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> Matt Campbell pointed out that estimated reading times are often ableist. No more so than a navigation app telling you that it's 10 minutes walk to the corne

> Matt Campbell pointed out that estimated reading times are often ableist. No more so than a navigation app telling you that it's 10 minutes walk to the corner shop. A lot of people just never learned emotional control - they feel a trigger and rather than learning to deal with that momentarily heightened state, they externalise it, assume that it's someone else's fault and that something has to change.

Spivak 2y ago
I think they would say the same thing about navigation apps as well. People even joke about it— walking: 20 minutes, walking (gay): 10 minutes. But it's bringing up a good point where the software's design assumes something about the user. A better design would just ask the user choose their waking speed and ability. If you're in a wheelchair no sidewalks will likely be a problem. If you walk with a cane you probably would prefer fewer elevation changes. It's one of those accessibility features that able bodied people probably get a lot of use out of. In this case a word count doesn't assume anything about the user but reading time does. I think the emotional response is the one to having ableism pointed out. It doesn't make you a bad person or anything, it's just pointing out a design that perhaps isn't what you intended. If you were a slow reader would you like to be constantly be reminded that you're "below average?"
- deleted 2y ago
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- naming_the_user 2y ago
  Honestly what it probably comes down to for me is this: > If you were a slow reader would you like to be constantly be reminded that you're "below average?" I wouldn't care. I'm comfortable in myself, and I don't see it as being an issue that most of the world is structured around the average/normal case. I might be a competent reader but then there are tons of areas in which I'm lacking. If there's an option for me to enable to add that my walking speed is 4km/h or 6km/h or whatever, great, win. It's not inherently discriminatory to not have that though.

Spivak 2y ago

I think they would say the same thing about navigation apps as well. People even joke about it— walking: 20 minutes, walking (gay): 10 minutes. But it's bringing up a good point where the software's design assumes something about the user. A better design would just ask the user choose their waking speed and ability. If you're in a wheelchair no sidewalks will likely be a problem. If you walk with a cane you probably would prefer fewer elevation changes. It's one of those accessibility features that able bodied people probably get a lot of use out of. In this case a word count doesn't assume anything about the user but reading time does. I think the emotional response is the one to having ableism pointed out. It doesn't make you a bad person or anything, it's just pointing out a design that perhaps isn't what you intended. If you were a slow reader would you like to be constantly be reminded that you're "below average?"

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
naming_the_user 2y ago
Honestly what it probably comes down to for me is this: > If you were a slow reader would you like to be constantly be reminded that you're "below average?" I wouldn't care. I'm comfortable in myself, and I don't see it as being an issue that most of the world is structured around the average/normal case. I might be a competent reader but then there are tons of areas in which I'm lacking. If there's an option for me to enable to add that my walking speed is 4km/h or 6km/h or whatever, great, win. It's not inherently discriminatory to not have that though.