Eight months into the worldwide pandemic, and we are now once again at a crossroads. I say as everyone is tired, period. Our society will never be the same as it was before May 2020 with the murder of George Floyd in broad daylight. The marginalized community is no longer remaining silent and accepting the ‘status quo’ anymore, making it clear with our votes/protests that are ongoing. We now have a new President/Vice President elected. We all have dealt with the Covid-19 Pandemic in our ways. Depending on the location, we are/were in different parts of 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic has driven home how inaccessible society is to the disability community in all sectors. The disability community, more so the BiPOC/WOC/POC, breathed a sigh of relief when the confirmation came that Biden had more than the needed electoral votes to cement his status as the new President. Furthermore, President-Elect Biden did recognize the Disability community in his first official speech. Now, where do we go as a society, whereas 72 million Americans voted against us?
For non-disabled people, moving onto an online platform as a way of protecting oneself from the Covid-19 virus was not a ‘big thing’ in my eyes. Because those individuals already had accessibility as technology is designed as able-bodied access, firstly with disability access an afterthought. Platforms that are accessible to billions worldwide are not for us-the disabled community. One can quickly look at Twitter and other media that are continually evolving that accessibility is never a part of their UX design until we, the disability community, point it out.
In my tiny corner of the more expansive universe, I may be one woman with a ‘voice’ that sure most will not notice in the grand scheme of things. Regardless, I must speak up because I know absolutely no one else will as growing up, I had to advocate for myself consistently, with it often ignored. At least I can say I remain consistent in my request for a fundamental right to access the same information as everyone else is. I feel like a broken record, and I’m sure I will utter this same line again in the future because it is True. Society progressivism is a paradox in itself. While society is striving to or more like 75 million of us are trying to better our culture for future generations, we, the disabled community, are not in the conversation, let alone the forefront. I often tweet, and the sad part about this is the tweet is to ask for accessible content despite the message sent by a platform or panel stating, ‘all are welcome.’ No, the truth is that “ABLED are welcome, not you as we did not design this gathering to be accessible to all meaning captioning or ASL interpreters provided for the discussions.”
For Allies who have read this far, consider that you are given a platform representing the marginalized. In concurrence with the disabled individuals requesting access, you also ask the powers to be in charge of- their definition of access. That question often is an excellent test to whether the person/company is genuinely buying into the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion if they can/will make the platform fully accessible. If a company/individual does not know, do not accept it as an answer as the time is long past that ‘non-answer.’ This is 2020, resources are available, and a budget for it can be underwritten as part of the policy as every company/platform have to be compliant with ADA bylaws as it is a civil rights law. That is a non-negotiable term. By doing that, it is how the dialogue of accessibility goes from an afterthought to firstmost. Furthermore, follow disabled BiPOC/WOC activists on Twitter to educate yourself on accessibility issues in every societal platform- education, public, medical, and sports.
