Why Bother Making Things Accessible?

Jen

Note: Originally posted on https://jenrohrigdesign.com/

A lot of people will ask that question because for the most part they go through their lives without needing to think about how difficult things can be. Sometimes even when they do experience some difficulty they’ll think “that’s just the way the world is” without considering if it could be better. Sometimes the only reason why things are at least somewhat accessible is because it’s the law.

A blot post from AssistiveWare asks Why isn’t the world accessible in the first place? for Global Accessibility Awareness Day.

If we believe that accessibility is important and we should be implementing it, why don’t we already consistently and thoroughly account for disability in design? Is it just a knowledge gap, or is there more at work?

In my previous post The ADA at 32 I talked about how many people don’t really have a full understanding of the limites of the American’s With Disabilities Act. They will talk about how things are “illegal now” or to simply “call the ADA” to report issues. Things can and should be made better and it’s a struggle to get people to understand why things should be improved for all of us. I also included a few links in that post about how the ADA does not go far enough.

My answer to “why bother?” is “why not?” – I mean honestly why not make things accessible to everyone? The problem is as I said above the majority don’t even see the problems that do exist. It isn’t a problem for them so they don’t bother thinking about it. As a result accessibility depends on people actually fighting for it and continuing to make noise about the various issues that exist.

Accessibility Benefits Everyone

But let’s look at it another way – accessibility isn’t just for disabled people, when done correctly it can benefit everyone.

Why Designing For Accessibility Helps Everyone written by Daniel Abrahams at Access Innovation Media:

Automatic doors can also save businesses money – they open only when needed, they cut down on energy waste which directly implies a reduction in heating costs plus no fingerprints on the doors either so no need for extra cleaning.

Getting Accessibility Right

We still need to make sure things are accessible to all those who need it. Often accessibility is denied without thought because someone believes it isn’t worth the cost or the time. Sometimes it’s about a lack of awareness of what is needed or assumptions being made about the types of accommodations that should be offered.

For example I’ve seen situations where only a sign language interpreter was offered and when captioning was requested as well it was denied because “there’s an interpreter provided” – which ignores the fact that many who are hard of hearing don’t know sign language and still need captioning. Of course there’s also the assumption that automocati captions are good enough without realizing just how bad auto captions are.

Another example is in webinars the sound quality may be bad and when it’s pointed out people are directed to the captions that exist. The problem with this is that people with cognitive issues may not be able to read the captions and are depending on good sound quality.

In both examples any attempts to point out issues are dismissed because people believe what they have done is enough.

About Competing Accessibility Needs

Competing accessibility needs do exist. Sometimes making things accessible for one group will make things inaccessible for another. Attempts to mitigate the problems should be made but it should also be acknowledged that it isn’t always possible. There are things that should be done to address the issue however.

Understanding Competing Accessibility Needs by Brooke Winters at Thinking Person’s Guide to Autism:

It may not be possible to make every single event accessible to every disabled person but there are steps we can take to make sure that every disabled person has events that are accessible to them.

Final Thoughts

Accessibility is always a work in progress and I believe we should always try to do better. We should notice when things are difficult and we should make noise about it when possible. It’s important to remember that the Americans With Disabilities Act often depends on disabled people to voice complaints about inaccessibility before anything is done. Nothing changes unless someone says something so people should say something.

About Limits

Jen

Note: Originally posted on https://jenrohrigdesign.com/

When it comes to disabilities there are two kinds of limits:

The ones that actually exist in our bodies. And external ones that others place on us.

Because of ableism others will insist that there are things we can never do. Proving them wrong is always the goal.

Because that’s how we survive.

At the same time we need to figure out the real limits that exist and respect those. Because pushing too hard against the real limits can cause more harm than good.

It’s up to us to figure out and manage both of them. Because of ableism, it’s easy to get the two mixed up.

That’s the challenge.

I posted the above on my Instagram a while ago and I want to expand on it a bit. There’s so many examples of this out there.

There’s more than one person with Down Syndrome who has run a marathon for the first time. That’s an example of the first. People assumed that a person with Down Syndrome couldn’t possibly run a marathon, obviously some can. Just like anyone else, and it’s not really a surprise. But the problem is some of the language around it includes wording like “overcoming disability” or “despite their disability” which only adds to the problem. It’s not overcoming a disability, it’s overcoming ableist assumptions about that disability. It’s also important to remember that not everyone can run a marathon no matter who they are. Saying “if they can do it anyone can” is dangerous. It also downplays the person’s accomplishments because running a marathon is hard. They worked hard for it and they deserve to be praised for that hard work.

Knowing your own personal limits is important for your health and safety. It’s true that some people, disabled or not, will always push themselves and take risks. That’s fine for them if they know the risks but at the same time they should be asking themselves if it’s worth it. There are some things that just don’t seem worth it, like doing permanent damage yourself. And in this case I’m speaking of all kinds of people in all kinds of situations. I get that for some people playing sports is a way out of the situation they’re in but it still seems like in some cases the outcome wasn’t worth it.

I’m hard of hearing and people assume that because I wear a hearing aid my hearing is normal. What they don’t realize is that being hard of hearing means I don’t have the ability to filter out background noise like other people do. Everything is amplified with the hearing aids so in order to not be bothered by things like air conditioners running I have to turn my hearing aids down. It also means my ability to hear someone depends on where they’re standing and how close. I’m not going to hear someone behind me or facing away from me. These are real limits that actually exist for me. Ignoring those limits means I don’t hear things. If I don’t make someone turn around and face me and/or repeat things I miss out. I have to remind people that I am in fact hard of hearing.

Some might say that I should just keep my hearing aid up all the time so that I can hear everything and not make other people responsible. Well I’ve tried that and you know what happens? I get a headache and I still don’t hear everything anyone says because I’m mostly just hearing the background noise because it’s so loud. I have no choice but to advocate for myself and tell people what I need.

Dealing with both types of limits is hard – learning which ones are the fake ones placed on us and learning which ones are real will always be complicated. Sometimes the ones placed on us by others are also real ones – and sometimes what we thought were real ones turn out to be ones we were told by others years ago and didn’t realize it. Sometimes the limits are only limits until we are given the tools to figure out alternate means of doing things and everyone around us accepts those modifications. We don’t need to be like everyone else to accomplish things, we need to be allowed to accomplish things in our own way.

The ADA at 32

Jen

Note: Originally posted on https://jenrohrigdesign.com/

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was created in to prohibit discrimination against disabled people. At least the ADA was intended to prohibit discrimination – many places are still inaccessible and discrimination still exists 32 years later. Many businesses have spent the last 32 years, and money, arguing why they shouldn’t be forced to change their buildings rather than changing them. Employers still use “not a good fit” to cover a multitude of sins. Even when employment is granted accommodations are routinely denied for a number of reasons or the person ends up fired. The general public doesn’t seem aware of the issues – instead arguing “it’s illegal!” Or “Call the ADA” without realizing the burden is on the disabled person to sue the employer or business that is violating the law.

Here’s an article that details a few examples: Advocating for ‘tough issues’: ADA enforcement often falls to people with disabilities

During the pandemic many of the accommodations that disabled people had been asking for years were granted only because everyone needed them. Some examples include being able to work from home, virtual doctor visits and other events that became virtual. As soon as everything started opening up again those accommodations were taken away. People were encouraged to return to the office, and many of the virtual options were discontinued as soon as in person events could happen again. But the fact that the accommodations were granted only shows that it is possible to have that kind of access.

The ADA has always been under threat – many lawsuits have gone through the courts, some that could have led to the ADA being gutted because certain groups felt that the ADA required too much from business and employers. Because of recent actions by the Supreme Court disability rights lawyers are increasingly hesitant to file lawsuits because they fear it will give the court a reason to gut the ADA. Read the article at MSNBC.com – “How this Supreme Court is setting back disability rights — without even trying” by Eric Garcia, MSNBC Opinion Columnist

Back in July 2020, Cal Montgomery, wrote a blog post “I Will Celebrate ADA30” in which he noted additions problems with the ADA:

“But the ADA represents a hollow promise. It was never meant for all of us. It was always intended to protect some disabled more than others, and still other disabled not at all. And the independent living movement, which plays an enormous role in cross-disability agenda setting, has focused on the kind of “one and done” accessibility that is coded into the ADA Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) (and even then only some people’s “one and done” needs are addressed) rather than the ongoing work of negotiating the fluctuating and complex access needs of individuals, groups, and communities.”

The ADA may have done a lot to improve the lives of disabled people in the 90s but it never went far enough and these days it seems like it could be gutted at any time because certain groups don’t believe others should have access to anything.

Be sure to also read: A Letter to the Americans with Disabilities Act on Its 32nd Birthday by Sandy Ho posted earlier this week.

The moment that photo captured, your passage, was just the beginning. As we both know by now, the first step in every struggle for civil rights is necessary but hardly enough.

Disability in Science Fiction

Jen

Note: Originally posted on https://jenrohrigdesign.com/

I wanted to include Science Fiction as a subject for this blog because it is my favorite genre and has been since I was very young. It’s also always been something I’ve wanted to see more and better disability representation in. Everyone wants to see themselves in media portrayals, including disabled people. Unfortunately the quality of disability portrayals is often lacking, Science Fiction for example, favors the idea of curing everything. It’s not that cures are always bad but often it ends up seeming like it’s more about convenience more than need. Take Geordi La Forge on Star Trek The Next Generation for example. He was Blind and used a VISOR to see. In one episode he visits Doctor Pulaski to find out there was a way to update his VISOR because it was causing headaches. It starts off reasonable – he’s having pain so he should see if there’s a solution. But Doctor Pulaski seemed to just jump to the idea of giving him “real” eyes instead of fixing the VISOR. There’s some additional details and it could have been something Gordie was interested in but it ended up feeling like she cared more about giving him “real” eyes instead of improving his quality of life. There’s a difference between someone choosing something for themselves and having it encouraged by a doctor for convenience. There’s many other examples if disability in Star Trek that are just as frustrating. Its annoying have my favorite TV show franchise do things so badly when it comes to disability. Even when the get some things right they ultimately fail at it.

But I don’t want to spend this entire post talking about Star Trek and it’s issues. I’d rather talk about some books I’ve read that had good portrayals of disability, written by disabled people. Here’s the thing about disabled people – we figure a lot of things out on our own because often no one will do it for us, or only focuses on what they think is important. So of course we’ll write our own stories and when we write our own stories they’re not all doom and gloom or about pity. They can be angry and scared and painful but there’s also hope and fighting for what we need. And survival, because that’s what we’ve always done.

Fiction

“On the Edge of Gone” by Corinne Duyvis – an apocalyptic science fiction story with an autistic main character (written by an author who is also autistic), set in 2035 and it begins with a comet about to hit Earth. The main character, Denise, is trying to deal with the fact that her sister is currently missing and a mother who doesn’t seem to understand or care about the urgency of the situation. Once they do reach safety it’s all about Denise trying to find her sister while also dealing with the assumptions of everyone around her.

Note: I’ve used the author’s stated language preferences. The author has a few other science fiction novels that I haven’t yet read and co-founder and editor of Disability in Kidlit. Check out the author’s website here: https://www.corinneduyvis.net/

“Accessing the Future: A Disability-Themed Anthology of Speculative Fiction” edited by Kathryn Allan and Djibril al-Ayad. The book contains stories by fifteen disabled authors and nine artists. There are a lot of different types of stories in the book with a lot of different ideas about how to do things. Be sure to read both the preface and introduction for some good information about the intent of the book.

“Defying Doomsday” and the follow up “Rebuilding Tomorrow,” anthologies edited by Tsana Dolichva and Holly Kench – In a lot of media about the end of the world disabled people are usually left behind die or end up sacrificing themselves to save others. It’s usually seen as noble because the disabled person would slow everyone down or be a burden. In these stories the disabled characters save themselves and keep on going. Again there are a lot of different kinds of stories here. The follow up book has both sequels to stories in the previous book and new stories.

Non-Fiction

“Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism” by Elsa Sjunneson. Written mostly during the pandemic and released late last year. She mixes personal stories with deafblind history and criticisms of portrayals of disability in various mediums.Note: deafblind or DeafBlind is intentionally written without the space and is the preferred way for many in the deafblind community.

“Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space” by Amanda Leduc – this one is about fantasy portrayals of disability more than science fiction but the point is still the same. Disfigured is a collection of essays that Amanda has written detailing several different types of disability portrayals in media and the stereotypes and assumptions that often go with them.

The Language of Disability

Jen

Note: Originally posted on https://jenrohrigdesign.com/

Person First or Identity First Language

A while ago I took some courses in accessible design related to the Americans with Disabilities Act. One thing I noticed is the emphasis on person first language. Person first language is well intended and is still preferred by many people with disabilities – most often people with intellectual disabilities. But there is also a growing number of disabled people who prefer identity first language – most often autistic or deaf people. There’s a lot of debate over which is preferred and why people prefer one over the other.

I’m aware a lot of teaching manuals for accessibility and disability still push person first language. I’m also aware that it can be hard to adjust when you’ve been told by those in authority which to use. In the end what really matters is the preference of the individual. One of the issues that comes up with person first language is the tendency of non-disabled people to insist that it must always be used while ignoring the voices of disabled people who say otherwise. Disabled people or people with disabilities have the right to make their own choices. That’s the point that seems to be overlooked in the instructions.

The blog post “Identity First Language” by Lydia Brown goes into further discussion about identity first language vs person first language. There are also several links at the bottom of the post three different preferences including using both interchangeably which I’ve been trying to do with this post. Note that many of the links now link to the web archive as the original blogs have been deleted.

A Brief Mention of Disability Euphemisms

My opinions on the use of euphemism in place of disability could be a whole other post. The short version is I believe euphemism are another well intended thing that ends up feeling condescending more often than not when non-disabled people use them. Others may disagree but that’s how I feel. Again it’s important to listen to others about how they want to be referred to. If another disabled person prefers a euphemism use it. I’m aware some of them were in fact created by people with disabilities which is why I’m not completely against them. It’s the way they’re used, not that they exist that’s the problem.

What Does Ableism Mean Anyway?

Something I’ve also noticed over the years is the lack of awareness about ableism and what it means. I can mostly understand the average person not knowing about it, but it bothers me that anyone who works in disability or accessibility related fields doesn’t know what it means. There are different ways to explain what ableism means:

From Access Living’s “Ableism 101” article:

Ableism is the discrimination of and social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior. At its heart, ableism is rooted in the assumption that disabled people require ‘fixing’ and defines people by their disability. Like racism and sexism, ableism classifies entire groups of people as ‘less than,’ and includes harmful stereotypes, misconceptions, and generalizations of people with disabilities.

I also like Talila A. Lewis’ or TL’s “Working definition of Ableism“:

able·ism /ˈābəˌlizəm/ noun A system of assigning value to people’s bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, productivity, desirability, intelligence, excellence, and fitness. These constructed ideas are deeply rooted in eugenics, anti-Blackness, misogyny, colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism. This systemic oppression that leads to people and society determining people’s value based on their culture, age, language, appearance, religion, birth or living place, “health/wellness”, and/or their ability to satisfactorily re/produce, “excel” and “behave.” You do not have to be disabled to experience ableism.

TL’s poist “Longmore Lecture: Context, Clarity & Grounding” provides more detail about TL’s working definition and the connection to racism.

Final Thoughts

The language of disability can be tricky because different people will tell you different things and you will see conflicting messages. My hope is that people start taking the time to figure out where the message is coming from and respect individual choices. I also hope that people start learning more about ableism and how it impacts disabled people. Learning never really ends and there’s always changes.