Thread by @toriclarka11y

A little thread for folks who are new to the #a11y field in light of the news, as LinkedIn and Twitter is full of people talking about the alleged atrocity of firing all of the @TwitterA11y team. There are several assumptions being made and myths I'd like to bust. 🧵

First, I'd like to say that this absolutely abominable, just not the atrocity people are making it out to be. My favorite boss led the @TwitterA11y team, and it is awful that they were fired without proper notice, and I hope the class action about the WARN Act wins.

Myth 1: Twitter is the only tech company with 3,500+ employees and no #accessibility team.

I've been working in #accessibility for over a decade. This isn't just untrue now, but it's been untrue. Lack of jobs is one reason I've been underemployed for nearly a decade.

Not only is that myth untrue, but after an ADA lawsuit at Airbnb over how inaccessibletheir site was, they hired me and a bunch of folks to "fix" everything and then "ran out of money" in a year. That news amid posts about record profits. This is the life of an #a11y SME.

Myth 2: Accessibility won't happen at Twitter anymore.

It's like when Jeff Sessions ripped all guidance from the DOJ. Accessibility will still *happen* but it won't be properly vetted or supported, which guarantees issues with the 80-hour weeks those still employed are doing.

At Airbnb and when I freelanced, people were already "doing accessibility." But they often were doing it wrong, and in some cases even making it worse for certain #disabled users like myself. If you don't have a pure expert on staff, you'll pay for it in time and money later.

Myth 3: No @TwitterA11y means Twitter will become inaccessible.

Don't insult the team -- they did great work! This is more like abandoning a house. It'll hold for a spell, but if it's abandoned too long, it'll get to a point of no return and need to be razed and rebuilt.

What most C-level executives get wrong about accessibility is thinking of it only as a legal issue and/or a design or code challenge. It's both of those AND a learning and cultural problem that starts with bootcamp and higher ed instructors. It's hard, but yields the best result.

Ultimately, I hope those in #a11y realize that @TwitterA11y being no more is just the canary in the coal mine of this rapidly flooding colliery. I hope you're equally outraged that the Human Rights, Ethics in AI, and similar teams were let go.

#Accessibility is important, but safety, trust and ethics has been disintegrated. The alt text feature didn't disappear overnight. However, Twitter *has* overnight become a much scarier place for people of color and/or queer folx (especially those who are trans).

As an immunocompromised person, I'm also concerned about where I'll get my COVID news. Twitter is where I could hear straight from medical professionals still actively fighting this thing. I'm in #SpoonieChat and #ChronicPainChat and I'm not sure of their future.

Twitter is the first place I felt like I could be my full, unabashed self, and I deserve that. *Everyone* deserves that. Other platforms just don't cut it in the same way, and most of those are also rife with #a11y issues. It may be scary now, but I still have my communities.

To be clear, I'm not telling you not to lament the end of @TwitterA11y. I'm just encouraging you to reframe your lament to include the deep, widespread injustices that have happened since Elon ascended the throne. It's still early days, and we don't know what the future holds.

It's sad. It's frustrating. There's grief. There's rage.

It's even numbing. But resist becoming numb. Stay mad, and stay fighting. None of this is over yet. Not even a little.

Remember, we are the product when it comes to Twitter (ads). As dehumanizing as that is, it means we still have a voice. Elon can't turn us from products into customers without buy-in. (Well, not successfully.) He's in for a rude awakening.

What can you do? Lament, then fight.