[sudo-discuss] Fwd: [sudo-info] reaching out from google.org regarding an assistive technology hackathon
J Clark
hello at sl-co.com
Wed Jun 24 15:51:16 PDT 2015
Yes, thank you.
On 6/24/15 3:48 PM, Ryan wrote:
> Things that scare me about stuff like this is that it inevitably
> becomes not about the needs of the disabled community and instead
> becomes more about what people think the disabled community wants.
>
> I know they want to get the "need-knowers" in the same room (and I'm
> really not sure why the family of disabled folks are "need-knowers" as
> they are often just as bad about this), but there tends to be an
> overwhelming number of people who just want to help out of a misguided
> sense of pity. So it becomes a gross ego-stroking mess less about
> actually helping out disabled folks, and more about able-bodied,
> neurotypical folks wanting to do their "good deed" for the day.
>
> Even the language on their page really skeeves me out. They're
> focusing on the 10 year scale, when they have the power to affect the
> here and now. Why doesn't Google Maps track where there are curb cuts?
> WIth street view, they could pretty easily go through and identify
> intersections where there aren't curb cuts. Then, they could parse
> that into Maps and identify walking directions that work for people in
> wheelchairs.
>
> But that's not as sexy as 3D-printed prostheses or exoskeletons.
>
> In fact, they specifically say they want solutions that use
> "cutting-edge" technology. But why use cutting-edge technology, when
> we aren't even using what we have at hand? Sure, if you come up with
> an "innovative" idea it's fine, but they don't want to make existing
> approaches better for folks with disabilities. In fact, they
> specifically say that they want "entirely new solutions and
> approaches." Which just feeds into the social model of disability. Why
> do we need an entirely new solution for me, when we could make the
> current solution feasible? It breaks all the principles of Universal
> Design, which goes far beyond architecture.
>
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