Member-only story
The day I learned I was deaf
About 25 percent of adults in the United States have some sort of disability, and I’m one of them. Most of us use some sort of digital technology, and most of us encounter difficulty using that technology. When I say “most of us,” I mean most everybody, not just people who have cognitive, physical or sensory challenges.
In addition to having a disability, I’m also a student of digital accessibility, which I like to think of as trying to make it possible for all people to successfully use technology. People like me. People like you. Everyone.
My journey to becoming a student of digital accessibility started before there was a digital anything, though. Before cell phones, before the World Wide Web, before personal computers. It began back in the analog age, actually.
My journey started when I was in first grade and we were learning about vowels. Our teacher had just shared with us that old saying, “i before e, except after c or when sounded as a, as in neighbor and weigh.” She told us that after recess she’d be calling on students at random to recite back to her. Because I had difficulty getting it right in class, I decided to spend all recess reciting to myself. No playing on the swings, no skipping rope, no running around with my friends. I just kept chanting over and over again: “i before e, except after c … .”
