Accessibility means that people with disabilities can attend and fully participate in a given opportunity. When places and spaces are inaccessible, disabled people are unable to take advantage of the same opportunities as non-disabled people. For example, if an event takes place on the third floor of a building without an elevator, people with certain physical disabilities would not be able to get up the stairs to attend.
Many accessibility issues go unaddressed because of ableism, which is systemic discrimination or prejudice against disabled people. While individuals may be unaware of their own ableist behavior, these attitudes lead to structural oppression against people with disabilities. For example, a common ableist belief is that if an individual needs an accommodation in order to succeed in a given setting (such as needing extra time on an exam at college), then this person is getting an unfair advantage over other individuals. On a systemic level, these attitudes can lead to lack of accommodations in educational and occupational settings, leaving disabled people with less opportunities for education and employment.
We need to have universally designed systems designed around the reality of human variance opposed to the myth of human sameness.
Normal Sucks: Author Jonathan Mooney on How Schools Fail Kids with Learning Differences
The accommodations for natural human variation should be mutual.
Accessibility is a collective process!
Affordability is a part of accessibility.
Create more anti-ableist spaces. Let’s act to hold ALL spaces accountable for providing care and access to disabled folks with all types of bodies and minds.
Inclusivity involves looking at a space and seeing all the ways it’s set up to benefit those in power.
And then redesigning and resetting that space to support, affirm, and amplify marginalized folks.
Flexibility and Accessibility
There is no one size fits all when it comes to accessibility. Instead of choosing who to prioritize and counting tradeoffs for certain choices like universal high contrast mode, the obvious solution would be to let the user choose.
Similar approach can be taken with any accessibility work at a large scale. There is no blanket ‘accessibility mode’ or ‘accessibility setting’ (save for basic compliance) that will fit everyone’s needs. Giving the user full control to set up what works best for them is always the better choice.
Flexibility makes a big difference in inclusion.
Web Accessibility
Disability Rights Washington is committed to producing a wide variety of accessible formats for its informational materials. This is so individuals can always acquire needed disability rights information in a manner that is relevant and respectful. We recognize it is impossible for each web feature to be accessible to all people at all times. Our strategy for web accessibility, then, is to provide the same key information in enough varied formats so that it is always accessible, engaging, informative and relevant to each web user, no matter content form.
DEIAB
DEIAB
Diversity is strength. Difference is a teacher. Fear difference, you learn nothing.
Hannah Gadsby: Nanette
diversity = a range of differences; variety
equity = the process of redistributing access and opportunity to be fair and just; the state of being free of bias, discrimination, and identity-predictable outcomes and experiences
inclusion = the act of extending fellowship, membership, association, and connection—agnostic of rank, status, gender, race, appearance, intelligence, education, beliefs, values, politics, habits, traditions, language, customs, history, or any other defining characteristic
accessibility = accessibility means that people with disabilities can attend and fully participate in a given opportunity
belonging = the extent to which we feel personally accepted, respected, included, and supported by others; the experience of being at home in ourselves as well as the social, environmental, organizational, and cultural contexts of our lives
Diversity is priceless. Inclusion is critical. But diversity and inclusion without equity are hollow. We reach meaningful diversity and inclusion through equity, not vice versa.
Fix Injustice, Not Kids and Other Principles for Transformative Equity Leadership
Human cognitive diversity exists for a reason; our differences are the genius – and the conscience – of our species.
A Thousand Rivers: What The Modern World Has Forgotten About Children And Learning
Diversity is a fact. Inclusion is a choice.
But not just any choice.
The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety
All human beings have the same innate need: We long to belong
.The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety
Basic Principles for Equity Literacy
An important aspect of equity literacy is its insistence on maximizing the integrity of transformative equity practice. We must avoid being lulled by popular “diversity” approaches and frameworks that pose no threat to inequity—that sometimes are popular because they are no real threat to inequity. The basic principles of equity literacy help us ensure we keep a commitment to equity at the center of our equity work and the broader equity conversation.
Basic Principles for Equity Literacy
- The Direct Confrontation Principle: The path to equity requires direct confrontations with inequity—with interpersonal, institutional, cultural and structural racism and other forms of oppression. “Equity” approaches that fail to directly identify and confront inequity play a significant role in sustaining inequity.
- The Equity Ideology Principle: Equity is more than a list of practical strategies. It is a lens and an ideological commitment. There are no practical strategies that will help us develop equitable institutions if we are unwilling to deepen our understandings of equity and inequity and reject ideologies that are not compatible with equity.
- The Prioritization Principle: In order to achieve equity we must prioritize the interests of the students and families whose interests historically have not been prioritized. Every policy, practice, and program decision should be considered through the question, “What impact is this going to have on the most marginalized students and families? How are we prioritizing their interests?”
- The Redistribution Principle: Equity requires the redistribution of material, cultural, and social access and opportunity. We do this by changing inequitable policies, eliminating oppressive aspects of institutional culture, and examining how practices and programs might advantage some students over others. If we cannot explain how our equity initiatives redistribute access and opportunity, we should reconsider them.
- The “Fix Injustice, Not Kids” Principle: Educational outcome disparities are not the result of deficiencies in marginalized communities’ cultures, mindsets, or grittiness, but rather of inequities.Equity initiatives focus, not on “fixing” students and families who are marginalized, but on transforming the conditions that marginalize students and families.
- The One Size Fits Few Principle: No individual identity group shares a single mindset, value system, learning style, or communication style. Identity-specific equity frameworks (like group-level “learning styles”) almost always are based on simplicity and stereotypes, not equity.
- The Evidence-Informed Equity Principle: Equity approaches should be based on evidence for what works rather than trendiness. “Evidence” can mean quantitative research, but it can also mean the stories and experiences of people who are marginalized in your institution.
