I feel like the reason is to require people to have and use (and register) their smartphones, because from what you are saying it otherwise seems unnecessary.
I'm concerned about how it will affect folks already excluded, but also whether protestors will be required to unlock phones to show IDs.
The main difference seems to be to disenfranchise people without smartphones. With such plans I think of a neighbour I had for a few weeks in temporary (homeless) accommodation. An older man, he said he had been street homeless for about half of his life, was struggling to use even a basic phone.
Our chocolate sauce growing up was a spoonful of syrup mixed with spoonful of cocoa powder and spoonful of margarine (equal sized spoon) put in the microwave for 30 secs or so. It was probably cos it was cheap, but it's actually really nice, warm sauce, that goes hard when it hits the ice-cream!
Arthur the man in a yellow jumper, white shirt, blue jeans, and round glasses
Arthur the cartoon in a yellow jumper, white shirt, blue jeans, and round glasses
Got dressed for work this morning and then realised
It's on the AxeCon website you have to register to watch the recording. Very good talk 😀
Plan to scrap many jury trials in England and Wales despite criticism
www.channel4.com/news/plan-to...
yes they actively disable people. We just ignore so much. Like the people mining minerals for our tech whose health and bodies can be permanently affected from the labour and don't even benefit from the tech.
Technology is not unbiased, and it is willfully obtuse to pretend that tools to "help" disabled and neurodivergent people will in fact be weaponized against us. Already has been.
It's irresponsible to pretend it is neutral and objective.
When talking about AI for accessibility surely we should also be considering the environmental impact on disabled people globally, many of whom don't have digital access? We know climate change disproportionately affects disabled people, who can't easily get evacuated and is also disabling #AxeCon
"Many of our designs are built around the idea of a normal or average user, but an average user is a fiction. No human body or mind is an average. " 1/2 @annaecook.com #axecon
Not every product needs AI, but every product needd accessibility.
And important message after the previous two #AxeCon talks!
Lovely talk from @annaecook.com at #AxeCon. I wanna broadcast it across our internal design channels, or really everywhere. Repeatedly. I wish for all those great messages to percolate gently into everyone's psyche. *sigh* 👏 💙
Sadly not this time!
Definitely a palate cleanser
@geekgalgroks.bsky.social did you catch Anna's talk? Right on point.
Also so much on AI training people with autism to mask.
Which I think is just horrible.
Masking is draining, sure glasses that "teach" you to look at faces looks great, but it is still MASKING.
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You can find David Sabaté's talk: Let me enjoy the show! Accessibility in event platforms on the AxeCon 2026 website to watch for free, although registration is required. #AxeCon
Incredibly practical and useful talk from David Sabaté from TOTHOM about digital accessibility when booking tickets for the theatre, football or a gig.
We journeyed with three disabled people trying access the poster on social media, to choose a seat and use the calendar - so many barriers #AxeCon
I suspect you will love it. It's not digital focused at all, but the development of theory and seeing disabled people as designer actors in their own lives is so powerful. I actually came across it thanks to the Design and Disability Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert!
^ is chaos
A few more excellent insights from my notes from @annaecook.com's #AxeCon talk
- You can't patch clarity
- Needs come before knowing why (diagnosises etc)
- Personalisation without structure are chaos
- LLM's are trained on the web as it is, not how we wish it were, they inherit accessibility debt.
oops solution!
@annaecook.com your mention of affordances in your talk made me think of fantastic disability studies ethnography book called Activism Affordances by Arseli Dokumacı about how disabled people improvise more habitable worlds and it explores affordances of disability bodies. It's fascinating. #AxeCon
Not every product needs AI, but every product needd accessibility.
And important message after the previous two #AxeCon talks!
Technology decisions are not neutral says @annaecook.com #AxeCon. Is AI actively solving a problem or are we designing a problem that needs a soltuon? AI without consent is not personalisation, it's coercion. AI didn't end determinism, it exposed it.
you are going to have a very receptive audience.
www.ted.com/talks/rana_e... it's infuriating and also her whole scenario at the beginning about not telling her family she was struggling when studying abroad was really sad. Like the solution isn't tech surveilling emotions, it's open and honest communication, hearing loved one's voice or video etc
I saw a TED talk demo where she shows how it 'recognise' emotions by asking an audience member to smile and then look sad or angry or something. So she literally shows it is not recognising emotions, because the person wasn't feeling those things, she just asked them to make an expression!