Thread by @rightscon

🔥 Next at #RightsCon 🔥

Join Bernard Chiira (@startupnanny), Rua M. Williams (@FractalEcho), @NataliePatriceT, and Lydia X. Z. Brown (@autistichoya) discuss the systems and standards that uphold ableism in tech development, design, & distribution.

rightscon.summit.tc/t/2022/events/…

@startupnanny @FractalEcho @NataliePatriceT @autistichoya 🔴🔴 Live now!

Don’t miss this Fireside Chat between @startupnanny, @FractalEcho, @NataliePatriceT, and @autistichoya. 🤳 Follow this thread for live updates or join below. #RightsCon

rightscon.summit.tc/t/2022/events/…

"We often deal with discomfort and messiness as disabled activists and advocates, says @autistichoya.

"Technologies often exacerbate and accelerate harm against disabled communities", says @autistichoya. "They also reflect the societal and cultural values that underpin their use, interpretation, and overarching objectives".

"Eugenics places value on some kind of humans at the direct expense of others". says @autistichoya. "Some people think it died out and became irrelevant after the Holocaust and WW2. But Eugenist thinking predated [those events], and continue to shape our thinking.

"Eugenics is deeply tied to ableism. Algorithms that screen people out of housing, that prevent people from servicing support, that surveil marginalized communities uphold Eugenicist practices", says @autistichoya.

"What do you see as the most pressing issue in ableism, that we confront in technology", asks @autistichoya.

"Considering people with disabilities as an afterthought in product development", says @NataliePatriceT

"[Product creators] disabling people - not that they are necessarily disabled", says @NataliePatriceT

"The world we live in is driven by the need to innovate or die", says @startupnanny. We need to solve it by understanding that these are human issues, not technology issues.

"The danger is when we codify these issues", says @startupnanny. "We cannot think about ending ableism in tech without thinking about accessibility across the tech industry".

"When bias already exists in society and shapes and determines the type of data we design, that bias will inevitably impact the tool and how it assesses people who interact with it", adds @autistichoya.

"When you are researching assistive and adaptive technologies, many of our researchers are still devoted to the idea of 'curing', and 'fixing'", says @FractalEcho. "I often call this meta-Eugenics".

"In the space of #AI, we have this massive conceit that we can fix everything with data", says @FractalEcho.

"What are some examples of technologies which are 'disabling'", asks @autistichoya.

For persons with visual impairments or are blind, the recent implementation of alt-text is notable, says @startupnanny.

Rather than forcing people to use alt-text, we should make it easy for them to do so, says @startupnanny.

@startupnanny provides the example of Moses, his cousin and a graphic designer who lost his sight. But he has not been able to access freelancing platforms. The reason: platforms assume nobody will come hire a blind voice artist.

"Insurance companies already operate on algorithms of success, and your access to medical treatment is already based on them", says @FractalEcho.

We have seen how these algorithms work in the case of Covid-19 and triaging who deserves to live and die, says @FractalEcho

In reality, [algorithms] enforce the bias and subjectivity held by humans. Whether it disregards the very existence of disabled people, or acknowledges their being but discriminates against them, is the difference, says @autistichoya.

The more of us are involved in product design and processes, the better the products will become, says @NataliePatriceT.

"[These] perspectives are decisive", says @NataliePatriceT

"The more we include peers who are in the margins, the better products we'll have", says @NataliePatriceT.

"Can you build anything in the absence of what you are", was a question @FractalEcho's thesis supervisor asked.

"My future for technology without ableism, is a society with authentic understanding and love for people with disabilities. One cannot happen without the other", says @FractalEcho.

We need to think of disability justice to build a society full of love and care, which is concerned with the wellbeing of all the people who exist in it, says @autistichoya.

"Our world has gone through centuries of discrimination. Every time we have mass exclusion, we always lose a part of humanity", says @startupnanny

We need to embrace what it means to be human, and to give everyone a chance, says @startupnanny.

"One way we can accelerate towards that is by focusing on people, not on technology", says @startupnanny.

"We need to question the underlying assumptions", says @startupnanny. When we talk about #Web, the #Metaverse, are we realizing that we currently have the window we have to unlock a future that is just for everyone?

"Justice means we leave nobody behind", says @autistichoya. "How do we make sure we leave nobody behind".

"How can we make #tech safe for disabled people", asks @autistichoya.

"Disabled people are made to think that what they're asking for is unreasonable. That's not a feeling of safety", says @FractalEcho.

"You need to make a safe place so people feel comfortable to come in and tell you to make changes", says @FractalEcho.

❓Audience Question: "What keeps you going"?

"The realization that we don't have enough time to make the changes the world needs.", says @startupnanny. "I never thought I would work in tech and innovation in this mission, so I feel aligned, and I know the clock is ticking".

"What keeps me going is what's possible", @NataliePatriceT. I'm equally motivated when I see my work moving forward, but also seeing there's more work to do.

"Community. When I see people I care about, and the people I don't really know", says @FractalEcho, "and the thought that I can build something to make a better world".

"What keeps me going is the future, and persistent belief that we deserve that future, and that future shouldn't have to wait, because we deserve care, justice, and love", says @autistichoya.