Typically, the question of accessibility online is considered in technical terms: How does this website need to be designed? What ALT text is appropriate for this image? Are captions available for this video? And obviously, knowing the technical aspects of accessibility is important.
But if accessibility stops at the technical requirements, we forget that there are people on the other side of those checklists and manuals. We forget that even the most rigorous checklist can’t account for everyone and their experiences. We forget to ask critical questions that seem obvious when it comes to a backstage pass but are readily dismissed when it comes to most other social spaces.
In the 3rd episode of my 5-part series on Decoding Empathy, I talk with Erin Perkins, an accessibility educator and the founder of MabelyQ, and draw on the work of disability studies scholar Tanya Titchkosky to theorize the overlap between access and empathy—and what it means for you.
Footnotes:
Every episode of What Works is also available in essay form at whatworks.fyi
What Works is funded by readers and listeners. To help support this work, upgrade to a premium subscription for just $7 per month.
EP 453: Fear of Loathing in Lancaster
This is Not Advice: How a Syllabus Could Change the Way You Plan
EP 452: This Daily YouTube Show is a Rich Text
EP 451: An Inbox Full of Lies
EP 450: The Will to Share Power with Tania Luna
EP 449: The Most Undervalued Skill of the 21st-Century Economy
BONUS: A Quick Pep Talk
EP 448: Made for Work
EP 447: Disrupting Housework (Without Robots or Replicators)
EP 446: You Will Be Assimilated with Charlie Gilkey
EP 445: The Time to Change with Jordan Maney & Joanna Cea
This Is Not Advice: Quid Pro No Thank You
EP 444: World-Building a More Sustainable Work Environment with Morgan Harper Nichols
EP 443: Imagining a Radically Different World of Work
Strange New Work Starts September 14!
EP 442: When The Voice In Your Head Whispers... Meritocracy
EP 441: Rules, Habits, and Opening Doors with Charlie Gilkey
EP 440: Adopting the Perennial Mindset for Work & Beyond with Mauro Guillén
This is Not Advice: Metrics, Incentives, and the Seduction of Clarity
EP 439: Expectations, Boundaries, and Making Work in Public with Randi Buckley
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Commercial Edge: Unleash the Power of People
The emPOWERed Half Hour
Organic Marketing Simplified: Master podcast marketing, fuel podcast growth, and make money podcasting!
THE GO BIZ GUY
The Sigma Femme Podcast
The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
The Money Mondays