This is an article that appeared in the October 2024 Edition of the New Jersey Council of the Blind’s publication, The Chronicle
by Miss Ruth
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed thirty-four years ago, but we can all attest to the fact that companies — and even governmental entities — seem to disregard this federal law regularly, and with impunity.
Part of the problem is that the community a product will serve is not consulted at the point of design and manufacture; more often, some work-around is added after the fact.
One example of this is the “Accessibility Widget” called AccessiBe. Ideally, this add-on is intended to make web pages accessible to the blind user’s screen reader.
However, upon its roll-out, many consumers found, to their frustration, that the widget did not do this. In fact, it made the page even less accessible.
Consumer complaints poured in, and AccessiBe’s customer service contingent took an unusual approach: blaming the users in a harsh tone. They were insistent that the product was fine, and that the consumers must be using it incorrectly. Many users reported that the representatives were downright disrespectful.
Following this furor last year, the president of AccessiBE, Skip Ekerling, spoke at the NFB’s 2023 Convention and offered up a mea culpa. NFB President Marc Riccobono was particularly snarky as he introduced him to the crowd:
https://nfb.org/sites/nfb.org/files/2023-07/nfb23/04_rebuilding_what_i_should_have_known-0.mp3
Ekerling said he had heard all the feedback, and pledged to make improvements, both in their product, and their approach to customer service.
I wondered how that was going, until I read a post on the NFBNJ’s Technology Division listserv last week by someone who said AccessiBe is still not accessible to the three main screen readers. So a year later, nothing has changed.
At the same NFB Convention, a representative of Uber spoke and gave a similar apology to the entire community for deficiencies in their service. But here’s the thing (as our Veep, Wanda Williford, might say), nothing has changed!
Uber and Lyft drivers still routinely and illegally deny service to blind riders with guide dogs.
To protest this issue, the NFB is holding a rally outside the California headquarters of Uber and Lyft in October.
I want to note that I am including information that I’ve learned from being a member of the NFB here, in an ACB publication, because I believe we are all one community. If I learn something that might be useful to someone with vision loss, I intend to share it with everyone. It’s important to move past the notion of separate silos and work together to make life better for all of us.
Well, how about recreational activities? Are there any accessible options for our community?
Last month, the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired of New Jersey held a baseball day for the community, but as many Council members who attended will attest, the stadium had many stairs to contend with. There are few things more treacherous for us to navigate than steep steps in an unfamiliar area, while navigating through a large crowd of people.
The theme here is that all of these companies and entities would like some credit for at least giving it a shot. We tried to be welcoming to everyone, but your needs are just too much for us to take on! Wasn’t it a nice try, though?
Really? Ensuring that everyone who pays for a ticket at a sporting event can get to their seat independently is too much to take on? It would mean confirming that they have access to an elevator instead of stairs. What if we were to mention that it would also benefit families with small children in strollers? Would it magically make it easier to take on?
What if they were reminded that making things more accessible would also increase their revenue?
Then they would be able to show smiling families enjoying their day at the game. They could pat themselves on the back in advertisements and get credit for being inclusive.
Generally speaking, people running businesses aren’t familiar with how well these things work, or don’t work, for any given community of People With Disabilities. They are invested only insofar as the bottom line is concerned.
But there is a case to be made for implementing the practices of universal design and making it clear that helping our community actually helps the community writ large.
Universal design includes methods such as imprinting a perforation onto plastic packaging on products many of us rely on daily.
An example is my go-to lip balm, Chapstick. I keep it in my pocket all day long, right next to my prayer chain and my cell phone. I don’t go anywhere in my house, or out into the world, without it.
Last month was my birthday month (I celebrate all month long for the shopping convenience of my friends and family) and I’m 59 now — old enough to remember when each tube of Chapstick came with a perforated seal.
You could feel with your fingertips where the perforation was, so it was easy to open. Nowadays, there is no perforation, so you have to use a knife to pick at the tiny seal, hoping you don’t end up skewering your hand in the process.
The small dollar amount Chapstick is saving by not including a perforation to remove its plastic does not make sense to me. Certainly, it would help those of us with vision loss to have a tactile demarcation to open the plastic seal, but it would help everyone else as well.
It seems that by and large, products are designed to be sold and shipped. There seems no consideration given to consumer use.
Universal design means that an “accommodation” for those of us who are People With Disabilities would also be beneficial for those without disabilities, such as the use of a curb cut. It makes a sidewalk accessible for People Using Wheelchairs but is also useful for parents pushing baby strollers.
As a side rant, “accommodation” is a legal designation, and it is important to use this word as it relates to ADA compliance; however, in conversations with friends, the term I use instead is “essentials.” After all, I’m not asking for the moon and stars; just that the products I purchase are usable for me.
You may wonder where I’m going with all these disparate threads, and I’ll tell you where: I think we should shift our advocacy efforts to focus on how everything that is good for the vision loss community helps the “mainstream community,” as well. It seems that our actions as a marginalized group have been disregarded by the powers-that-be, and maybe we should instead employ a stealthy strategy of This is as good for you as it is for us, so work with us.
Only when everyone feels they are impacted will they truly get on board.
And even if this approach doesn’t gain traction, at least we can say… It was a nice try.
Heartfelt thanks to all of you who had the stamina to read this massive tome all the way to the end. Bless your hearts!
