“It makes it so much easier when there are no obstacles in the situation other than not being physically present,” he said.
The flourishing of accessibility is not universal: A 2016 survey by the Pew Research Center found that people with disabilities have less general access to technology and use it less. And while remote access has increased inclusion, this is paired with a blast of physical accessibility. Many of the people interviewed for this article said that they miss like seeing friends and attending personal events like everyone else. Olivia Mahan, a wheelchair user in Pueblo, Colo., Said that “overall, it has been a limitation of the things I can do.”
Transition to remote participation is complicated for many people with invisible disabilities, whose needs have long been excluded from traditional accessibility guidelines. The surrealistic, alienating aspects of virtual communication are even more difficult for neurodivergent people, who may need more time and space for processing, said Héctor Ramírez, a disability activist with autism and a psychiatric disability.
“It has meant a lot of isolation, sometimes almost a sense of delusion, for people who already feel a lot alone,” Mx. Ramírez said. “We struggle with making social connections, so withdrawing is difficult.”
More options, for now
Some people are enjoying their new digital life just because their disabilities are now going unnoticed. Andrew Johnson, who is blind, recently got a job as a contact person in Boston. Because the position is completely remote, and his new employees did not meet him in person, at first no one was aware of his visual impairment.
“It’s been cool to see people’s reaction to my work alone, without confusing variables,” he said. In previous jobs, he often felt that colleagues qualified his performance as “pretty good for a blind person” and did not treat him because they would be a nondisable person. Now, he said, he gets a sense of satisfaction when his colleagues are surprised to learn that, despite various parameters, “I am clearly able to do the same job.”
