Comments on: Umbrella Terms

By: Kassiane

Kassiane — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:57:45 +0000

I am so over the flashing lights everywhere. And by “over” i mean “i will break the next strobing fire alarm I see, and I will break the next person who pulls one because they think it’s funny”.

And don’t get me started on the flashing bike lights. Or flashing lights to tell people that some *potentially inebriated* driver is coming out of a parking garage (you don;t want me to walk into traffic? then stop flashing lights in my face).

Guh. And I will also probably break teh next person who calls me a whiner for pointing out that it’s an accessability issue.

By: codeman38

codeman38 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:20:22 +0000

@peanutbutter: Oh, gah, YES. I get that TTYs are outdated technology, but the sad thing is that up-to-date technology is often even cheaper! Almost everyone has access to e-mail and IM for free, and if something more secure is necessary, there are turnkey web-based solutions that are quite cheap.

But no, people rarely list an e-mail address or an IM screen name or have any sort of web-based contact form. And then when you call via relay, they’ll often hang up thinking it’s a telemarketer or a scammer because nobody trained them about the only way some people will be able to contact them…

(Auditory processing disorder here. I’m not technically deaf, but I can’t make out half of what’s being said on the phone due to the lack of audio fidelity.)

By: Anna

Anna — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:08:02 +0000

It’s not the same thing, peanutbutter, but at the moment my husband can’t talk on the phone because of a complication due to surgery. It’s become a huge drama – he can’t even confirm doctor appointments or order books from the library because everything’s by phone.

By: peanutbutter

peanutbutter — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:40:56 +0000

Accounting for deafness certainly isn’t often included under “accessibility” concerns. And in many cases there’s totally outdated modes of thought. Take TTY’s. Do you know how many deaf people actually use these anymore in today’s age of computers, cellphones and instant messaging? And, even assuming you have a TTY, do you know how often it is that a TTY supplied number is actually answered by anyone (hint: almost never). And everyone, *everyone* assumes a telephone is a standard and universal form of contact. This issue is so pervasive, I hardly know where to begin to describe it. Not a day goes by that I’m not reminded of the inherent assumptions the hearing world makes.

By: liz

liz — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:29:47 +0000

It just now occurs to me that my workplace is not in ADA compliance. Because, while the entry doors to the bldg are compliant, the entry doors to the office suite I’m in are DEFINITELY not. I’m 4’11″ and the badge reader is at my face level.

Hmmm. [thinks hard about how to address this with the Powers That Be]

By: Wolfie

Wolfie — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:34:53 +0000

I think about “invisible illness” and accessibility – because of my epilepsy i need to ride a bike to the subway stop (too much walking will give me seizures). the other week i was not allowed on the subway because i had my bike with me. i argued with the attendant saying that i was disabled and need to bring my bike with me, that i used it BECAUSE of my disability. they refused me entry, and for that reason and a few others, i had a bunch of seizures trying to get home.

now how do i explain to someone, while standing and holding a bike, that i am physically disabled and need entry on public transportation? i think the image a lot of people have in their minds of “disabled” needs to widen.

And those loud strobe light fire alarms get me every time.

By: abby jean

abby jean — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:18:58 +0000

i definitely agree that accommodations for cognitive/invisible limitations are more difficult for TAB/NTs to understand and appreciate. and i think a big factor in that is the general lack of discussion or attention on how people feel and think. in my work i encounter a lot of low-income folks who feel depressed or anxious or in pain/fatigued but have not sought care for those conditions, because they do not conceive of their condition as differing from the norm. there is so little discussion of how happy or sad most people feel that they have no conception of where a typical emotional baseline is – and if they don’t have an impression of what’s normal/typical, they cannot identify their own condition as differing from that norm.

I find this surfacing also in discussion of learning disabilities – they are hard for an NT to understand because most NTs have never thought about the processes they use to understand and process information. “I just learn,” is the basic attitude, so they have immense difficulting breaking down the learning process into components and thinking about limitations or complications in any of those components.

an analogy: someone who is driven by a chauffeur in a limo with blackened windows is going to have a much poorer comprehension of potential barriers that could arise in traveling to and from work than someone who drives themselves. the driver would understand the requirement to be aware of other drivers, the difficulty of merging in high speed traffic, the distracting billboards along a certain street. the passenger would just know that they arrived somewhere.

By: meloukhia

meloukhia — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:11:14 +0000

Something I’ve noted when exploring accessibility issues with people is that when they can think of an accessibility issue as physical, they can grasp it. For example, talking to my father, I pointed out that “just one step” doorways are a huge problem, and he grasped it even though he doesn’t require accommodations, because he could get a physical idea of what it would be like to approach a “just one step” doorway.

But when impairments are cognitive/invisible, ablebodied people have difficulty grasping them, and they don’t understand how unique accessibility needs may be for a neuroatypical. Which makes it really hard to get people to meet accessibility needs, let alone anticipate them or respect them. It’s rarely as simple as “just asking” when you have trouble communicating what you need or when you are not being respected or when people are not willing to work with you.
.-= meloukhia´s last blog ..The Vamps, They Are A-Changin’ =-.

By: Rosemary

Rosemary — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:39:11 +0000

Yes, this is something I’ve been thinking/talking about lately too. It’s sort of like some disabilities “count more” than others, and some disabled people end up being marginalized even within an already marginalized group, which is distressing. Living with invisible illnesses sometimes makes me feel doubly invisible because I feel invisible even within the disability community at times. I don’t want to feel resentful of people who are also struggling to get their needs met and their issues heard just because maybe they’ve been doing it longer and have had more success at it, but it happens sometimes. It would be better, obviously, to join forces and learn what’s worked for them and how we can apply that across the board. I like that this site seems to be working towards doing that.
.-= Rosemary´s last blog ..Movie poll =-.

By: Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:34:26 +0000

I live on the 9th floor of my dorm this semester after living on the 3rd for the last two years. At first, I felt guilty for all the times I took the elevator and made life slower for those on the upper floors. But sometimes I was too tired, too sore, or too worried about being a clumsy oaf and cracking my skull on the loverly concrete stairs. (Rain, flipflops, and soaked pant cuffs don’t mix with a slippery floor!)

And while I was chewing myself out for taking the elevator when I didn’t “need” it (no crutches or wheelchair!), I’d roll my eyes or sigh to myself about somebody who looked able bodied taking it down from the 2nd floor. But, after discovering this site, I’ve changed my thinking. I’ll probably still get irritated, but I don’t know how that person feels, how well they handle stairs, anything.

My dorm is technically co-ed – a male side joined with a female side. No one lives on the first floor, which contains a cafeteria and space to keep us separate. However, it’s considered one building. So if some witty male freshman pulls the alarm at 2 am, everyone has to go outside. (In the rain, or the snow, or the coming tornado…) I don’t know the frequency of the flashing light, but the noise is painfully loud.

My biggest issue is with this girl who is in a wheelchair. No students live on the first floor. What does she do during a fire drill? (I think I’ve seen her with a walker, but when it’s 2am and the stairs are crowded and that thing is screaming at you… I’m sure it’s the optimum time to use it. Same with crutches for somebody on the 9th floor.) Plus, the building is old and the elevators break.

So how is legal for her to live on the 2nd floor? I don’t think I can ask residence live, unless I framed it as a hypothetical, and we don’t travel in the same circles/see each other enough for me to just ask her how she lives her life.
.-= Kaitlyn´s last blog ..The Franken Senate Defense Appropriations Amendment =-.