ACCESSIBILITY LANDING PARTY

Association of creators of Life in the Dark inclusive media projects

https://www.youtube.com/@life_in_dar/videos

Region:

A direction in the scope of “Life in the Dark” inclusive project which tells about different venues for active and cultural leisure for people with disabilities in Moscow (and not only) which have created an effective environment and designed individual cases for people with different conditions, taking into account their peculiarities.

Using our personal example, we show how it is possible to live an active, full and fulfilling life despite one’s disability. By conducting barrier-free environment audits, we select the best solutions for creating an accessible environment. We create a series of video stories from which every person with disabilities can learn something important and valuable. Our videos inspire and motivate people with disabilities to be active, help them believe in themselves and their own strength.
We create a series of videos in which we tell about theatres, cinemas, museums, parks, shopping centres and transportation hubs that can be visited by anyone with disabilities. These are facilities that have created a truly effective accessible environment, designed and developed individual cases for people with different health conditions, taking into account their needs and peculiarities. Using our personal example, we show how it is possible to live an active, full and fulfilling life despite one’s disability. Every person with disabilities can learn something important and valuable from our stories. For example, blind people will learn about tactile tours, movies and performances with audio description, people in wheelchairs – about places with a completely barrier-free environment for independent movement without the help of others. Our videos inspire and motivate people with disabilities to be active, help them believe in themselves and their own strength. Thousands of people see these videos through our social media.
We have conducted audits of more than 20 venues of social, transport accessibility and public spaces: Moscow Kremlin Museums, 3 sites of the Tretyakov Gallery (Main historical building in Lavrushinsky Lane, New Tretyakovka on Krymsky Val, Viktor Vasnetsov House Museum), Gallery of European and American Art of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Jewish Museum and Tolerance Centre, Zaryadye Park, Torfyanka Park. Shopping centres and stores (Mega Teply Stan, Ikea Khimki, Leroy, Perekrestok, Zara), Vorobyovy Gory cable car, Skypark Moscow, Panorama 360, Radisson fleet, railway stations (Kursky, Kazansky), Vnukovo airport, urban surface and underground public transport, cafes, restaurants, cinemas, etc. Audits were also conducted in other Russian cities; findings were posted in social media of our project and videos were made.
about image
about image
about image
about image

IVAN YERKHOV

President of the Association of creators of Life in the Dark inclusive media projects. A blind blogger, motivator, and resilient person who looks at the world through his heart.

How do you come up with a cool arts and culture digital project idea? What needs to be done?

- In my case, it was simple enough. Being a host of “Life in the Dark” YouTube channel which covers the lives of people with disabilities, I know firsthand the prejudices, difficulties and obstacles we face every day. This includes the field of creativity, culture and art. The answer was on the surface – to what extent cultural leisure facilities care about the topic of inclusion and are they ready to be visited by people with disabilities? That’s how our Accessibility Landing Party theme was born; we visit different cultural and active leisure facilities and evaluate them according to various criteria of an accessible and barrier-free environment.

What was the most difficult part of the first phase of the project?

- The most difficult thing was to develop some kind of a unified format that would be understandable not only to people with disabilities, but also to regular people who prevail among the audience of our channel.

How do you benefit people?

- The benefit of our project is obvious. We inform, help in adaptation and socialization of people with disabilities through online content and cultural events, try to unite various communities in our country to attract attention of the audience to the existence of people with disabilities who need an accessible environment to live fully, and their rights and interests to be protected. In my opinion, the most important projects are those that are created not only for the sake of laughter and entertainment, but can tackle important and acute socially significant topics, solve existing problems, change people’s lives and leave an impact after implementation.