#accessibiity

someone desperately needs to fix google maps - see this route it gave us today to get from the train station to the community centre, the one it calls "wheelchair accessible"?

well this is where it took us

a long steep drop down 18m (60 feet) below the level of the station, followed by another steep hill to roll back up 7m (23 feet) higher again to get to the community centre, it nearly killed us

the topography matters, google

[ID:

image one: a screencap of google maps phone app showing a suggested route that goes round three sides of a rectangle to get to the community centre, saying "wheelchair accessible"

image two: a screencap of a topographic map of the same area, showing the road the station is on at 44 metres above sea level, and showing the lowest part of the route google maps suggested as being only 28 metres above sea level

image three: a screencap of a topographic map of the same area, showing the community centre at 30 metres above sea level

As a disabled PhD student that studies disability rights & disability in higher education I have spent the last week guiding my friends through the hellish process of navigating the recent changes to COVID safety policies at various U.S. institutions that are functionally making disabled students choose between their safety and their education. While the accommodations process is fraught with unpredictability at the best of times (and this certainly isn't that) the first step you should take stays the same:

Contact your professors about your concerns and try to arrange accommodations for their course as soon as humanly possible.

As someone who has been on both sides of the university accommodations process and who runs & analyzes faculty surveys for university access centers, I promise that this is one of the best steps you can take right now.

Every internal faculty survey I have ever looked at about disability/accommodations at universities has shown that the majority of professors distrust the accommodations process and assume that their students are abusing it.

The best way to fight this is to avoid even the appearance of impropriety by being overly-prompt with your requests for and use of accommodations.

Sometimes this is impossible (emergency hospitalizations are a hell of a barrier to getting emails sent) but the situation many students are facing now gives many of you a short window to be proactive here. If you’ve got the time now to let your professors know your situation and your concerns about how recent or presumed upcoming changes to your school’s COVID safety measures will impact your studies, I would do it.

I strongly recommend doing this via email so you have a dated record of your requests and their responses.

Your email doesn’t need to be long but including the following information will likely help:

A brief summary of your primary concerns about the policy changes are and an explanation of what you’d need to be successful in the remainder of the course.

Whether or not you’ve already established other formal/informal accommodations with them for the course and how they may be impacted by these changes.

If you have the time/energy/knowledge to propose a plan for you to finish the coursework as outlined in the syllabus remotely do it. Professors have a lot going on and if you propose something sensible they’ll often be willing to go along with it (I find it helps if I summarize the work I’ve completed for a course as well as the work that remains to be done in this plan).

Remember: You never have to disclose details about your disability in accommodations requests - only what accommodations you need and why they are necessary for you to be successful.

IMPOSSIBLE COMMUTES TO WORK:  Spatial Constraints to Social Mobility with Global Urbanization

As reported by the World Resources Institute (22 May 2019), longer and more time-consuming commutes to work are now the norm around the world. Yet most cities focus on transport supply (how many kilometers of roads or bus routes there are), or on transport efficiency (how many people travel on certain routes within a given period of time) rather than on what this transport actually enables people to do. 

Emmanuel leaves his home at 5 a.m. every morning with his two daughters, for example, to take a mini-bus, or “tro-tro,”from their house in Awoshie, a residential neighborhood of Accra, Ghana, to the central business district where Emmanuel works. The trip usually costs $0.90 roundtrip, about 20% of the average daily wage in Accra, and takes well over an hour. When traffic is severe, the cost doubles. To save a bus ticket, Emmanuel sometimes puts one daughter in the other’s lap.

Emmanuel’s commute is becoming the norm for many urbanites, especially in developing cities in Asia, Africa and Latin America. A new WRI working paper finds that though cities are hotspots for jobs and other opportunities, many urbanites are finding it increasingly difficult to access these benefits.  Access to jobs, healthcare, education and other opportunities are increasingly out of reach for millions of people.

Analysis of Mexico City and Johannesburg found that 56% and 42% of people, respectively, cannot easily get to jobs because of their location, limited transport options, or both. Many residents in these cities experience long and expensive commutes in often uncomfortable and unsafe vehicles through heavy traffic. Others have so few travel options or nearby opportunities they are essentially stranded. Accessibility is critical to quality of life and social mobility!

by Mike Shebanek, Senior Director, Accessibility

It seems like nowadays I spend most of my TV time trying to figure out what’s playing and where to find it, rather than actually watching what I love.  Is it on Hulu or was that Netflix?  Or maybe Vudu?  Every streaming service seems to have a different list of shows and I have to log in to each service to see if it has what I want to watch.  Thankfully, those days are over with the new Yahoo Video Guide app available today on iPhones and Android phones.

Now I can quickly search for the latest season of my favorite TV show or browse a movie across all premium streaming services. When I find what I’m looking for, I can start watching instantly by tapping a playback button that redirects me from the Yahoo Video Guide app to the right app on my phone, including HBO, Netflix, Amazon and Hulu.  

Yahoo Video Guide summary for “Guardians of the Galaxy”

Accessible for all of our users, the new Yahoo Video Guide app is optimized for VoiceOver and TalkBack on both iPhones and Android phones. So, if you’re a screen reader user, you can use Yahoo Video Guide independently. Every TV show or movie is represented by a thumbnail image on the screen, and we’ve labelled each one so you know exactly what it is. There’s a fully accessible search feature and the streaming service where the show or movie is available is clearly described. In fact, you might find Yahoo Video Guide to be one of the most accessible ways to find and stream TV shows and movies, checking out a summary before you watch, and getting recommendations from the crowd, thanks to the IMBD or Rotten Tomatoes rating.

If you don’t know what you want to watch, Yahoo Video Guide has you covered with a cool new feature called “Mood Picker.” The Mood Picker displays a scrolling list of animated buttons (as they appear to a screen reader) that represent different moods like Happy, Thrilling, Emotional, and Dark, each of which will also be described by a screen reader. As you select combinations of these buttons, Yahoo Video Guide instantly updates its recommendations to fit your mood. It’s fun to use and a great way to find a movie and discover new TV shows.

Download Yahoo Video Guide today! It’s available for free in the App Store and Google Play.

IM FUCKING BLIND AS SHIT SO TO USE YOUR FUCKING WEBSITE I HAVE TO ZOOM MY BROWSER THE MOTHERFUCK IN. IM FINE WITH THAT SHIT, IM USED TO IT.

BUT YOU KNOW WHATS NOT FUCKING COOL - HAVING ICONS OVER HALF OF EVERY FUCKING POST. THIS USELESS AND POINTLESS UPDATE IS HELPING NO ONE AND FUCKING UP ACCESSIBILITY.