The "Disability Dongle": Why Silicon Valley Hates Me and You

Post by wredcoll » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 5:13 PM UTC

JohnMakin wrote: post #8

fellowniusmonk wrote: post #5

I have a buddy who did his Human Factors PHd at wright state/wright patt nearly 15 years ago. "Tech people" have a lot of lies they believe, about disabilities, about valid addresses, everything. When he told me that schools for the blind train their student to fact check things like directions and not simply rely on a single source while navigating new terrain it clicked for me that the sighted have no clue and symp…

The casual ableism is not unique to tech but I do notice its prevalence, both here and in my career. I am slightly disabled physically, I've made comments here a time or two where someone will make a (probably unintentionally) dismissive comment like "This is easy, just do XYZ every day" and I'll make a comment like "lots of people cannot do XYZ every day due to disability" and there's a literal backlash of commenter…

Post by fervor » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 5:16 PM UTC

Post by TulliusCicero » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 5:17 PM UTC

lkey wrote: post #25

TulliusCicero wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a really cynical way to attack people who are at least sort of trying to help. And obviously the inventions of "a ramp" and "slightly wider door" already exist; those aren't a matter of invention, they're a matter of regulations and enforcement.

Contributing to a net loss of funding and attention, all while making the public more ignorant and more passive , results in material harms to the population they claim to serve. This kind of self-aggrandizement at other's expense deserves to be recognized as it is and should be met with an equal measure of contempt.

Post by LorenPechtel » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 5:18 PM UTC

TulliusCicero wrote: post #11

calcifer wrote: post #2

> I don’t need a stair-climbing wheelchair that costs $30,000 and requires a maintenance crew. I need better doorknobs and/or a ramp. But a ramp is boring. You can't make investors have a hard on for a ramp that doesn't connect to the cloud. You can’t give a TED Talk about a ramp. You can’t get venture capital funding for a slightly wider doorframe.

It's a really cynical way to attack people who are at least sort of trying to help. And obviously the inventions of "a ramp" and "slightly wider door" already exist; those aren't a matter of invention, they're a matter of regulations and enforcement.

Post by TulliusCicero » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 5:19 PM UTC

hamdingers wrote: post #36

thereisnospork wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are Tech companies fighting public transit? At least in these parts a relatively high fraction of their employees commute by (private) bus. I can only presume that Tech companies would prefer the government provide safe, clean, and timely bussing for the public to save the company the cost and effort.

Hyperloop and Boring Company were both created as distractions from real proven transit technologies, and the latter has been quite successful at getting rail projects cancelled or at least confusing politicians enough to delay them.