I think this is an important perspective and worth remembering. One of the beautiful things about code and about tech is (used to be?) the leveling of the play

I think this is an important perspective and worth remembering. One of the beautiful things about code and about tech is (used to be?) the leveling of the playing field down to simply ability. In my opinion, it should not matter whether a person is ugly, fat, skinny, fit, short, tall, old, young, gay, straight, nonbinary, trans, cis, what color their skin is from, etc., if they can get the work done and get along with their teammates. I feel that we have lost something valuable in the remote working world when we demand that everyone turn on their video cameras at all time; we have lost the ability to appreciate people for solely for their ideas and their accomplishments and their aptitudes. We make it about the way they look, which has so many negative ramifications associated with it. I'm not disabled beyond needing to wear glasses, but for more than a decade I had low self esteem and was unhappy with my appearance. I was ashamed of how I looked. I felt really bad about it. Today, I am quite happy to get on camera and as a tangent to whatever activity I'm doing show off my fitness. But I will never forget that I used to hate it, and it made me feel very uncomfortable. I believe that appearance and bias can reduce opportunity for those with the requisite ability.