Liz Jackson Profile picture
Non-academic scholar * Founding Member @DisabledListOrg * Curator https://t.co/bBX4TJJEji * she/sir
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Jul 5, 2023 4 tweets 1 min read
If you come across a piece of mine that was just published, please don't read it. The editor butchered my draft. They used language and concepts I advocate against. And they tagged it with 'differently-abled'. The editor said "I wasn’t able to share the final edits before it went live, as we retain the editorial rights." But I don't recall signing anything, and there's nothing in my inbox when I search. Can they retain the rights just by me engaging with them?
May 2, 2023 6 tweets 2 min read
I responded to the student and said “If @NIVEAUSA wants to learn from disabled people, they can engage us directly and pay us our value.” I have to wonder why NIVEA is approaching Corporate Comms students with a design prompt. I am currently a student st... The student said she encountered my work and “realised that maybe the best way to reach people for research is through an organisation that empowers them.” This is the corporate interpretation of my work, but I don’t ‘do’ empowerment. I ‘do’ commensurate compensation.
Apr 13, 2023 15 tweets 4 min read
There is so much in this article to unpack. Let’s start with the headline, in which an abled white woman is not only creating a disability seal of approval, but she’s also firsting it. The opening sentence uses another qualifier (we now have the first and the most) “Runway of Dreams, arguably the most high profile event on the fashion calendar representing the disability community.”
Feb 11, 2023 12 tweets 4 min read
Estée Lauder is on a #DisabilityDongle rampage; first with their recent awards bait makeup app for blind people that is still in beta, and now this. It is shocking, all of it is extractive it, and none of it grants any agency to the disabled people they're virtue signaling. I just joined the hackathon to see what I can learn. There seems to be no way to identify as disabled, and there's no way to mark disability as a specialty. But there's lots of these folks... Specialties: 320 Full-Stack Developers, 235 Designers, 111 F
Jan 6, 2023 15 tweets 6 min read
A few people sent this to me, so I'm going to do a basic analysis. To start: I am already rattling off people in my head who I can imagine wanting one. And also there is no alt text on the posts. It may claim to be an accessible product, but the announcement is not. [ID: Three images. Product is a black handled instrument with a jar (is it tube of lipstick attached). Next image shows a white woman smiling ash she holds the object to her face. The next image shows a black woman applying the lipstick.]
Aug 9, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
An incredibly diverse list, until you get to disability and discover that Fast Company awarded non-disabled corporate privileged Rob Van Varick. Screenshot of a bearded whi... hmmm wonder how that happened 🤔
Aug 8, 2022 16 tweets 5 min read
Can someone explain to me how a person can be a "world's first" user of a launched product? Were there no testers? Some perplexing internal erasure going on here, simply so they can use marketable firsting language. Also, the cry face emoji in the YouTube video title makes me think they are trying to tap into the emotionality of cochlear implant "hearing for the first time" videos.
Aug 3, 2022 8 tweets 3 min read
How about I describe my experience in the @TED Residency, when its billionaire funder, @ruthannharnisch of the @harnischfound told me I was "a destructive force in a world you hoped to improve" And I should "Disable [my] socials until you get the help you need." An hour later, my ex, @MegRhi texted me, asking me to have Ruth Ann stop texting her employer's board members, as though I could stop a billionaire on a rampage
Aug 2, 2022 14 tweets 5 min read
This one is loaded. And as an agender person who doesn't love talking about my period, I am experiencing some dysphoria. So please bear with me. Let's start with what @may_gun wrote about the abled POV. This 'Partner Content' features 3 students, all identified as recent graduates of CCS, their research rhetorically professionalized. How, then is the disabled person described? Screenshot of text: During her research process, Baker inter
Aug 2, 2022 13 tweets 5 min read
This is strange. Usually when parents are mentioned, it means parents of disabled children. But that’s not the case here. Disabled people were clearly testers. No mention of disabled folks having agency or decision making power. Segmenting us with children is infantilizing. Highlighted text reads: The pack went through over four yearText reads: The breakthrough came when observing how our con The implication seems to be that making something accessible also means it’s unsafe for children? Not quite sure.
Jul 31, 2022 4 tweets 2 min read
If we are going to have a conversation about disability and Lockheed Martin, we cannot brush over DisabilityIN's role in awarding them a best place to work, with a perfect, 100 disability inclusion rating, year after year. In 2018, DisabilityIN awarded them as the employer of the year
Jul 22, 2022 43 tweets 13 min read
Oh no. It's called Pottery Barn Accessible Home. Let's dig in. fastcompany.com/90771457/potte… Not sure if Fast Company wrote this or is repeating Pottery Barn, but it's for "the elderly, the injured, and those living with disabilities."
Jun 17, 2022 12 tweets 4 min read
I’m sounding an alarm here. Please pay attention. Microsoft is partnering with the World Bank to extract data (and labor) from disabled people, while failing to center disabled people in policy decisions about how that data will be used. Help me demand answers to two questions: 1. How many unaffiliated disabled people were a) in the room at all, and 2. How were their insights taken into account when this ‘Data Hub’ was being workshopped?
May 29, 2022 4 tweets 1 min read
Thinking about how terms like mapping and project are used in design for social innovation programs, and how easily they get taken up to cause harm. [ID: screenshot of a Twitter account called the Gender Mapping Project. The tagline reads no human is born in the wrong body] Also thinking about who these programs employ and how susceptible faculty is to feeling inspired by such a message as ‘no human is born in the wrong body’ and how it’s up to the harmed students to explain what it’s really saying.
May 27, 2022 7 tweets 2 min read
Wondering if we’re past corporate inclusive design announcement season. Notable announcements include Microsoft, Reebok/Zappos, CVS, Skims (Kim Kardashian’s ‘shapewear’ brand), Starbucks, and Apple. Also pay attention to how many of these brands are actively union busting. Apple
Mar 27, 2022 16 tweets 6 min read
This Banana Republic baby line is a fascinating case study in inclusive design claims. @jaivirdi came across this ad on Facebook last night. Screenshot of a Facebook ad from Banana Republic that says ' The ad shows a baby with down syndrome, which prompted an expected series of headlines celebrating Banana Republic for its inclusivity. Screenshot of Fox 5 DC Tweet and headline saying "bananScreenshot of Tweet and headline from Boston 25 news saying Screenshot of Live Now from Fox tweet and headline saying &q
Feb 19, 2022 18 tweets 10 min read
The @nytimes just published an article about the virtues of Alt Text. It is a necessary and belated piece, and one that they failed to address meaningfully during their problematic #ADA30 coverage. I know this, because I was involved. nytimes.com/interactive/20… During our @nytimes #ADA30 consultancy, which I detailed in the attached thread, @alexhaagaard and I proposed that Alt-Text was an opportunity to build trust. We described the traditional use of photography in print journalism as a dark pattern.
Feb 6, 2022 21 tweets 5 min read
The TERF etymology of 'differently abled', a thread: Some years ago, I decided to track down the history of the term 'differently abled'. It is a journey that took me all the way back to the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival in the 1970s. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_…
Dec 3, 2021 9 tweets 3 min read
I have been thinking a lot about how @alexhaagaard and I advise corporate employees to #ResistTheAnnouncement. The new Microsoft Surface Adaptive Kit offers an excellent case study as to why. Screenshot reads: I have been thinking a lot about how @alex In 2019, Microsoft announced the Xbox Adaptive Controller through a massive holiday ad campaign. They then followed it up with a Super Bowl ad. The Xbox Adaptive Controller was absolutely everywhere.
Nov 17, 2021 11 tweets 3 min read
There are things I used to advocate for, but have come to learn are harmful in practice, and so I now advocate against them. For instance, the phenomenon that has been labeled 'The Curb Cut Effect'. I first want to start by referencing this @alexhaagaard thread. Please click through and start here:
Jun 28, 2021 6 tweets 1 min read
I'm looking for a creative disabled writer or poet who might be interested in writing Alt-Text descriptions for an organization on an as needed basis. Paid per description, either as income or in gift card format so as not to put benefits at risk. Also, what would be a good rate for a single Alt-Text description? I imagine the monthly range of work required would be anywhere from five to twenty descriptions.