Half-Assed Accessibility Is Insulting

Services and accommodations provided to the disabled should be on par with those provided to the general population

September is Deaf Awareness Month

Offering ways for disabled clients or customers to access one’s business or institution that are of significantly lower quality than that offered to the general population is unacceptable.

You may have read my previous piece, This Is What Ableism Looks Like, in which I described my frustrating experiences with our city’s public libraries. This began all the way back in early March, and I did not get a “resolution” until May 17, a full two and a half months later.

You know what their resolution was?

Essentially, the exact same system they’d already had in place, the very system which had caused problems to begin with.

---

Ignorance and inefficiencies

In March of last year, I shared how I needed to book the tutorial room at a branch close to my home. The only option available on the website at that time was to call the brach directly, which I am unable to do as I am hard of hearing.

When I inquired about accessible options, I was asked to email the central libraries administrative account, which connected me with someone overseeing all municipal libraries — we have 20 different branches in the city of Winnipeg alone.

The auto-reply on the email advised it would take 48–72 hours to receive a response.

Great.

In addition to having to wait 2–3 business days to have my email acknowledged, the central administrator didn’t even have access to the tutorial rooms schedule, so they then had to contact the branch directly to ensure availability prior to confirming my booking with me.

Talk about an inefficient system.

---

It gets more ridiculous

In April things came to a head.