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

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

#121

Post by asdff »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #30
wat10000 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a general problem on the web (and to a lesser extent computing in general) that UX is just widely terrible. I think part of this is because developers tend to work at the very edge of their competence, and getting something working at all is a major feat, with no room left over for making it work well. And part of it is developers or designers deciding they know better than everyone else. A lot of this was a…

100% agree about the UX problems. Most engineers would be happy to fix those issues, but of course, companies always want the new features...because that's what customers want and what drives more $$$. Sadly, it's true that the % of new sales generated by improving a11y beyond the bare minimum isn't going to be terribly large. That's why it's important to have regulations that mandate decent support, because the mone…

I feel like that hasn't been true for a long time. Companies no longer compete on featuresets. I mean take any tool you've used for 10-15 years, the trend is often less features, not more. And the irony is that its the products from the biggest most well compensated companies in the world falling into this pattern of removing features and making things slower and less usable over time. Compare humble old VLC, no shortage of features, to what google routinely does to their products.

Quality, functionality, standing on its own merits, no longer is the aim of business. It is about capturing the mindshare through propaganda a.k.a. advertising. It is why these shitty companies can continue to exist on the top while serving continually inferior tooling: they've flooded the mindshare such that even if some superior product came about, it would never gain traction.

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

#122

Post by meatmanek »

fluoridation wrote: post #107
meatmanek wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. it's possible that the author is blind in a legal sense but not completely blind -- e.g. maybe they only have vision in the center of their visual field, or maybe they have low acuity. You'll often see people with white canes wearing glasses, which would be pointless if they had absolutely zero vision. 2. It's not uncommon for people to use terms like "watch", "see", "hear", "listen", etc. colloquially / metaphori…

I did check for metaphor before commenting. It'd be odd to describe the chair in question as a "Transformer having a panic attack" if you didn't actually see it. If it was noisy, I might have described it as sounding like a blender choking on concrete, for example. I have no response for point #1, but it doesn't make my other observation go away.

https://sightlessscribbles.com/about/

> Kingett has Cerebral Palsy, CP, in addition to his blindness. He’s had both ever since he was a baby. He has Retinopathy of prematurity, commonly referred to as ROP. Even though he is ambulatory, his cerebral palsy makes it difficult to walk long distances or to stand for lengthy periods of time, which is probably why writing fell right into his lap!

So it sounds* like he uses his cane from his wheelchair and/or when walking.

*unintentional metaphor

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

#123

Post by TulliusCicero »

the_other wrote: post #44
TulliusCicero wrote: post #6

While I can understand the frustration and the author makes some good points, a lot of the anger feels oddly misplaced. Yes, engineer types want to solve problems with inventions rather than overhauling the entire nation's infrastructure. Maybe, just maybe, that's because inventing something is actually within their grasp, whereas wholesale replacing every civil engineer and architect in the country isn't? Or replaci…

It's both "the entire nation's infrastructure." and not that. What I mean is... many cases are individual: the ramp for that library; the door knobs/handles in that office; the floor indicators in this lift/elevator; the audio announcements (or lack of) on the busses/trains; the small print on contracts; live subtitling at the theatre; the checkout button on this web site; the checkout button on that website. You get…

> The vast majority of cases are individual; owned by myriad businesses, charities, foundations.

Agreed, but the solution is more general. If you want handicapped people to have more access, that probably means widespread societal change through regulations, like the ADA (which obviously didn't fix everything, but was at least a big step forward).

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

#125

Post by scottlamb »

fishpen0 wrote: post #77
giantg2 wrote: post #32

The author is simultaneously correct and incorrect. The author is correct that simple and cheap changes such as ramps and door knobs are the logical fixes. And yes, based on personal experience, companies hate disabled people at the first sign that they will be an inconvenience to the company. However, nature has no such things. If you enjoy nature and the outdoors, then user-specific equipment can provide capabiliti…

> cheap changes such as ramps My aunt has MS. It cost her nearly $10k to have a _used_ aluminum ramp installed for her house. She can't come to my house because the gap between the buildings that leads to my door is too narrow for a wheelchair and would require is to get two different building owners, who are not our landlord, to agree to have their building modified to make room for it. It would easily cost 50k+ to…

Agree with your broader point, but out of curiosity:

> It cost her nearly $10k to have a _used_ aluminum ramp installed for her house.

Why so expensive? I did a quick search, and the only way I could get a (new) aluminum ramp up to $10k was by selecting the 30-foot platform model, [1] which I'd guess would be excessive in most cases. I'm not counting installation fees but it looks like something I could do myself in an hour, and I'm not that handy.

[1] https://reliableramps.com/collections/aluminum-wheelchair-ra...

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

#126

Post by BigTTYGothGF »

perpetuallunch wrote: post #89
ashleyn wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US has been institutionally dysfunctional for quite some time, so that puts us in an interesting position where it's easier to imagine inventing our way out of social problems with $30,000 servo-filled boxes than it is to imagine ever getting a cheaper and easier solution moved through Congress. Congress rarely seems to pass disruptive changes to law these days. Statehouses are less sclerotic, but not by much. Ma…

[flagged]

> Forcibly confiscate some people’s money to spend $30 million opening one grocery store.

My money's been forcibly confiscated for a whole lot worse.

> because governments caring for people’s children is famously the best way to raise kids

I can guess your views on public education in general.

> Doxing 900,000 people who own a second residence.

Wasn't that info public already?

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

#127

Post by AlexandrB »

jnovek wrote: post #113
the_other wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's both "the entire nation's infrastructure." and not that. What I mean is... many cases are individual: the ramp for that library; the door knobs/handles in that office; the floor indicators in this lift/elevator; the audio announcements (or lack of) on the busses/trains; the small print on contracts; live subtitling at the theatre; the checkout button on this web site; the checkout button on that website. You get…

> the Social Model of disability The best way I’ve heard this articulated is: Under the medical model, disabled individuals are expected to change their behavior to accommodate (fit on with) society. We ask people whose lives are already more difficult than average to do additional work. Under the social model, we ask all able-bodied people to accommodate disabled individuals instead. Further, the social model says t…

> Under the social model, we ask all able-bodied people to accommodate disabled individuals instead.

This sounds good in the abstract, but the devil is in the details. What specific accommodation is being asked for? What counts as a disability? For example, should I simply have to ignore angry outbursts directed at me and my coworkers from someone with oppositional defiance disorder[1]? Am I supposed to take someone's word that they have ODD or can I request proof from a medical professional?

There are real tradeoffs here. You see it in how these kinds of accommodations are abused at elite universities[2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppositional_defiant_disorder

[2] https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/12/8/harvard-undergr...

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

#128

Post by BigTTYGothGF »

nsxwolf wrote: post #42

There's already a lot of ramps, there's probably never going to be a lot more ramps, I think I'd like to have some technology to assist me with edge cases.

> there's probably never going to be a lot more ramps

Not with that attitude there won't be.

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

#129

Post by dumberquestions »

TulliusCicero wrote: post #6

While I can understand the frustration and the author makes some good points, a lot of the anger feels oddly misplaced. Yes, engineer types want to solve problems with inventions rather than overhauling the entire nation's infrastructure. Maybe, just maybe, that's because inventing something is actually within their grasp, whereas wholesale replacing every civil engineer and architect in the country isn't? Or replaci…

Ride hailing apps promised to decrease traffic and social media apps promised to make people more social, in both cases the opposite happened and this is just off the top of my head.

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

#130

Post by Henchman21 »

ashleyn wrote: post #80
the_other wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's both "the entire nation's infrastructure." and not that. What I mean is... many cases are individual: the ramp for that library; the door knobs/handles in that office; the floor indicators in this lift/elevator; the audio announcements (or lack of) on the busses/trains; the small print on contracts; live subtitling at the theatre; the checkout button on this web site; the checkout button on that website. You get…

A great deal of changes proposed to make disabled peoples' lives easier end up having many fringe benefits for the non-disabled. The classic example is strollers or hand trucks going up the little dip on the sidewalk rather than having to lug them over an enormous curb. The cost argument starts looking weak when you observe there's always billions of dollars shaken from magical couch cushions whenever it's time to wa…

The cost argument is a cover for institutional cruelty. Some people really really want to be cruel. Usually those folks are the most emotionally damaged people IME.
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