by Alexis Bell

Artist Statement

When I started this project, I originally planned on making my infographic hold more information. I planned to make it not only about how to address disabled people, but also how we use different words in the disability and chronically ill community. For example, I was going to explain the meanings of terms like “zebras” and “spoonies” and their significance to the community and why they are used. However, after looking at the length of the infographic, I decided to only settle on one idea that I could entirely flesh out. I would rather do one topic that is coherent, than two topics that do not make much sense. So, I chose to do something I thought that everyone should know, whether they are a part of the disability community or not, which is the question of “how to refer to disabled people?” This is a topic very close to my heart and one that needs more public attention. People that are a part of the disabled and chronically ill community are constantly talking about it. However, the topic has been virtually nonexistent outside of the disability sphere. I thought this could be used as a type of “beginner’s guide” to disability and how to refer to disabled people. This topic would also explain the word choices I used in my paper and would complement it nicely.        

            After I figured out what my topic was going to be, I started my work on Canva. Canva houses many great images and templates and is extremely helpful when designing an infographic. Finding a template was probably the most difficult part of designing. I had a lot of choices; however, nothing seemed to follow a natural flow for the information I was preparing. I spent a lot of time trying to put my work into different templates to see which fit best. After the fourth time, I finally found something that would work and I used it as my template. I kept the original colors as they are bright and eye-catching and switched them up a bit to work better with my information. I knew that I wanted my infographic to seem inviting and easy to read, so that anyone would be able to read and understand it. Keeping this in mind, I wrote as plainly and clearly as possible. I also tried to add detail when necessary so that the whole infographic flowed in a way that felt natural.

            When I started I knew that I also wanted to add pictures. I wanted it to grab people’s attention and pictures are often better at doing that than words. I also added pictures to try to make sure that the infographic stayed comprehensible while looking nice at the same time. The pictures I picked were all from the Canva website. To my surprise, they had a great selection of different disability clip art. I made sure to find pictures in complementary colors to my backgrounds. I wanted the infographic to look colorful and coherent, not messy.