Reading list
Shortform reading
This is an incomplete list of the shortform reading (and listening and watching) I’ve been doing lately.
Generating Confusion: Stress-Testing AI Chatbot Responses on Voting with a Disability
61% of responses had at least one type of insufficiency. Over one third of answers included incorrect information, making it the most common problem we observed. Incorrect information ranged from relatively minor issues (such as broken web links to outside resources) to egregious misinformation (including incorrect voter registration deadlines and falsely stating that election officials are required to provide curbside voting). Every model hallucinated at least once. Each one provided inaccurate information that was entirely constructed by the model, such as describing a law, a voting machine, and a disability rights organization that do not exist.
This Company Tapped AI for Its Website—and Landed in Court
Under pressure to make their sites accessible to visually impaired users, firms turn to software. But advocates say the tech isn't always up to the task.
The Overlooked History of Black Disabled People
What do Harriet Tubman, Fannie Lou Hamer, and Mary Davidson have in common? They were all important Black historical figures who made incredible strides in our nation's ongoing struggle for human and civil rights, and they were all disabled. If you were surprised to learn that these women were disabled, you are not alone. Many Black historical figures, innovators, and activists have had their disabilities erased when their stories are taught in schools and covered during Black history and women's history observances—by educators and advocates alike.
'This Is Blackface': White Actors Are Playing Black Characters In Virtual Reality Diversity Training
Mursion tells big corporate clients that its VR simulations will help teach racial sensitivity. But the actors playing its Black characters are often white.Day 156 and Social Accommodations
Julie Fredrickson writes about the positive difference digital asynchronous communication has on her ability to manage her energy while living with chronic illness. She linked this post in a response to a tweet I retweeted, about if and how people are helping accommodate interviewees with panic attacks or other anxiety issues.Disability is More Than Just Inspiration or Trauma. When Will Media Cover it Authentically?
Louise writes about how the media prefers to show disability in the form of "inspiration porn" or stories of traumatic events, but refuses to cover serious issues affecting disabled people. She laments the lack of openly disabled journalists, which she says contributes to the continuing narrative of "person disabled by shocking and traumatic event, hates being disabled, 'overcomes' their disability".Your first attempt at making anything accessible will be awful
Byrne-Haber explains that making websites accessible is very difficult, but that that shouldn't be an excuse to avoid doing it. I particularly like point 3: "Even people with disabilities can't represent the needs of everyone with any disability", and the takeaway: "98% of websites are completely inaccessible. You couldn't possibly do any worse than they are. The starting point is giving a damn." Something is better than nothing.Covid Vaccine Websites Violate Disability Laws, Create Inequity for the Blind
Nearly all vaccine websites across the country do not meet standards required by disability rights laws, and have prevented some blind and visually impaired people from signing up online for vaccination appointments. Blind people are at a higher risk for COVID-19 because they are often unable to distance from people, due to needing assistance with things like grocery shopping.How to be an Active Bystander for Academic Ableism
Discusses some examples of academic ableism, and describes what helpful actions bystanders can take to support the victim of such an event.- Review of research on characters that are easily confused with other characters, and what typeface changes (for example, serifs) have been shown to increase peoples' ability to distinguish them. Also discusses the existence of "infant characters", a term I'd never heard: "Infant characters, a, g, l, q, y, I, J, 1, 4, 7, 9, are characters specifically designed for people around 6 years old." Goes into some detail about how different visual impairments cause different effects (for example, tunnel vision vs. blurry patches vs. poorer vision at the center of one's field of view). Some of the recommendations in the article were surprising to me: "Sans serif or bracketed serif was preferred over serif. It appears that a slight degree of serif which accentuates the characters ends without distracting from the simple form actually increased legibility."