Word Cloud: Episode 6

Clair Teets

Hi, I’m Claire Teets.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

And I’m Jayasree Sunkireddy

Clair Teets

And we’re your host of word cloud, the official podcast for the English Department at the Ohio State University.

Clair Teets

It’s been about 8 months since the pandemic started, and Needless to say it’s been a very interesting Lee Chaotic semester.

Clair Teets

In order to adapt to the pandemic and remain socially distant.

Clair Teets

We’re recording today’s episode of Word Cloud through Zoom.

Clair Teets

In today’s episode will be discussing the relationship between horror and disability studies with our guest. Andrew Sydlik.  We will be learning more about Andrew’s new podcast, Freaks and Psychos, the Disability and Horror podcast. Thanks for joining.

Clair Teets

So if we could start off with a little bit about your work as a graduate student, you graduated from the Department of English with a PhD in 2020. So I wonder if we might be on talking about that.

Clair Teets

About that

Andrew Sydlik

Sure, and thank you again for having me on.

Andrew Sydlik

I came to Osu’s dual MA pH D program in fall 2012 with the intent to focus on disability studies in 19th century American literature.

Andrew Sydlik

Being legally blind, but not knowing much about disability, I had this ingrained negative attitude about it since I was young.

Andrew Sydlik

Then I found out about disability rights and disability studies an I wanted to study how we as a society developed certain negative attitudes and practices.

Andrew Sydlik

That disadvantage, disabled people and how those are reflected in literature.

Andrew Sydlik

I’ve presented my research at numerous conferences around the country in England and in France, including a few times on campus at the wonderful Multiple Perspectives Conference held every spring, which.

Andrew Sydlik

I encourage everyone to check out next year because it’s free for OSU students, staff and faculty. I also won a National Federation of the Blind Scholarship in 2017 and published a few articles on disability.

Clair Teets

Uh, that sounds very interesting and especially hearing that you presented this in other countries as well.

Clair Teets

It sounds like very important work.

Clair Teets

So.

Clair Teets

Could you tell us a little bit more about disability studies?

Clair Teets

And for those who are unfamiliar with it, it might be helpful to kind of have a better grasp of what that really means.

Andrew Sydlik

Absolutely disability studies is an interdisciplinary field that analyzes the cultural, social, and political aspects of disability and seeks to understand it as a form of difference rather than as a defect.

Andrew Sydlik

As a product of social forces rather than as an inherent quality.

Andrew Sydlik

As a way of experiencing the world rather than as a lesser way of being.

Andrew Sydlik

Disability studies focuses on patterns of oppression that affect people with disabilities.

Andrew Sydlik

Lack of Accessibility to the built environment, disproportionate rates of unemployment and underemployment, lack of access to print and digital media police violence against disabled people.

Andrew Sydlik

Especially those with mental disabilities, lack of agency and important life activities and prejudicial attitudes embedded in literature, film and television, etc.

Andrew Sydlik

And it is these oppressions that are often a greater harm to people with disabilities than their impairments, to sum up disability studies, it argues that the problem is not the disabled person, but the way that society treats that person.

Andrew Sydlik

And that might seem like a simple point, but I think it’s extremely profound and powerful.

Andrew Sydlik

It took me 8 long years to grasp it, but I think it holds immense power.

Andrew Sydlik

Or for anyone doubting the practical value of academic research or identity politics, whatever other problems they might have, it’s truly a life changing perspective.

Andrew Sydlik

It may not always seem like our work is changing the world, but it certainly can.

Andrew Sydlik

Change things such as our minds and hearts for me personally, as I said, I used to have a very low self image because of being visually impaired.

Andrew Sydlik

Thinking that no matter what I did, what other accomplishments I achieved, I would always be inferior to those with better sight.

Andrew Sydlik

I saw it as a weakness that would always hold me back.

Andrew Sydlik

That was internalized, ableism.

Andrew Sydlik

Now I know better.

Andrew Sydlik

I know that I don’t have to hate myself because I have a disability and my efforts from here on out will be to show others that they don’t have to feel that way either.

Clair Teets

Wanted to comment on.

Clair Teets

I think you had said something about that disabilities being a difference as opposed to a defect, and I thought that was really powerful because especially looking at how you talked about police violence, it’s very important topic this year to note that disabilities.

Clair Teets

Aren’t inherently a defect, and I thought that was a very powerful statement in regards to that.

Andrew Sydlik

Yeah, absolutely, and I think that’s one of the things that disability studies.

Andrew Sydlik

Tries to get people to recognize is that the things that the ways of being that are thought of that way, thought of as being in inferior have to do with these artificial standards that we have set up. They have to do with not really understanding what people’s life.

Andrew Sydlik

Experiences are we see these negative things that we make assumptions about and we don’t fully understand the context for them.

Andrew Sydlik

So I think disability studies is about.

Andrew Sydlik

Providing that context so that people have a different perspective.

Clair Teets

Yeah, and I think especially looking at how people in society view disabilities, because I think there’s often that assumption that.

Clair Teets

They’re they’re visible, and I think disability studies is interesting in the way it examines the different ways disabilities might present themselves and kind of gives a deeper understanding into that and how we understand it.

Andrew Sydlik

Yes, and I mean I think it it.

Andrew Sydlik

You know it touches on so many different forms of oppression because.

Andrew Sydlik

Just ways of being that are that are different and they’re not understood. You don’t always know exactly what the person’s experiences, and sometimes it’s not necessarily an intentional ableism because you don’t recognize the person has a disability, but you’re judging them based on things that you are perceiving.

Andrew Sydlik

An and not understanding that that’s a part of the way the person is.

Andrew Sydlik

It’s not something they’re doing to be be a thread or or or be, you know, be an annoyance, or in some way confrontational.

Andrew Sydlik

It’s just the person behaves or thinks.

Andrew Sydlik

Differently than you.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

When you talked about it took you finding disability studies to like get a better grasp of how it’s not a defect, but more of a difference?

Jayasree Sunkireddy

Do you think it should be made more accessible to kids at a younger age so that they just have more time to like have more positive representation of themselves?

Andrew Sydlik

Absolutely.

 

Yes.

Andrew Sydlik

I mean one of the things that I would love to see I mean why I’m doing this podcast that’s to reach a broader audience.

Andrew Sydlik

I would love to see disability studies taught in the high schools or even younger than that.

Andrew Sydlik

An I I have sort of proposed this idea.

Andrew Sydlik

I haven’t gotten any takers for it yet, but you know trying to get disability studies ideas beyond the Academy I think is I think it’s one of the things that.

Andrew Sydlik

Disability studies scholars should really start thinking more about.

Clair Teets

Tell us about your new podcast, freaks and Psychos.

Clair Teets

We’re interested to hear about that in your work.

Andrew Sydlik

Yeah, so it’s called freaks and psychos the disability and horror podcasts, and I use the word the because.

Andrew Sydlik

It is as far as I can tell, the only podcast dedicated solely to examining disability in the horror genre I’m the primary host, an each episode I bring on guests to talk about horror films, books or topics in the genre related to disability.

Andrew Sydlik

My aim as I said, is to bring my knowledge of disability studies and disability rights to the average horror fan, raise awareness and start conversations that I just don’t see happening too often and the name reference.

Andrew Sydlik

This is two of the most iconic films in horror cinema, freaks and Psychos, representing both physical and mental disabilities.

Clair Teets

I like that you labeled it as the horror and Disabilities Podcast, ’cause I think it’s very interesting that this is the first type of media we have.

Clair Teets

Kind of talking about this topic especially.

Clair Teets

Since it’s so relevant to your work and the work you’re doing, it makes it very personal.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

Yeah, just horror as a literature genre is very surprising that nobody is ever talked about like horror, along with disability studies.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

’cause I feel like most horror movies build on disabilities, physical or mental, to come up with a plotline like Nightmare on Elm Street, like a combination of physical and.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

Mental disability and most movies just kind of build off on disability.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

So it’s very surprising that nobody has ever done this before.

Clair Teets

Yeah, I was gonna say I was just watching hereditary the other week on Halloween and I was just thinking about it today ’cause I was trying to think of my own experience and what I’ve personally seen in horror films and I thought back to hereditary and there’s mentions of like.

Andrew Sydlik

Yeah, good one.

Clair Teets

Depression and schizophrenia and.

Clair Teets

Yeah.

Clair Teets

The majority of the film is really built off of this.

Clair Teets

These disabilities and you know, it’s I think it’s so implicit in our minds that we don’t think about it being an actual topic to talk about.

Andrew Sydlik

Yeah, for sure.

Andrew Sydlik

I mean, that’s that’s what I’m trying to do here is to get people to realize what’s been there all along an it’s not just a small part.

Andrew Sydlik

I mean, it’s.

Andrew Sydlik

It you be harder pressed to find a horror movie that doesn’t touch on disability in some way, then trying to find one that does because I mean newer, older, you know it’s it’s really been there from the start and that’s one of the things I’ve I’ve kind of highlighted.

Andrew Sydlik

In my first episode I you know it’s it’s really an hour long exploration of the history of this relationship.

Andrew Sydlik

How to think about disability in horror.

Andrew Sydlik

You know it goes back to the earliest Gothic fiction.

Andrew Sydlik

If you consider that sort of a pre court precursor to modern horror got Frankenstein the stories of Edgar Allan Poe.

Andrew Sydlik

And going on to the earliest horror films such as Phantom of the Opera Hunchback of Notre Dame Freak.

Andrew Sydlik

So it’s it’s always been there.

Clair Teets

Yeah, it is now that you’re mentioning like how far it dates back it, you know really starts to click in your mind and it’s.

Clair Teets

Very interesting to see how much coverage in time this study between horror and disabilities really has, because it’s, you know, not something people would normally talk about, probably, but it’s so.

Clair Teets

So relevant throughout history.

Andrew Sydlik

So the other thing that I wanted to address with this podcast is the fact that people who focus on disability issues, disability studies, scholars, disability rights activists have typically been pretty negative and dismissive about horror.

Andrew Sydlik

They see the genre as primarily.

Andrew Sydlik

Reinforcing stereotypes of disability as being repulsive or frightening.

Andrew Sydlik

And so I really wanted to kind of bring a different perspective on that and show the ways in which many of these individual examples, even though a lot of them are disabled, villains or victims rather than protagonists.

Andrew Sydlik

They they can also.

Andrew Sydlik

Have these deeper and more nuanced and interesting ways of thinking about and touching on disabil.

Andrew Sydlik

30 I think really have not been acknowledged, and there has been some work done that’s promising on my second episode I talk about Todd Browning’s freaks with Angela M Smith, who wrote a book called Hideous Progeny, which.

Andrew Sydlik

Is about disability in the classic horror cinema of the 1930s and 40s, talking about the way that eugenics figures into it. But she makes the kind of more nuanced argument about the tensions.

Andrew Sydlik

Yes.

Andrew Sydlik

Between the repulsion and fascination with disability and the the repulsion and fascination with eugenics, that that people had at the time.

Andrew Sydlik

So in in one way, it’s kind of those films were sort of influenced by the eugenic ideas of the time.

Andrew Sydlik

As disability is this frightening thing that we need to get rid of but also challenging some of those eugenic ideas by showing.

Andrew Sydlik

The monster is being unfairly.

Andrew Sydlik

Persecuted and that is in fact what leads them to lash out in anger rather than them being necessarily inherently bad.

Clair Teets

Add, yeah, I think it’s it’s interesting that you’re taking a different perspective.

Clair Teets

’cause you know, like you said often.

Clair Teets

Is a certain connotation from the words repulsive and frightening as they are associated with horror films and these monsters.

Clair Teets

So I think it’s interesting to kind of examine it from a different perspective and understand why we have those associations.

Clair Teets

And even like outside of horror, why are the words we’re going to such have such negative connotations?

Andrew Sydlik

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

Andrew Sydlik

And I mean the other interesting point here about disability and horror is that you know many of the movies that have come out recently have been very successful, split, don’t breathe and lights out are three examples.

Andrew Sydlik

Of movies that that have disability as a central aspect of the film, and they earned over $100,000,000 of budgets of under 10 million, so there’s definitely an appetite for films that explore disability. Whether those portrayals are positive or negative.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

Do you think given this into the relationship between disability and horror, disability studies could have an impact on the horror genre to make it more inclusive and less derogatory in some situations?

 

OK.

Andrew Sydlik

I think so.

Andrew Sydlik

I mean, one of the other things I was I wanted to bring up is, you know it is getting more attention.

Andrew Sydlik

So Kristen lopaz.

Andrew Sydlik

Just recently published some articles on disability and Horror in Indiewire, which is, you know, huge cinema and television.

Andrew Sydlik

In a magazine so and she actually cites disability studies scholars in some of those articles, and one of them was about another newer horror film called Hush, which is about a deaf woman who is menaced by.

Andrew Sydlik

Masked killer

Andrew Sydlik

And one of the things that it includes and includes interviews with the director Mike Flanagan and they talk about how one of the things he regrets.

Andrew Sydlik

He tried to make the betrayal of deafness.

Andrew Sydlik

As you know, accurate and an as non stigmatising as possible, but the role was played by a hearing actress.

Andrew Sydlik

So one of the things he regrets is not casting a deaf actress, specially since there are quite a few out there now and.

Andrew Sydlik

That’s one of the interesting things that we’re seeing now more commonly than we have before is greater prominence of disabled actors in not just not just small roles but but leading roles.

Andrew Sydlik

You had Millicent Simmons in a quiet place.

Andrew Sydlik

An an there’s an upcoming movie that will be released on Hulu later this month.

Andrew Sydlik

It’s called run.

Andrew Sydlik

That has a an actress who uses a wheelchair named Keira Allen, so we’re seeing a lot more of that kind of thing and I think that if disability studies was more in conversation with people in the film industry, we definitely see some different perspectives.

Clair Teets

Yeah, I’ve really enjoyed seeing more representation in term.

Clair Teets

Of actors you know that, like in a disabled actor actually playing disabled character, because I think that is really important for representation and you know starting these conversations like we’re having today.

Andrew Sydlik

Right, right and I you know.

Andrew Sydlik

I even interview an actress, Christina Arnst, who is legally blind on the third episode, which I just released.

Andrew Sydlik

Where we we talk about don’t breathe, which is about some thieves who break into the House of a blind man.

Andrew Sydlik

An end up fighting for their lives when they find out that this guy has a dark secret that he’s willing to do anything to protect, and one of the things we talk about is the fact that.

Andrew Sydlik

The blind man, who’s not even given a name in the film, is portrayed by a sighted actor, Stephen Lang, who is a great actor and and gives a great performance in the film.

Andrew Sydlik

But there’s no sense of.

Andrew Sydlik

Any any effort having been made to to audit even audition?

Andrew Sydlik

A sighted, uh?

Andrew Sydlik

A blind actor for the role.

Andrew Sydlik

Even though Stephen Lang has talked about in interviews that he’s aware that there’s blind actors out there, but you know that.

Andrew Sydlik

Being an actor and being able to.

Andrew Sydlik

To imagine other peoples experiences as part of his job, so blindness is no different than than that.

Andrew Sydlik

And I I agree with that.

Andrew Sydlik

Actually, this is one of the issues that can be a little controversial.

Andrew Sydlik

I don’t think that.

Andrew Sydlik

That disabled actors always have to play the roles of disabled characters.

Andrew Sydlik

What I think needs to happen.

Andrew Sydlik

It’s just a greater inclusion of disabled actors, period.

Andrew Sydlik

Whether it’s for disabled character or not, you know it’s it’s not necessarily for me an issue of authenticity and put the portrayal.

Andrew Sydlik

It’s more about, you know, disabled actors getting work and earning money, yeah?

Clair Teets

Very true, yeah.

Clair Teets

One question I did have is is there like a certain horror film that you just like specifically really enjoyed analyzing and looking into?

Andrew Sydlik

I think the conversation I had with Angela Smith about Freaks was very fascinating, because that’s been such a controversial film.

Andrew Sydlik

And in that conversation we just realized that how unique it is, despite the fact that it was released.

Andrew Sydlik

Almost 100 years ago, you know, in 1932, and that’s one of the few films with multiple actors with disabilities in it and also disabilities that are not just minor or barely noticeable. Some of them are quite quite significant and.

Andrew Sydlik

And a parent and you just don’t.

Andrew Sydlik

You don’t see that.

Andrew Sydlik

Nowadays, so I think I think freaks is is probably one of the most interesting films from a disability perspective that you could you could look at.

Clair Teets

Especially with how old that film is.

Clair Teets

You know, it’s often very interesting to look back.

Andrew Sydlik

Yeah.

Clair Teets

Here in history at these types of topics and how they’ve changed and contemporary film.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

People always make progress.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

Seem like it’s linear, but sometimes like it is most definitely not.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

It’s more like a mosaic like there’s always like outliers that exceed your expectations.

Andrew Sydlik

Yep, absolutely.

Clair Teets

Especially with this year in 2020, we can very obviously see that life is not linear at this point.

Andrew Sydlik

No, no, I in fact I mean being a student of.

Andrew Sydlik

You know 19 Cent.

Andrew Sydlik

The 19th century.

Andrew Sydlik

I sometimes I feel like a lot of our ideas, not just about disability, but in general.

Andrew Sydlik

You know, a lot of our ideas are still just a variation of what people were saying in the 19th century, and you know, then sometimes it gets challenged in society.

Andrew Sydlik

It’s a pendulum.

Andrew Sydlik

It’s it’s not.

Andrew Sydlik

Linear.

Andrew Sydlik

It’s a pendulum, I feel like.

Clair Teets

It’s a really good analogy.

Clair Teets

Obviously we’re recording a podcast right now, so I kind of wanted to look into why you personally chose a podcast as your medium and.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

Yes.

Clair Teets

And why was it best suited to the work that you are doing?

Clair Teets

And this relationship between disabilities and horror films?

Andrew Sydlik

So.

Andrew Sydlik

Well, the the reason I wanted to do a podcast is just as I said before to reach a broader popular audience.

Andrew Sydlik

I do plan to continue.

Andrew Sydlik

Scholarly writing as an independent scholar.

Andrew Sydlik

Since I’m not going on into academic teaching, but I wanted to reach people who might not have exposure to disability studies otherwise and there.

Andrew Sydlik

Horror podcasts are very popular.

Andrew Sydlik

There are some shows that have very large audiences and an active listenership.

Andrew Sydlik

So it’s also kind of.

Andrew Sydlik

A collaborative thing where the hosts and the listeners are always interacting so.

Andrew Sydlik

I want that to be part of this too, because I think that too often what happens is when when people talk about these issues, you know whether it’s in an academic article or even in a blog post.

Andrew Sydlik

There’s not necessarily that back and forth an I think that’s one of the things that I’m kind of excited to see with this show.

Andrew Sydlik

Just in a little over a month with three episodes, I already have 240 downloads across 11 different countries, so there’s definitely an audience for this. And you know, I I started to get this idea when I first began listening to horror podcasts.

Andrew Sydlik

And you know, kind of floated the idea out there and and to see if people would be interested in hearing about this kind of thing.

Andrew Sydlik

And people did did express interest so.

Andrew Sydlik

That’s really why I decided to do this rather than, you know, my.

Andrew Sydlik

My thing is always been writing.

Clair Teets

That’s excellent to hear that you have.

Clair Teets

You already have an audience forming, even though you have just started this.

Clair Teets

That’s especially in 11 different countries.

Clair Teets

I think you said that’s a that’s really cool to hear that it’s you know, reaching not just people in the United States, but.

Andrew Sydlik

Yeah.

Clair Teets

Elsewhere as well.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

So because it’s a podcast about disability also as well as horror, do you think there were any unexpected like problems with Accessibility?

Jayasree Sunkireddy

You weren’t anticipating that came up once you started making a podcast.

Andrew Sydlik

One of the things I didn’t realize before we even I even started the show is I I knew I wanted to try to get transcripts, but.

Andrew Sydlik

When I started talking to this person, she asked me if I had a style guide in mind or or a certain format and I didn’t even realize that was the thing like so I had to kind of research that and figure out how to do that.

Andrew Sydlik

Now I have that down.

Andrew Sydlik

I just have we have to access.

Clair Teets

Yeah, sounds like that’s something we will also be researching for.

Clair Teets

When we make a transcript for this.

Andrew Sydlik

When I was doing my research there, there was one podcast that they released transcripts in four different formats.

Andrew Sydlik

So you know that’s what I’m going to try to do is, well, I guess just to maximize Accessibility as much as possible.

Clair Teets

Sounds like there’s a lot to it actually, so that’ll be.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

That we haven’t thought of yet.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

Now we have to think about so.

Clair Teets

Yeah.

Andrew Sydlik

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think that’s always the case when you’re doing something like this, there’s there’s always going to be things that, oh, I never even thought that that was a thing.

Clair Teets

Yeah, one of the major themes we’ve been focusing on this semester in our work with the Digital Media Group is.

Clair Teets

Obviously Accessibility as we’re just talking about now and I I was kind of thinking of it and I realized that obviously the standard of Accessibility a lot of times in regards to a podcast might be like a transcript or obviously with videos we have, like closed captioning and that’s.

Clair Teets

Typically.

Clair Teets

Or relating to the end product of.

Clair Teets

Producing something, So what might we consider in regards to Accessibility throughout the entire process as opposed to just this end product?

Andrew Sydlik

There’s also promoting the show promote either individual episodes or just in general.

Andrew Sydlik

I always make sure to include captions or alt text for any images that I use.

Andrew Sydlik

Supposedly images make people pay more attention to your posts, so I do try to have images and just have.

Andrew Sydlik

You can do that easily on Facebook and Twitter to Add all text to those.

Andrew Sydlik

And when I make a blog post.

Andrew Sydlik

To to had to actually publish.

Andrew Sydlik

The episode I usually include an image of the poster for whatever movie is being discussed, so also including all text there which I do use word press and you can easily do that on there, so it kind of figures into each stage.

Andrew Sydlik

It makes it easier if you’re thinking about it from the beginning and not forgetting about it after you’ve recorded and put everything together.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

There’s been a lot of talk during the pandemic about how things are more accessible.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

Now.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

Do you think this is going to continue on after the pandemic for people who have a harder time getting access to things, wild things were considered.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

Quote unquote normal.

Andrew Sydlik

I hope so.

Andrew Sydlik

I mean, I think that we’re definitely going to have to reckon with a lot of changes to the way things are done an now.

Andrew Sydlik

I think that.

Andrew Sydlik

Even if some of the people who are are running things are not necessarily going to always be receptive to.

Andrew Sydlik

So these ideas, I think, now that people know more about how you know to do things remotely too.

Andrew Sydlik

To provide things in alternative formats, I think now that people are more aware of the possibility of that.

Andrew Sydlik

I think there’s going to be a lot more demand for it as well, so.

Andrew Sydlik

I’m hopeful for it, I’m not.

Andrew Sydlik

I’m not going to hold my breath.

Andrew Sydlik

I think that people are still going to need to be vigilant, and, you know, advocating for these things.

Andrew Sydlik

But I definitely see some promise because I think if anything else.

Andrew Sydlik

We have had to by necessity be more adaptable.

Andrew Sydlik

During the pandemic an you know I, I think that’s one of the Silver Linings in this whole horrible situa.

Andrew Sydlik

Nation.

Clair Teets

Yeah, I think that’s one of the reasons I was really excited to have these types of conversations today because I think it’s about keeping that momentum and you know, continuing to make strides towards Accessibility, especially as we continue to be so virtual and you know it might really shape.

Clair Teets

How things are addressed in coming years.

Andrew Sydlik

Yeah, absolutely.

Andrew Sydlik

And I I think I mean for me, one of the realizations of this is that.

Andrew Sydlik

There’s not a right or wrong way to be iaccessible other people might disagree with me about this, but it’s it’s not necessarily that being accessible means that you have to do this.

Andrew Sydlik

This and this, and that said.

Andrew Sydlik

And if you do that, everything is fine.

Andrew Sydlik

I think it’s more about just being aware and open to.

Andrew Sydlik

Other people’s needs, and you know, that’s kind of also just the the theme of the show as well. The the conversations that I want to have are not about trying to figure out.

Andrew Sydlik

What’s a good way of portraying disability?

Andrew Sydlik

What’s a bad way of portraying disability?

Andrew Sydlik

It’s more about having as many different kinds of stories about disabilities possible.

Andrew Sydlik

And so just I think, thinking about different ways to be accessible is more the key than trying to figure out, OK?

Andrew Sydlik

What?

Andrew Sydlik

What are the?

Andrew Sydlik

What are the things that checkmarks that I have to check off in order to to meet Accessibility standards just being open?

Clair Teets

Yeah, that’s a a really excellent point is that it’s not so black and white in terms of Accessibility and how like having a set definition.

Clair Teets

Of how we approach Accessibility but just being open and listening to experiences and really shaping our approach to that as we gain more perspective, we have talked quite a bit about your podcast, so if you could remind our listeners where we can find you and your podcast.

Clair Teets

And maybe preview the next couple of episodes or the future of your podcast.

Andrew Sydlik

You can find the show on most major podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.

Andrew Sydlik

And on the blog, which is freaks and psychos, podcast.com episodes are released every other Sunday. This shows Twitter is at freaks, psychos and our Facebook group is at facebook.com/groups/freaks and psychos so.

Andrew Sydlik

Hop onto either of those.

Andrew Sydlik

I’d be happy to talk with any anyone who’s interested in the show.

Andrew Sydlik

The next episode, which I already have recorded, will be a discussion with two other OSU alums Joshua Anderson and Matthew Connolly, and it will be a 2 hour epic conversation about disability in slasher films.

Andrew Sydlik

And I have a lot of other ideas for episodes after that, I’d like to do one on the show’s namesake, psycho.

Andrew Sydlik

And also a newer horror film that I mentioned earlier called Hush.

Andrew Sydlik

I have someone on board for that and I’ve been contacted by people who want to do interesting things like talking about disability and horror video games, which is not something I know about, but.

Andrew Sydlik

Be happy to to kind of explore that with other people who are in the know, so there’s a lot of ideas coming up.

Andrew Sydlik

I think there’s virtually a never ending well of content for it.

Clair Teets

Today’s episode of Word Cloud was a presentation by the Digital Media Group.

Jayasree Sunkireddy

The producers of this podcast are Clara tied, Gerrish, recent Ready, and Luke Van Niel.

Clair Teets

We’d like to send a special thanks to our guest Andrew Sydlik and Professor Scott DeWitt professors got to it.

Clair Teets

And the Ohio State Department of English.

Clair Teets

Thanks for tuning in and we’ll see you on our next episode of Word Cloud.