Thread by @AutSciPerson, Helping with accessibility and disability activism is a lot like academia. People [...]

Helping with accessibility and disability activism is a lot like academia. People say that the more you learn, the less you think you know.

Well, the more that you do within accessibility, the more you realize that no one else is actually going to do it, so you have to. 1/16

This is how so many disabled activists/self-advocates end up in burnout. I find people who are doing great work, who are great allies. They've been doing this work for years without compensation. And no one's really decided to help from higher up. 2/16

They just get a pat on the back, or an award, and are told to "keep going!" and that "we need you!" And unfortunately disability advocates know this is true, because clearly they're not investing into accessibility whatsoever. They're not going to give them more resources. 3/16

So the more you work (for free), the more you realize how much there is to be done.

The more you notice that many people, even if they care on the surface, don't want be the ones to do the work. It doesn't matter as much to them because they're not affected by it. 4/16

They don't see just how little disabled people are afforded by society and by institutions, especially academic institutions.

The people who do the work see that. It's frustrating to know that most people don't even know ableism is a problem. 5/16

It feels like there is always something more to do, some more free labor to make the world more welcoming to disabled people like me. Why are so many of us so undervalued? Why do people not care? We've tried so much to make people care. 6/16

So this is what we end up with: A small group of people who basically take a free volunteer second-job who end up being completely burnt out in a few years, while everyone else praises them for it. 7/16

We met with the president of the university. I explained that the people who help with accessibility, that this isn't their job. They need compensation for what they do.

The immediate reply from the VP of diversity and inclusion was "we need you! Please don't quit." 8/16

It wasn't "We hear you" and it wasn't "You're right, we need to give you all more resources." It wasn't any of that.

It was essentially "please keep doing free labor to make our university more accessible." 9/16

I wasn't even referring to myself, I was talking about people who've done this for several years already who've worked tirelessly, who get "service awards" but don't get paid for their 2nd job. 10/16

Maybe the institution should've thought about all of the "good work" we do and instead of telling us to keep doing it, actually give us money and resources to help the campus.

Create more jobs to be proactive in accessibility and to add disability consultants to projects. 11/16

These are well-intentioned people who want this campus to be more accessible. But telling us to "keep doing what we're doing" isn't good enough.

I want to see real change with this new president. And people say "well COVID caused budget cuts" 12/16

If anything you should be investing MORE into accessibility specifically because of the pandemic, and because disabled students are the ones who are struggling right now, who still haven't gotten their accommodations from ableist professors. 13/16

It seems as though every time we take a step forward we take two steps back. You know why? Because disability isn't considered on a university level. They just eliminated the pass/fail option for this term. That affects disabled students. Do you think that was considered? 14/16

It's not enough for people to care. It's really not. You can care all you want, but if you don't give us the resources, if you don't put disabled people in positions of power where they are (and this is important) actually listened to, you're not going to get real change. 15/16

It's not enough for people to care.

You have to do something about it.

Seriously, do something about it. For us. 16/16

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