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I tried to think of a good synonym (“differently abled” “visually challenged”) but nothing really felt right. I think the phrasing itself is problematic becaus

I tried to think of a good synonym (“differently abled” “visually challenged”) but nothing really felt right. I think the phrasing itself is problematic because it describes some people as broken or less than whole. That puts the emphasis on something wrong with a person rather than something wrong with the system. Better to talk about the system: “this makes the site less accessible.” Because really, that’s the issue. It’s what you have control over and where the problem lies. Software engineers can change a websites but not the people using them. People should expect websites to accommodate their needs, not the other way around. Respect is the core principle here. Respect your users and enable them to come as they are. Don’t place the focus on their weaknesses, regardless of what those are or why they have appeared. Focus on how you can build a system that’s accessible to everyone.

Angostura 7y ago
> “this makes the site less accessible.” They problem is that when someone then ask - "to whom", you are left being unable to answer.
- VBprogrammer 7y ago
  Is that really an issue though? A website could be made less accessible to people with low powered devices, slow connections or small screens, their accessibility issues need not be medical. Practically, there is no way to identify all the potential issues a user of your site might face.
ekianjo 7y ago
> can build a system that’s accessible to everyone. you can't build something that is accessible to "everyone". It's a myth. Because some people will stray so far away from the "median capabilities you can expect", you can't even imagine their problems or use cases. It's a very, very hard problem and well known in numerous areas of product design.
- chipotle_coyote 7y ago
  This is true, but also overly pedantic -- we can give the original poster a more generous reading and assume that they understand that "make this available to everyone" doesn't literally mean accessible to every single person imaginable. ("Your web site isn't accessible to people without computers! Checkmate!") We can work to make our systems more accessible to more people.

Angostura 7y ago

> “this makes the site less accessible.” They problem is that when someone then ask - "to whom", you are left being unable to answer.

VBprogrammer 7y ago
Is that really an issue though? A website could be made less accessible to people with low powered devices, slow connections or small screens, their accessibility issues need not be medical. Practically, there is no way to identify all the potential issues a user of your site might face.

ekianjo 7y ago

> can build a system that’s accessible to everyone. you can't build something that is accessible to "everyone". It's a myth. Because some people will stray so far away from the "median capabilities you can expect", you can't even imagine their problems or use cases. It's a very, very hard problem and well known in numerous areas of product design.

chipotle_coyote 7y ago
This is true, but also overly pedantic -- we can give the original poster a more generous reading and assume that they understand that "make this available to everyone" doesn't literally mean accessible to every single person imaginable. ("Your web site isn't accessible to people without computers! Checkmate!") We can work to make our systems more accessible to more people.