What is a sensitivity reading? And why did we commission one?
In 2023, we hired the incredible team at The Impact Company to conduct a sensitivity reading of three of our card games (then our entire portfolio).
A sensitivity reading brings in experts to review your work for unintentional bias, misrepresentation, and the propagation of harmful stereotypes. As a small publishing house, our budget is tight, but it is very important that to pay for this work.
We specifically asked for feedback on how we were visually representing people outside the lived experience of myself and the artists. The Impact Company delivered thoughtful, clear, and actionable advice that helped us improve the work with better representation.
Based on their feedback, Rory made updates to his bestselling deck of playing cards for a second edition, which is now live on Kickstarter through 21 June 2025!
Here's what's new in the second edition:
🦻 A Jack now wears a hearing aid (and nothing else!):
♿ And a drag queen who uses a wheelchair has joined the Diamonds suit:
These changes bring the number of characters with visible disabilities to three. It's a small step, but still an important opportunity to better represent intersectional identities in nude and drag communities.
Working with The Impact Company was fantastic, and I highly recommend them to any creative team looking to make their work more inclusive, thoughtful, and representative of the communities they serve.