Editor's Note: You've read this blog's take on accessibility problems. Here is an authentic voice (from Canada) on accessibility issues, especially the need for a more visible spokesperson (NOT Al Gore). Follow the link to read the string of comments, agreeing with the author while encouraging her to keep at it. (Remember "My Left Foot"? Glenda types her entries with her left thumb! ) Read her words and, if you want to respond to her question, go to her web site. (from her web site: Do It Myself Blog - Glenda Watson Hyatt) http://www.doitmyselfblog.com
Glenda Watson Hyatt shares her experiences living with cerebral palsy to motivate and inspire others to think about how they perceive their own situation and their own world around them. She does all this by typing with only her left thumb!
Over the past couple of months, several people have thanked me for making them aware of the need for accessibility, both on the web and in daily life. I smile. While I appreciate having the tools and voice to make this need known, accessibility is not a new need.
Do you know how long I and millions of other people with disabilities have been dealing with less than accessible washrooms, curb cuts and such? Accessibility isn’t a new concept, yet many, many people still don’t get it until they are personally touched by the need.
Over the weekend, I was thinking about the environmental movement. Despite the decades of tireless work by environmentalist David Suzuki, oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, Greenpeace and countless other individuals and organizations, it wasn’t until 2006 when former US Vice President Al Gore released his Hollywood-ized documentary An Inconvenient Truth did the masses finally “get it”. Overnight, reducing, recycling and re-purposing became the latest trend. Parking the car and walking to work was a new concept. “Green” products began popping up everywhere.
In 2007, Al Gore and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”.
From my perspective, it took a former American politician and a documentary with a $1 million budget, according to Wikipedia, to get people’s attention and to start them taking action to protect the earth. Whatever it takes!
Turning back to accessibility, what needs to happens for the similar response to occur? What would get people’s attention and get them taking action? Do we need a big name like Al Gore in our corner?
Seriously, I am asking. I welcome a respectful dialogue in the comments below.
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jo holzer
Having grown up in the South before desegregation, I was exposed to acts of discrimination for as long as I can remember. Even as a child, I could easily understand the depth of emotions of both parties -- it was unmistakable. I was taught the traditional Southern subtleties as a matter of course -- the reasons for "keeping him in his place" and what his place was, for example. More
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