Blogging Against Disablism…
or Blind people don’t use the internet
Being a supporter of accessibility, not just because it’s the law in the UK but because I happen to care, I often end up having heated discussions with others in my profession about their complete lack of thought when they develop web sites.
Many times the excuse for not doing it is cost, the bottom line. I often suspect that it’s more down to laziness or just fear. Fear that they don’t know what they’re doing and will make fools of themselves if they ask for help which strangely, makes them disabled in a way. They’re often accused of being heartless Bs and I suppose there will always be a few but most, I suspect, just don’t realise what they’re saying as they’ve never spent time with anyone less able. I’ve lost count of the number of people who laugh and say “don’t be daft, blind people don’t use the internet. They can’t see”.
Last year Goldfish posted something on Diary of a Goldfish which to me anyway, gets the point across perfectly:
I still feel I must constantly defend the fact that I am not preoccupied with my health; that I have called off the search for a miracle cure. I still feel I must constantly argue that it is not all right to exclude me, it is not all right to value my life, my skills, my needs and desires any less than anyone else’s. It is not all right to consider me as passive and dependent, to judge me as deserving or undeserving of things which other people take for granted.Goldfish
I’m not “disabled”. I thank my lucky stars I have no idea what it feels like, other than recalling the last time I put my back out and was unable to do anything much for 7 months. The thought of that being a permanent state of affairs gives me the horrors and I’m really not sure I’d be able to cope. Even the most basic of things, such as trying to get myself a glass of water when I was thirsty, became a huge issue.
My eyesight isn’t what it was and I’ve had to start wearing glasses to see what I’m doing on the computer. I have the occasional hiatus having bent down to reach something on the bottom shelf at the supermarket and then discovering I can’t get back up again, but that’s just age and not being fit, isn’t it? Of course there’s the memorable incident where I had to do an entire radio broadcast whilst sat on the toilet, as my back seized up and I couldn’t get off, but that doesn’t make me “disabled” does it?
What exactly is “disabled”? Is it the inability to recover? I recovered, well, apart from the eyesight, but what about those who don’t, does that somehow make them any less valuable a person than they were previously?
To many people the internet is a Godsend. They can shop independently, they can use it for entertainment, they can talk to others without being judged as they’re not waving a badge of “disability” in front of them. Or at least they could if web developers would only have a bit of consideration whilst doing their fully able and high paying day job.
There seems to be an assumption by many that disability = ‘old people’. It’s a shame that these people probably won’t realise the folly of their ways until they too are “old” and begin to have failing eyesight, or joint problems or worse. But at what age do you officially become ‘old’? Sixty Five? Forty Five?
How about Eight?
Hayley Okines suffers from an extremely rare genetic condition called Hutchinson Gilford Progeria Syndrome, also known as HGPS or Progeria. At present there are about 45 known cases of Progeria around the world and only 2 in the UK, which is where we live.
Progeria is a progressive terminal condition which mimics many of the characteristics of the normal ageing process, but faster…a lot faster…about 8 times faster in fact! A 10 year old progeria child will have the appearance of an octogenerian with symptoms including baldness, arthritis and heart problems…but with the mind of a 10 year old!
The average lifespan of children with Progeria is about 13 and at present there is no cure.Hayley’s Mum & Dad
I think my point here is, you can’t generalise on what does and doesn’t make someone “disabled” or “old”. Truth be known, there are probably very few perfect human beings floating around this planet. I suspect if all the medical records could be accessed and collated and published that the numbers of “not perfects” would be way higher than any of us believe. It’s purely that some people are able to hide their problems and do so because they don’t think of themselves as “disabled” and are terrified of being labelled as such.
Now if you’re one of those people who refuse to do anything to provide a reasonable level of accessibility in web sites that you create, either because it’s “too much trouble” or because “it’ll affect my bottom line”, think again.
Just because bits of you don’t work properly doesn’t necessarily mean your brain has stopped trying to seek out knowledge. For someone with a failing body, who may be unable to leave the house, unable to deal with public transport, unable to reach the shops, what better place to find that knowledge than the internet?
You can find out more about Hayley on her MySpace page.
Helena Boylen responds:
Posted: May 1st, 2007 at 12:13 pm →
Ah that’s the thing isn’t it?
I think that many people seem to think that making sites reasonably accessible is impossibly hard and therefore they don’t bother at all. The concept of “reasonable” seems to escape them completely.
I don’t think there’s any such thing as 100% accessibility - but we can do our best to do what we can. If it’s really unreasonable to make a particular element of a site accessible (for argument’s sake) then, ok - do what you can around it, offer alternatives if possible, show willing and understanding of the issues involved. But so many just do nothing at all.
Shannon responds:
Posted: May 1st, 2007 at 2:18 pm →
Just stopping by to check out your post. Good job!
Sean McManus responds:
Posted: May 1st, 2007 at 7:24 pm →
Cost is only really an issue if accessibility is being retro-fitted. It’s no more expensive to build an accessible site provided that’s the goal at the start.
Webdesigners are, mostly, young people and so are not, on the whole, affected by accessibility issues in the same way that the average (older) population is. That is, designers are on average much less likely to have accessibility issues than the people they’re designing for. I think we’ll see a change as the average age of webdesigners increases, but I’m hoping it’s not going to take that long to achieve greater accessibility.
Wombley responds:
Posted: May 5th, 2007 at 8:42 pm →
Well put as always Gill (though I liked v1.0 better ;-)) I understand though that referring to the “the bottom line is everything” brigade as “heartless b*******” my not go down too well in some quarters.
I’m afraid to say though that the sad fact is that there always going to be some who miss the point entirely. Some do “the right thing” because it’s the right thing to do. Some don’t through lack of knowledge, but they’re willing to learn. But some (and they’re the ones who in general are thoughtless and make assumptions about what it means to be disabled offline too), are sadly never going to get it - at least any time in the near future. There will always be designers/developers who don’t care. What the answer is, I don’t know. As my mum always says, you don’t have to get hit by a bus to know it’ll hurt, but there are some things in life you have to experience (look ma, you’re famous!). Sadly there are those though who’ll only realise the importance of accessibility and the error of their ways too late. Their “disability” of a lack of understanding and empathy is perhaps the greatest sadness. They have the power to make a change and make a difference, but choose not to exercise that choice.
Jaybee responds:
Posted: May 5th, 2007 at 8:56 pm →
That was version one, with added oomph.
Hello Wombley’s mum.
Jaybee responds:
Posted: March 24th, 2008 at 2:53 pm →
Since I wrote this blog, things have altered somewhat. I am now officially amongst the ranks of the “disabled”. I’ve been diagnosed with MS.
I’ll post more about this later in a full item but for now I’ll just remark on the change in the way people interact with me.
I don’t need a wheelchair. I don’t need any aids. I occasionally fall over if I’m not concentrating properly on my balance. I don’t, as far as I’m aware have Progressive MS so the symptoms come and go. For all intents and purposes I’m the same as I always was but the instant I say I have MS I get one of two reactions.
Either I’m told that they too have MS and have had for years and not to worry about it, or, in the case of family, friends and acquaintances, their world collapses. They ring me up and speak in hushed tones. Half assume I’ve just become an imbecile and need to have everything explained very slowly and in detail, the other half seem to assume I can take an Aspirin and be better by next week.
I’m beginning to see that a large part of disability is not having to deal with your disease, it’s having to deal with other people’s perceptions of it.
JBVoices » What a difference a day makes responds:
Posted: May 1st, 2008 at 2:04 pm →
[…] Last year I wrote a piece for BAD day and asked what exactly ‘disabled’ was. This year I’m even more confused. You see on February 4th this year I walked into my local hospital fully able and came out an hour later labelled as ‘disabled’. […]