This was definitely a smart move as I landed my next three jobs because I knew about Section 508. Then something more happened. As I began working on sites to make them accessible to all, I began meeting and interviewing people with different needs and asking them how they use the web and what they’d like to see improved. This led to epiphany number 1: These people were just like me.

I know that doesn’t sound good, but I grew up in a primarily white, upper middle class, east coast community. I went to an expensive art school in college, that despite being in NYC had very few minorities I was exposed to because it was so expensive and offered few scholarships at the time. I thought “disabled” meant “couldn’t do something”. But it didn’t. In fact it’s a horrid word to use.

One person I know can’t see. But he can navigate most of his world through hearing. Can you do that? I can’t. His ear for music justifies headphones and speakers worth hundreds of dollars. Mine can’t justify $50 headphones. He types at least twice as fast as I can because I rely too much on seeing the keyboard. Which one of us is “disabled”? I think we are differently abled.

So with this in mind, I began to reach out to people of this marginalized community to get to know them more. And then I had epiphany number 2: These people are brilliant and amazing. Actually that doesn’t encompass it well enough, the are BRILLIANT and AMAZING. Yes, all caps is needed here.

The people I met are super intelligent, creative, patient, passionate and compassionate. They have discovered methods and tools to accomplish many of their goals, which are usually the same as yours and mine. Yet, despite being able to prove the desire and skill to do what drives them for a living, they are denied employment.

That’s the dream: To build a design and development agency comprised primarily of people that have the skills but are denied the opportunity because something allows the government to call them “disabled”, because they are not. Now I know this is easier said than done. First, it would be a virtual agency as these folks are spread across the country. It would take significant investment to make sure the team would have all the tools needed to do the job and some of those adaptive tools will get expensive. It will take understanding clients because the speed of delivery will be vastly different than that of traditional agency. It will take account managers and project managers that can keep it all on track. But there isn’t a reason why these people can’t work, they just need the tools and the opportunity. If you are interested in helping me build this, contact me, I know developers, designers, and security people I’d like to give jobs to.

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It is our earth, not yours or mine or his. We are meant to live on it, helping each other, not destroying each other. – J. Krishnamurti

Let’s all take a moment and try to understand each other. If you can not understand, ask for an explanation and do not judge, just listen and inquire. If you disagree, simply state that you understand but disagree and respect the other opinion. If everyone were to take time to do this we can achieve world peace and eradicate racism.

Related: The Right View

The world has many views in it. We all know that.

A great example is the current atmosphere regarding religious extremism. Certain religious sects think their religion calls for them to be violent towards non-believers. People not of this religion think this is just wrong. Even people within the religion wonder how holy texts can be interpreted in that way. Please note, I am not mentioning specific religions, as it happens in many religions.

The short of it is that everyone thinks their view is the “right” view and that they are justified in their actions because of their “right” view. Hitler thought he was right. Napoleon thought he was right. Hirohito thought he was right. Much of the world would disagree with them now. The reality is that there is no right view.

This is best summed up in this quote from Zhang Qingli, Tibet’s Communist Party leader regarding the Dalai Lama receiving the United States Congressional Gold Medal :

We are furious. If the Dalai Lama can receive such an award, there must be no justice for good people in the world.

China has been long chided by non-communist countries for invading
Tibet in 1950. They have repeatedly been under scrutiny for their labor practices. In addition China is criticized for their censorship practices.

The Dalai Lama has long been recognized as a leader in human rights and peace negotiations. He is a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Despite being the leader of one of the poorest nations in the world and having not been able to step foot in his home country for nearly 50 years; he is a world leader with as much respect as any Pope or President.

The fact that China clearly sees him as a rebel, traitor and miscreant
proves that the “right” view doesn’t exist. We as a people trying for
world peace can only try to understand the opposing view and acknowledge their right to differing opinions. We will never change them; hopefully we can convince them to respect our opinions the same way we respect theirs.

Learn tolerance, practice tolerance, learn understanding, practice understanding, learn appreciation, and appreciate everyone you meet for who they are. Only when we recognize, appreciate and tolerate will there be peace.