#user access

[buzzofnews234]

Trump Files Supreme Court Petition to Protect TikTok

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has filed a Supreme Court petition to protect TikTok, seeking to reverse previous orders to ban the app. The move highlights his evolving stance on the platform, which faced scrutiny during his presidency over national security concerns. The case could have significant implications for tech policy and user access.

[smoov-criminal]

the US Department of Transportation is now accepting comments on new rules for US airlines regarding disabled passengers!

"The proposed rule would require that airlines meet rigorous standards for accommodating passengers with disabilities safely and with dignity. The proposal will set new standards for prompt, safe, and dignified assistance, mandate enhanced training for airline employees and contractors who physically assist passengers with disabilities and handle passengers’ wheelchairs and specify actions that airlines must take to protect passengers when a wheelchair is damaged during transport. Notably, the proposed rule also would make it easier for DOT to hold airlines accountable when they damage or delay the return of a wheelchair by making it an automatic violation of the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) to mishandle wheelchairs."

you can read the complete proposal here, and leave a comment here! the comments will be open for 25 days as of today, May 18th. if you're American, even if you aren't disabled, please leave a comment, and if not please share this around!

[reasonsforhope]

"For [Tanner] Green, the chief engineer at Not a Wheelchair, this is one of the thousand complications standing between his team and a rather lofty goal: upending the manual wheelchair marketplace.

If you’ve heard of Not a Wheelchair, it’s likely because of its owners, Zack Nelson, the star of the 8.8-million-subscriber YouTube channel JerryRigEverything, and his wife Cambry, a para and manual wheelchair user. The Nelsons got into the mobility equipment business a few years ago when they released The Rig, an electric, adaptive off-road device with a simple yet robust and functional design priced significantly lower than anything else on the market. Now, they’re bringing that same ethos to manual wheelchairs.

Not a Wheelchair aims to offer a base-model, custom manual wheelchair at a similar or better quality than most of the insurance-approved wheelchairs in the U.S. for $999.

Yes, that’s just under $1,000 for everything — wheels, handrims, tires, side guards and rigid, angle-adjustable backrest included. And the company plans to have a turnaround time of weeks, rather than the monthslong slog that it typically takes from order to delivery.

When I first heard about this, it sounded awesome and a bit far-fetched. It’s hard to find a pair of quality wheelchair wheels for less than $500. Same with a rigid backrest. How were they going to offer both, plus a custom wheelchair frame without compromising on quality? I drove to their headquarters in Utah to find out...

So how does Not a Wheelchair’s base model chair stack up to other options on the market? I hate to sound like a preacher, but … it’s totally reasonable! It hits the mark of being at least as good, if not better, than the majority of insurance-approved wheelchairs in the U.S.

Touring the factory, I saw other prototypes scattered all around the facility. There’s a beefier, four-wheel drive version of The Rig that the company just launched. There’s a track wheelchair that’s still in development. It’s clear that Not a Wheelchair doesn’t intend to stop at a simple, manual wheelchair. Inexpensive components, more advanced electric off-road devices, power assist, it’s all on the table. “We’re just really excited to see where this leads,” says Green."

-Article and video via New Mobility, October 1, 2024

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[zebulontheplanet]

Today, I took my wheelchair out to go to the library. I usually use crutches when out, but today I decided to bring my wheelchair. It was…an experience. A very upsetting one.

It started off good. The bus drivers were nice and secured me correctly. Everything was great. That was until we had to take a short walk to the library. The sidewalks were uneven, businesses had tables and chairs in the middle of the sidewalk. The cross walks were to steep and had bumps at the bottom of them, so when I’d go down them, I would almost tip forward, and once even did tip forward. Luckily my partner caught me before I fell out, but my stuff went flying. It was very upsetting, but I laughed it off.

Before I went to the library, I did look up if they had an accessible entrance, and according to them, they did. So I went, and I learned quickly that it wasn’t accessible at all. The ramp into the library was too steep. I couldn’t get up it myself and needed my partners help. The library itself inside, was great! Except the fact there were stepping stools in the isles that I couldn’t get around so my partner had to move them. Besides that, the inside of the library was great.

All in all, the library itself was great and accessible to me. But the walk to the library? Not at all. The entrance to the library? Not accessible. Accessibility is more than a ramp. It needs to be something that people can actually use. It was very very frustrating and upsetting. I deserve to be in places with my wheelchair. I deserve to use my wheelchair. I deserve to walk around the town. I deserve all of that.

Luckily my partner was willing to help, and was more then happy to help me out all along the way, although we did both agree that I will probably not be taking my wheelchair back into town anytime soon. I hate it. Made me very upset. Made me want to cry and meltdown. Made me want to scream.

Society itself needs to do better. Towns need to do better.

[fallenstarcat]

sure there’s a ramp, but is it steep? is there a curb at the top? is the ground uneven? do i need a key for the elevator? are the aisles and doorways wide enough? do i have room to turn? is there furniture and clutter in my way? is the carpet difficult to wheel on? can i open the doors myself?

accessibility to wheelchairs is more than just a ramp.

[jackgoodfellow]

ONCE AGAIN LOOKING FOR FEEDBACK FROM WHEELCHAIR USERS! 💖♿😎

TL;DR - These are newly proposed blueprints for renovating the basement of an incredibly cool queer/BIPOC-run affordable housing co-op in my city, with the aim of creating an ACCESSIBLE community space and mutual aid hub!

If you have a moment, please take either a quick or a long look at these images, and let me know what stands out to YOU as good/bad/missing/in-need-of-change! Or just let me know what you need in a public space in order to feel welcome, especially as it pertains to wheelchair lifts!

ANY amount of feedback is so, SO appreciated!! ☺️

More (optional) detail, if you want:

I have one "BEFORE" blueprint, and three updated proposal blueprints for what the space could look like AFTER renovation.

In the long-term, the co-op is planning to install an elevator to serve all 5 floors of the building, including the basement. But in the short-term, with their current funding, the plan is to install a wheelchair lift that goes from outside the first floor, down to the inside of the basement.

The "AFTER" blueprints include widening the hallways by several inches.

I am going to recommend a changing table for the bathroom; ideally, an adult-sized changing table. Idk yet if they can afford to remove the shower that's there now.

I am also going to double-check with the designers that all the proposed door widths are wide enough for a large wheelchair to get through. In this current scale, several openings appear to be too small.

The goal of the community space is to provide a mutual aid hub - providing food, supplies, space to meet, and emergency preparedness for the community!

Thank you very very much!! :)

- Jack

[10001gecs]

one 100 word email written with ai costs roughly one bottle of water to produce. the discussion of whether or not using ai for work is lazy becomes a non issue when you understand there is no ethical way to use it regardless of your intentions or your personal capabilities for the task at hand

with all due respect, this isnt true. *training* generative ai takes a ton of power, but actually using it takes about as much energy as a google search (with image generation being slightly more expensive). we can talk about resource costs when averaged over the amount of work that any model does, but its unhelpful to put a smokescreen over that fact. when you approach it like an issue of scale (i.e. "training ai is bad for the environment, we should think better about where we deploy it/boycott it/otherwise organize abt this) it has power as a movement. but otherwise it becomes a personal choice, moralizing "you personally are harming the environment by using chatgpt" which is not really effective messaging. and that in turn drives the sort of "you are stupid/evil for using ai" rhetoric that i hate. my point is not whether or not using ai is immoral (i mean, i dont think it is, but beyond that). its that the most common arguments against it from ostensible progressives end up just being reactionary

i like this quote a little more- its perfectly fine to have reservations about the current state of gen ai, but its not just going to go away.

[love-me-love-my-weirdness]

Something that really sucks about being disabled is places say that they’re accessible but they aren’t.

I’ve been to places that claim to be accessible where

the ramp’s too steep

there are steps they didn’t mention because “it’s only two or three”

the doorways are too small

there aren’t any elevators to the top floor

the floor is too rough to easily push on

exhibits are displayed in ways that are impossible to see from a wheelchair

the doors don’t have a push button

tables/exhibits are put way too close together

the surrounding paths have no curbs

Without those things, it isn’t accessible. You can’t put a sloped piece of metal on your doorway and call that wheelchair friendly.

[yellowyarn]

I need a badge that says "Nothing happened, I'm just disabled" to wear when I use my braces or other disability aids. Maybe abled people would stop asking me about it then.

[disabilityaidpositivity]

Friendly reminder to check the tips/feet of your canes and crutches; do they need to be replaced soon?

[crazycatsiren]

The wheelchair spots on public transportations are for wheelchairs, the end. They are not storage spots. Not for strollers, bicycles, luggage, pets, fuck all.

Every time I used public transportation with rollator, I folded her and stored her where I could fit her without damaging her, and not in the wheelchair spaces.

If there's a wheelchair user who needs to use that space, unless you're a wheelchair user who's there first, then fucking move, and move your shit out of there.

I'm so damned tired.

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[wheelchairtetris]

All disabled people deserve safe, stable, accessible housing.