy to avoid Vista and revert back to Apple, which I enjoyed 15 years ago. But I haven't figured everything out yet in order to post without more effort than I'm used to. I appreciate the contribution.
XKCD is awesome. There are several comics in the archive there that i am sure many, many people on the autistic spectrum would very strongly identify with. In fact, i wouldn't be surprised if Randall is on the spectrum himself...
(Small quibble - on XKCD, a "plain" stick figure is usually meant to be male, as he has a few variations with different hair and/or hats (altho never any facial features), which *seem* to be gendered characters, and the bald one *seems* to be male (altho ze could be a butch lesbian, but usually ze seems to represent the viewpoint of Randall himself). I agree with you that stick figures are essentially gender-neutral, tho - which usually makes toilet doors fairly surreal to me...)
Roll-over texts don't seem to work for me a lot of the time (using Firefox). They always seem to be cut off after the first few words...
Shiva: Thanks for the info on XKCD's stick figure stylings. I know I've enjoyed some of his work before and I'm hoping to cull through the archives over there for other Things That Crack Me Up sometime soon.
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