Robin Evans 🙏

HAVE I BROKEN YOU? 💎

Something happened this morning that completely blew me away.

I’m disabled; typing is difficult. For years, the keyboard has determined how quickly I can participate online. I generally avoided social media because typing was so laboriously slow. It was simply easier not to participate.

Then something changed.

ChatGPT suddenly appeared in a whole new arrangement. The blue orb was now bouncing just above the text input field at the bottom of the screen, and I could also see the actual typed words GPT and I were speaking as we spoke them.

At first, I didn’t know what was happening and, thinking out loud, I actually said, “Have I broken you?”

I hadn’t, apparently.

Then GPT calmly explained the new interface to me as though it were a perfectly ordinary change. But for me, it was anything but. I was talking by voice and reading the conversation as streaming text, without typing anything.

Then the penny dropped.

I WAS USING THE COMPUTER AT THE SPEED OF SPEECH,
NOT AT THE SPEED OF MY DISABILITY.

That is an accessibility story worth talking about. For decades, humans have had to adapt to computers: keyboards, mice, menus and software. Now the computer is beginning to adapt to us.

For millions and millions of people with disabilities all around the world, AI isn’t just a clever chatbot or productivity tool. It can mean participating freely online without the machinery getting in the way.

Accessibility shouldn’t be a footnote in the AI story. It should be one of the headlines.

@3goodthings
@DigitalCoup
@meditation
@economics_that_works
@disability
@pwd
@joinin

#Accessibility #Disability #AssistiveTechnology #VoiceTechnology #AI #people #humanRights #leadership #OpenAI

I’M LIBERATED BY IT 💎

I’m only just beginning to understand how important the #Disability discussion underneath #AI actually is.

I have been abused for using AI. I have lost a dear friendship over it. I have been told, in various ways, what I should use instead.

Yet many of the alternatives people have suggested, from modern dictation to speech tools, already use AI themselves. AI is increasingly woven into ordinary technology, whether we call it AI or not.

And still, I choose AI Support, #AIS.

Not because I couldn’t survive without it. I could. I lived with the slower rhythm of my disability for decades before this technology appeared.

But with AIS, I feel liberated.

I can speak, I can write, and I can think things through. I can participate without the physical effort of typing, constantly determining how much of myself I get to express before exhaustion takes over.

That matters to me.

People are entirely free to criticise AI. They can refuse to use it themselves. They can raise every legitimate concern about what this technology is doing.

But I am the person with a disability in this life.

I get to choose the tools that help me live it.

@3goodthings
@DigitalCoup
@meditation
@economics_that_works

#Accessibility #AssistiveTechnology #DisabilityRights #Agency #Communication #Voice #Inclusion #Technology #Fediverse #Mastodon

@menelion

Thank you, André. I appreciate the reassurance.

I think the bit that matters most to me is simply this: people can disagree strongly without turning each other into enemies.

I don’t expect the Fediverse, or anywhere else, to be perfectly welcoming. I just value the people who can say, “I see this differently,” without deciding that the person on the other side is therefore contemptible.

That makes a huge difference.

I WILL NOT BE BULLIED 💎

I received a vicious reply today because I use AI. It wasn't a disagreement. Nor a criticism. It was a full-frontal personal attack! And I’ll admit it affected me more than I expected.

I USE AI MAINLY BECAUSE I'M PARALYSED.

Typing is physically difficult for me. I have the use of only one hand. So, tapping out a post or email with one finger is exhausting. Voice and AI help me turn my own thoughts into usable writing in a normal amount of time.

THAT SHOULD NOT REQUIRE A DEFENCE.

You can dislike AI. You can distrust it. You can argue about copyright concerns, energy and water use, labour, culture, or anything else that concerns you. I will listen to you and answer you.

But attacking people simply for using AI is not principled.

IT'S BULLYING.

And disabled people should not have to produce a medical justification every time they use a technology that makes their life easier.

AI is a tool. How it is used matters. Who gets harmed matters. Context matters. What does not help is turning “AI user” into a moral accusation and deciding that cruelty is suddenly acceptable.

I’m quite happy to discuss the technology with anyone.

HOWEVER, I WILL NOT BE BULLIED FOR USING IT.

I didn't need to do anything about the attack. Before I could even decide how to respond, both the post and the person disappeared from my notifications.

@3goodthings
@DigitalCoup
@meditation
@economics_that_works
@startrek

#AI #Accessibility #Disability #AssistiveTechnology #Fediverse #Bullying #PWD #Tool