Tech options allow people with disabilities to control narrative

• 8-outlet surge protector with tel/fax modem coax protection

• plus a 2-outlet surge protector with 2 USB ports **($60 value) Actual models may vary, while supplies last. Offer valid until August 31.

By Channing Heiss CONTRIBUTOR

While the discussion in recent years regarding new technology available to the masses has focused on potential pitfalls of growing access to an unprecedented audience, this universe of blogs, podcasts, ezines, and social media channels has brought with it the opportunity for many previously lowkey groups to amplify their voices and exert more control over their own narratives.

People with disabilities have emerged as one of the groups working to assume a more self-defined role in the cultural landscape by taking charge of disability messaging that has for decades been formulated by others. Ableism, unlike its more famous cousins, has only relatively recently entered the discussion of civil rights and social equality. However, for a person with a disability, its characteristics are very familiar.

Podcasters, bloggers and influencers with disabilities are out there living and rewriting the story. Now, more than ever, the resources are there to get that message out in a variety of ways.

Abilitymagazine.com, an online leader in changing public perception of what it means to have a disability, was created by Chet Cooper as a print publication in 1990. The web version is one of many platforms about disability issues run by people with disabilities.

Alice Wong hosts a podcast called the Disability Visibility Project. Rikki Poynter is a vlogger and social media influencer. Jessica Wise and Manzi Tanna are the cofounders of Audacity, a workforce and career e-zine.

These latest high-tech advocates are the legacy of the independent living – or IL –movement. The IL movement is a crusade and a philosophy that saw its formal beginnings and got its name in the early 1970s.

There are more than 400 centers for independent living across the nation dedicated to implementing the IL philosophy, including Walton Options for Independent Living in Walterboro and several others in South Carolina.

While the best-known outgrowths of the independent living movement are the pieces of landmark legislation from the Rehabilitation Act to the Americans with Disabilities Act – the latter marking its 33rd anniversary on July 26 – many advocates believe the founding philosophy is equally important.

The major premise of the IL movement is that disability is a social definition more than a physiological one and that accommodating

VOICES from page 18A disabilities, looking for abilities, and respecting the individual goes a long way toward empowerment and real inclusion.

As most traditional media have digital editions and most organizations online have developed a social media presence, there have been more opportunities for interaction between people with disabilities and others. As more enterprising and tech-savvy reporters have begun to explore these avenues as primary sources, a broader range of narratives has begun to emerge.

These trends are a significant evolution from the results of a 1998-99 study done for the Center for an Accessible Society by Dr. Beth Haller, which revealed just over 30% of broadcast media stories and 56% of print media stories about people with disabilities included people with disabilities as sources.

People with disabilities were a viral community long before that was a thing. Before the new technology, the perspectives of people with disabilities were often relegated to the pages of newsletters at disability-related organizations, occasional op-eds, local gatherings, and the odd lucky media interview.

Now, the emerging cross-pollination between traditional and nontraditional media has meant more opportunities for non-disabled leaders to learn about and get unedited information about the priorities of people with disabilities.

New York-based freelance writer and disability advocate Andrew Pulrang writes, “One of the best things about Twitter has been that disabled people were able to meet, share, vent, and organize as distinct communities but in plain sight of influential people outside the disability community.”

Pulrang said people with disabilities don’t want to be “sequestered away where nobody else knows what they are thinking, doing and working for.”

That is paying dividends. Whether it is the 2021 story in USA Today about the debate over the term “special needs” and regularly featured articles on disability issues in Forbes, or college campus events on leadership and disability, these areas of concern are becoming more mainstream.

In addition to founding Disability Visibility, Wong organized #Cripthevote, an online campaign to promote and facilitate the political participation of people with disabilities.

“Using Twitter, we can have conversations with a wide swath of people with disabilities,” Wong writes on her website. “Twitter is one way to insert ourselves into the broader policy and election discussion without any interference.”

Social media has an advantage in its ability to empower, inform and persuade. Online searches are only as informed as the person doing them, and they depend on at least some prior knowledge of the topic.

Even with its advantages, digital media still has to compete in an atmosphere where an ableist comment, policy or event has as much opportunity to go viral as anything else. With the rise of social media and other digital communication, the difference is that now people with disabilities can give an instant rebuttal, reaching millions in a way that was once impossible.

Social media has also had other issues. Some algorithms are alleged to have suppressed or excluded disability related content from influencers.

Even with the drawbacks, key connections are being made. YouTubers since 2018, Shane and Hannah Burcaw started doing a podcast about their life together in Minneapolis as an interabled couple – he has a disability and she does not. Their Facebook page, Squirmy and Grubs, has more than 360,000 followers, and their YouTube channel with the same name has more than 1.2 million subscribers. They are now invited to speak all over the country.

Through July, many towns and cities will celebrate Disability Pride Month. Against that backdrop, it is noteworthy that social media and digital technology are being used by people with disabilities and like-minded partners not just to protest what is, but to introduce new realities with new premises. While there are still awkward juxtapositions of contradictory paradigms, evidence suggests those new realities might be the new norm.