#equal access

some people's disabilities may be more based in how society treats disability, but personally, i would always have debilitating symptoms.

i'm fucking livid that we're halfway into the second week of the quarter and they failed to notify at least one of my instructors that I was requesting synchronous (i.e. real time, normal course schedule) remote participation accomodations until YESTERDAY. I had a meeting with them on DECEMBER 15TH, and my first email about this was sent December 3rd. They have no goddamn excuse when the medical documentation directly requesting accommodations, a redundant step they for some reason required, was directly delivered on Dec 31, and then waited until January 7th to notify me that they denied the accomodations because the doctors' office requested a longer period for the accommodations than I did (illegal reason to deny them). I gave them updated documentation the same day and they were approved the next day; at this point I had already missed three days worth of classes and independently contacted all of my instructors, and it was not until this point where they even started reaching out to my professors to CHECK IF IT WAS POSSIBLE to do remote participation. They didn't even START ASKING until two days after they should have been implemented. I am fucking livid.

So the "A" on my key board is... defective. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it sticks and sometimes it won't respond at all. So I get this.

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. I know. Tke it prt nd fix it. But you see... tht hsn't worked. So my bility to crete is hmpered gretly. See?

I write for aaaaaaaaaaaaaa living. Technical Writing (which I am very good at) - is different thn cretive stuff - which I do for fun (which I am oky at). TW is pretty stright forwrd - except... even Tech needs the " " tht will not work.

SMH. New computer isn't in the budget so thingd just got interesting.

This brings me to being Disabled or Differently-Abled.

There are innumerable ways to be D.Abled. And often it is a combination of things rather than one single thing that keeps us from fully utilizing the systems set up for an 'Average Human'. The systems put in place to give equal access fall under the umbrella term

ACCESSIBILITY

But people in the know will chuckle and say "Okay. Now what? Define that puppy.

Anything that "keeps [someone] from using systems" is a barrier to access. Those who can not use the average systems are left outside the normative experience of ... well... anything really.

That's the fact of existing for those of us who do not fit the psper-cut-out of 'Normal' or 'Average'.

You can't read the form to get a copy of your birth certificate because the lighting in the room is subpar and the text is too small. Or - the computer screen is a jumble of white and pastel and the click box is somewhere in the middle of all that but the terminal is in the sun and you can't see it... and there is no one available to help.

The ramp is blocked. The elevator jam is too wide. The parking ramp isn't lit. The surface of the parking lot is fractured with holes and cracks. The movie is not subtitled, the movie does not have audio description. The dog is not allowed at your feet. Your visual timer is not allowed at your work station because 'it looks cluttered'. Letters are seen by your eyes but are jumbled by your brain and there's no one willing to give you an oral test. Your skin requires shade, but you're constantly told to take off our hat.

We are differently abled and we bring our systems with us, when possible, to help us navigate the places you take for granted. Along with these tools that make us stand out...

"Sir, I would turn off my phone but it is providing speech to text transcription of the movie so that I can read the dialog when their lips are not facing me. I promise it will not ring."

... is being constantly subjected to everyone else's opinion of your abilities as perceived by their full-abled normal-ness to surf the world.

And those opinions will be provided publicly - with or without a side dish of humiliation. Everyone is socially abled to have an opinion on YOUR ability or inability to use or need systemic assistance. Especially that disability is invisible. Everyone feels it's their right to judge whether you are 'faking' either for attention or a check.

↑ Thank you VoodooHorde on DeviantArt ↑

We are differently abled. We need assistance of various kinds to navigate a world that is fashioned for the fully-abled. We know the world is not set up for us, we don't expect it to be. We do, however, expect to have options available that allow us to participate and a certain amount of empathy goes a long, long way in helping.

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