The Ripple Effect: Accessibility in Everyday Life

“That’s the thing about Accessibility, it affects everything.” - Liz Hare

Conversations

In recent times, I have been having a lot of conversations with a friend of mine, Chizurum, whom we all call Zurum. She is very kind and perceptive, and in addition to that, the kind of person who knows how to articulate their thoughts. Conversations with her are very thought-provoking and insightful.

One such conversation is around the point that it is very easy to tell a society that cares about its older and disabled members through the infrastructure in that society. For example, the way the pedestrian bridges are constructed. The way the roads are built. The particular example we share is a pedestrian bridge with stairs in a popular city in Nigeria, and the roads are so wide that people with wheelchairs will find it extremely difficult to cross, especially as it does not have a provision for crossing the main road.

More conversations: The Turing Way Accessibility Group

In the April Accessibility meeting of the Turing Way group, we were having a conversation around accessibility, and Liz Hare, who is the co-lead of the working group, shared something I cannot forget in a hurry: “That is the thing about accessibility, it affects everything else.” It stuck with me, because it highlighted how accessibility is such an important part of our lives, and references Zurum’s point about how accessibility is proof of our consideration of others.

Who Accessibility Really Helps

If you add a descriptive alt text to an image, the person who would make use of it may not just be someone with a screen reader. It helps with documentation, someone with colour blindness or a mobility disability - a sighted person, might have a better description of the image being shared. Same with when you make a website keyboard accessible - the ease not only benefits users with sight issues, it helps those with motor disabilities to easily navigate. If you make pedestrian bridges accessible for people with wheelchairs, it enables them to leave their place of residence unassisted. It can sometimes reduce the responsibilities of care providers.

When book covers are created to be flipped upwards instead of to the left - as most books are, people who are left-handed are able to make use of them without hassle, and they work for both types of handed people.

Being a member of the Turing Way, and having these conversations on our accessibility meetings, and with people like Zurum, makes me constantly think about how our ways of living are excluding some parts of the population by default.

Different forms of consideration

Accessibility is, at its core, consideration.

In a recent community event, a key lesson for me was realizing I could have done better with having a French version of the forms we sent out to fill and a bilingual speaker on standby for our onboarding. Providing those would have significantly enabled ease of participation for some of the participants.

That particular occurrence is a huge part of why I'm putting in more energy into learning French, and I’m now in French school, so I can communicate better with members of my community. I cannot tell you how hard it has been to try to use it in everyday conversation, especially in an environment where almost everyone speaks French. It has helped me more than ever to understand community members who try to speak English during meetings.

Most of life is unprecedented.

Today, you may have all your limbs working, but tomorrow, age or an accident can impair that. You can suddenly develop carpal tunnel syndrome and realize that the keyboards on your mobile phone are now too small for you to type with.

You can be sighted today, and suddenly lose your ability to see properly, or at all. You will be able to hear fully today, and tomorrow you will need hearing aids. These are very minute examples from the vast reasons and the different ways accessibility can be needed.

You shouldn’t have to wait until you have a personal experience to play your part in ensuring accessibility for all.

These considerations should also not happen from a place of foreboding, but more from a place of allyship.

It is important that as a society we create spaces, and policies that enable people with disabilities to participate in fully.

Building Societies That Work for Everyone

Although it may not be easy at first to implement, it is a huge part of life, of living. It is that our actions should take into consideration the lives of others we share spaces with. We need better societies, better architecture, better policies and laws that ‘’work’’ for everyone. Doing this creates sustainability, enabling us to provide an inclusive society where people with disabilities can thrive.

It is also essential to note that as accessibility touches everything, organizations that decide to implement can sometimes feel overwhelmed. It may not be able to implement all the changes at once, but if you start building accessibility practices into the processes and procedures of your organization, it will be easier for the community to adjust and habitually reduce barriers to participation.

Everyone deserves a quality life, and accessibility should tend to this.

Societies where consideration is a high value reflect this.

In the end

Accessibility is thinking about the next person.

Because in the end, that’s the thing about accessibility. It affects everything.

Attribution:

Cover Photo by Yoann Boyer on Unsplash.

Liz Hare and Chizurum Egwunwankwo for reviewing.