The Disability dongle, or, Ramps and canes work, too

[kestrell]

This is a rant I have had many times in the past few months, especially as so much media attention is given to high-priced, complicated cutting-edge tech for people with disabilities that turns into hardly more than a publicity stunt for entrepreneurs
https://www.vox.com/first-person/2019/4/30/18523006/disabled-wheelchair-access-ramps-stair-climbing

It seems that a new high-tech expensive device to replace the white cane comes along every few months and then disappears into vaporware like all of its predecessors, which is no big loss, for the most part, because white canes don't require charging and rarely crash, unless a sighted person steps on it.

What this kind of flashy but insubstantial tech does do is reinforce the idea that blind people shouldn't be using white canes--maybe because it makes us quote look disabled unquote, and that makes able-bodied people uncomfortable? Wouldn't everyone feel better if none of us looked different, you know, if we looked more, what's the word? Normal?

Of course, it also lets designers off the hook for designing accessible buildings, because accessibility interferes with their creative vision for designing buildings that look like Tokyo after Godzilla came stomping through. Why are there still buildings being constructed without sufficient elevators and accessible bathrooms? Why are there still Web sites that are inaccessible to people using assistive technologies? Why is conforming to ADA laws still considered to be optional?

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Ah, wasn’t that a great smack down?

I want a brain virus that activates at the slightest hint of “access theater” and prevents engineers/designers from going this way.

[metahacker]

Somehow this reminds me of the new drugs that appear that are patentable modifications of old drugs, so that some company can make a quick buck with something that's 1% more effective than something that's nearly-free.

Oy.

[kestrell]

Right: I often think of the Web developer who, when I asked him why accessibility wasn't a concern with more Web development tools, bluntly replied, "Accessibility isn't sexy." Selling something old and traditional isn't sexy: it must *always* be new and improved, because then you can triple, quadruple, whatever, the price.

[duskpeterson]

The mayor in the town next to us had to spend several years fighting to make his town's *post office* accessible. It's ridiculous.

[kestrell]

Exactly: that's a *public* building, so there will be PWD, there will be old people, there will be people with baby strollers and small children and rolling suitcases and carts. I've noticed that, for the most part, when there are pictures of new buildings, they are usually photographed from the outside, in stasis, as if they were models, but it's more rare to hear about the inside of the new buildings, or get descriptions of what it's like to use this kind of novel-to-look-at building.
In other words, the most important aspect for designers is how the building photographs, not how the building is as a live experience.

[writerkit]

The Stata Center's fancy exterior is also an active hazard because it drops ice chunks down on passerby; there's always a big "don't walk here because falling ice" cordon every winter. But it looks ARTISTIC so who cares it's a safety risk...

[kestrell]

You do not want to get me started on the Stata Center! It is an example of everything I rant about--when I was at MIT, I referred to it as the home of the Elder Gods, because I swear it uses some non-Euclidean geometry in its construction. It's my personal live-action "Escape the Room." On top of everything else, in order to give directioins to it, the MIT Web site shows a picture and says "Look for a building that looks like this."

[cvirtue]

I'm guessing that able bodied designers think that white canes are a hassle for the blind person, since sighted people are not trained on how to use a white cane, ever. So they make assumptions without actually asking anyone. Because that would be like asking for directions when lost -- something males in particular often have problems with. So my guess would be basic idiocy rather than "blind people with canes make me uncomfortable."

[kestrell]

I used to think that but there is so much social pressure, including from the public, rehab teachers, and even other disabled people, to not quote look disabled," that it has become more difficult to ignore what seems to be a high priority for many people when it comes to disability.

[cvirtue]

That's definitely very stupid of them.
But I am not surprised that a lot of people are idiots.