Leaders

This page is for folks who want to learn how to lead their own DISCO design jam. Workshop leaders act as a “game master” of sorts, so here you’ll get access to all the behind-the-scenes materials required to run a jam, including:

Introduction Manual

This manual is designed to inform workshop leaders on what the DISCO is, provide some background knowledge on speculative fiction and inclusive design (as well as further suggested readings), and explain how to facilitate a DISCO jam with the help of this toolkit. It also provided a full introduction to toolkit materials.

A group of people sit around a table working on the D.I.S.C.O. workshop, with one person using a wheelchair actively writing on pink paper. Another person in a red jacket and mask stands nearby, observing the working group. The room is filled with colorful chairs, a large screen displaying project instructions, and various supplies and equipment on shelves in the background.

Workshop Slides

We built this slide deck as a suggested way to both kick off and close out a DISCO design jam. It is meant to be a brief introduction to key concepts that will help participants who are new to inclusive design and guide design reflections at the end to ensure useful takeaways.

A group of people, two of them using wheelchairs, are gathered around tables in a collaborative workspace. They are wearing face masks and appear engaged in discussion or working on laptops. The room has green walls, whiteboards, and a glass wall showing a modern makerspace with 3D printers and various colorful models on display.

Ship Deck

Ship Blueprint Deck

This deck has various ship prompts that will randomize the purpose of your ship upon drawing from it. The ship’s purpose will guide crew roles you hire from the crew persona deck, as well as what kind of spaces participants will be designing to fit said crew.

A vibrant and brightly colored ship in the shape of a large whale. A large blue window looks into the front of the ship. The fins and tail of the ship are decorated with hand drawn patterns and bright shades of gold and red.

General Ship Elements

This document, marked “FOR ALL SHIPS” and living within the Ship Blueprint folder, contains a list of elements/spaces that are required in every ship, regardless of its purpose. You will be asked to select a few ship-specific spaces from your Ship Type card to design, as well as a few general spaces from this list. (The exact number depends on your workshop group size: your DISCO leader will tell you)

Optional Level Up: Customizing Ship

If you want a boost in the level of specificity, this document helps you add in some worldbuilding elements/customize your ship. Your chosen ship blueprint will cue your customization options.

Crew Persona Deck

This deck is full of different crew member persona cards ranging from Wyverns to Space Otters to Grunks. Drawing a few cards from this deck to “hire” them to your Ship crew will randomize the blend of various personalities, preferences, and access needs aboard. This blend of needs and preferences will help guide the design considerations for spaces that the Ship Decks provide for you.

Surussation, a Grunk, stares wide-eyed at the viewer holding a paper map. Their body is a neon red circle with tan dots. Two eye stalks poke out the top of their body to hold up their eyes, and two flat, feet-like flippers extend from the bottom of their body. They also have some small arms extending around the base of their body.

Access Need Pamphlets

There are four access needs pamphlets in the toolkit (sensory, communication, body/mobility, brain/mind), to help workshop leaders who are new to the topic learn about accessibility.

Each category has some basic information around relevant conditions, then some DISCO-Do’s (accessibility practices that will help make an environment more inclusive to folks with a given condition) and DISCO-Don'ts (common barriers that exist on Earth that we don’t repeat in our spaceships). Each section ends with a couple social media accounts, projects, or books that center perspectives of disability community members that share one or more of the conditions in that section.

Where information is relevant to a crew member in the crew persona deck, there may be a persona highlight added with information about a species, particularly relevant adaptive designs that would fit their bodies, etc. Leaders can choose to share these highlights with participants when they need a hint or suggestion to get them rolling in the right direction.

A tabletop display shows a blue game board with roles including Hospitality Services Manager, Entertainer, Passengers, Cruise Director, and Chef, along with four labeled card decks below it. Each deck represents a category of access needs: Brain/Mind, Sensory, Communication, and Mobility & Body Structure. Each deck has a corresponding icon and is clipped with a black paperclip.

Download print PDF of access need pamphlets below: