“Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me”- Martin Niemoller

Never has this quote resonated with me so strongly as it does right now. I have been at a loss for a while on how to really compartmentalize the feelings/thoughts that are currently running unabated through my head. All of our lives, disabled people have consistently pushed back against the system that is designed to exclude us. This is especially true for disabled BIPOC, WOC, and POC because no one truly wants to admit the system is designed to benefit white disabled-aka white privilege.

I feel like I am screaming into the void but no one is really listening. Society just simply does not welcome us and instead consigns us to an afterthought on all platforms. As many are aware if they happen to follow me on Twitter, I tweet about accessibility issues in hockey and social justice issues with regards to BLACK LIVES MATTER. What most people fail to understand is that NO lives matter unless Black Lives Matter. Period. My life doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, especially my right to exist in this country. This has become abundantly clear with the recent GOP movement made to confirm ACB as a justice. She along with others now have the power to decide whether disabled people can continue to have rights in this country.

I say all of you are naïve to think that it’ll stop at the overturning of the ACA and Roe v Wade. That is just the beginning of the dismantling of rights afforded to marginalized people and yes, women are included in this category. After that is complete, they will come for the disabled, and the sad truth is no one in this country cares enough to speak up for us or take up a stance. It’s kind of eerie but at the same time not surprising because we have an ugly history in this country that no one dares speak of I feel. The policies that were developed with Nazi Germany and the Holocaust were based on American laws and the treatment of non-whites and the disabled. It’s very telling that platforms designed for information dispersal, besides the Biden/Harris events, are failing in ensuring all information, including that on rights, is accessible to all. Therefore, the people who have the power to change the narrative are unaware of what is happening per se because disabled people are an afterthought.

The people who do point out the access misses, meaning me as evidenced by my tweets/videos, have begun to feel even more like we are not valued except for free labor in access misses. They take advantage of disabled people who consistently confront inaccessibility in their lives by fixing inaccessible content that is featured on platforms that we tweet/make videos of pointing out misses. Meanwhile, what they should be doing is saying “okay enough of those tweets pointing out our mistakes, we’ll hire you/make a point to have a disabled advocate/accessibility overseer as part of our team” within the project and future endeavors, as that will ensure our platform is accessible at all times. It’s 100% a failure on a social media platform if it does not make a point to ensure the information can be reached by all audiences. Therefore, the message being sent is this: able-bodied people are welcome to this database of information but not you, as accessibility is not part of our design. It isn’t even a consideration as society has consigned us to an afterthought like always.