I wrote this original on my Mastodon account of TheBird@kolektiva.social. I thought folks here might like it as well.
I feel like there's a basic misunderstanding as to what accessibility is. This is likely because it is a complex topic covering a lot of spaces within society.
How we exist within a community is all rooted in access to various aspects of that community. Abled-bodied people already have access to tools, resources, information, spaces, etc., for most of their needs, so they don't usually have to ask for them. Yet at the same time, some societal systems are hostile even to abled-bodied folks! Accessibility design breaks down those harmful systems to create systems and spaces for all to exist, participate, and thrive.
Accessibility has multiple layers (often called spaces). Which access tools are used depends on what is needed for the situation.
Physical space encompasses how we navigate the environment in-person. Examples is ramps, well-kept walkways with no trip hazards, doors that open with push of button, rooms set up with easy to roll/walk down pathways. This is often what most people think of when they see the term accessibility.
Information space encompasses how we obtain, retain, and access information virtually or in-person. Captions, transcripts, high contrast options, color blindness options, image descriptions, etc are in this realm. This is often neglected, but it's one of the most crucial access needs so that we all have the ability to take in and process the information being shared.
Transportation space encompasses how we move from point A to point B and vice versa. It involves public transportation access (that includes wheelchair access), open street concepts, affordability of car or alternate transportation, affordability of ambulances.
Sensory space encompasses how we sense the world around us. This is perhaps the most forgotten part of accessibility I've noticed. For example, having affordable food options for food intolerances or allergies, creating no-heavy-fragrance zones to avoid triggering allergies or chronic symptoms, having a space to recover from sensory burn-out at events, etc.
Community Space is how we relate/interact with one another. Uplifting/boosting the voices of our most vulnerable. Making sure community areas are accessible in all spaces. Sharing stories in accessible ways with one another. Listening and doing conflict resolution together that meets the access needs of all involved. Moderation and creation of safer spaces is part of this too.
Justice Space is how we organize together. This also overlaps with all of the above. Making sure everyone has a voice, especially those most affected, and that they are included in decision-making processes. Organizing access to affordable housing, food, clean water, and walkability/rollability of shared environments. Organizing for liveable wages and financial assistance. Justice space requires designing and implementing these types of initiatives with embedded access tools and methods, so that no one is left behind or neglected.
There is likely other spaces of accessibility that exist beyond what I covered here.
I mostly want to get people thinking about all the ways they interact in the world - physical, digital, relational, organizational, etc. -- and think about what was needed for that to happen.
Expanding accessibility in all avenues of society brings us closer to a more equitable, equal, diverse, inclusive, and just society. We cannot ever have such a society if we do not design access from the get-go in our community building and organizing.
If y'all would like me to talk more about any of this, or want me to dig deeper into ways we can design access together, let me know. I love to write about it.
I also got a lot of good book recommendations! There's so many great authors out there talking about this and getting published too! I'll post some later. :)
This is great! I'd also add temporal accessibility to the list: as someone with energy-limiting chronic illnesses I've experienced a lack of it for a long time, but I think the first time I heard it called this was by Alex Haagaard in their article "Notes on Temporal Inaccessibility".
Very often an event isn't accessible to me, even though it may be in an accessible physical or virtual space. The very nature of it being at a specific time, perhaps lasting for a length of time longer than I can manage, can mean that it's too tiring to attend. And if it's something I have to attend because I'm supposed to be leading it, like a training? I inevitably crash afterwards, and lose time that way.
It's hard to do temporal accessibility, but here are a few things that I've seen which can help somewhat:
I have multiple disabilities that fall into other spaces but DSPD, my circadian rhythm disorder, is entirely a temporal phenomenon for everyone else's purposes.1 That isn't too surprising given that the circadian rhythm is the body's clock. But it does mean that a lot of things are inaccessible to me for bad reasons. Here are some random examples: