WEBVTT 1 00:00:13.410 --> 00:00:18.970 The Yellow Light Sound, "What Is Inclusive and What 2 00:00:18.970 --> 00:00:19.490 Is Not." 3 00:00:20.490 --> 00:00:23.550 The Americans with Disabilities Act passed in 1990, 4 00:00:24.010 --> 00:00:26.390 and 18 years later came some amendments. 5 00:00:27.250 --> 00:00:29.850 It has now been 17 years since then. 6 00:00:30.530 --> 00:00:33.270 Should we update our understanding of accessibility? 7 00:00:34.810 --> 00:00:37.070 I'd like to talk about why I care 8 00:00:37.070 --> 00:00:40.450 about this when I can walk and have 9 00:00:40.450 --> 00:00:42.630 above-average sight and hearing. 10 00:00:43.610 --> 00:00:46.250 I don't suffer from any physical disabilities. 11 00:00:46.870 --> 00:00:50.230 Then I will explain how it hurts us 12 00:00:50.230 --> 00:00:53.150 all when someone makes a bad faith defense 13 00:00:53.150 --> 00:00:54.490 of people with disabilities. 14 00:00:55.310 --> 00:00:58.230 First, I know that different people have different 15 00:00:58.230 --> 00:01:00.090 attitudes on wording. 16 00:01:00.090 --> 00:01:02.770 Some will casually throw around a word like 17 00:01:02.770 --> 00:01:04.810 disability, and others will chafe. 18 00:01:05.050 --> 00:01:07.570 They would prefer to hear "differently abled." 19 00:01:08.230 --> 00:01:10.470 Others want to avoid any stigma. 20 00:01:10.710 --> 00:01:12.030 They want to call a spade a spade, 21 00:01:12.130 --> 00:01:14.150 and they do not want to hide from 22 00:01:14.150 --> 00:01:15.030 the word "disability." 23 00:01:15.590 --> 00:01:18.000 They're not ashamed of having low vision, 24 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:18.610 for example. 25 00:01:19.390 --> 00:01:20.810 So, why do I care? 26 00:01:21.250 --> 00:01:24.170 I don't care because I have some physical 27 00:01:24.170 --> 00:01:26.910 challenge, and it's not because I'm close to 28 00:01:26.910 --> 00:01:30.750 somebody with a challenge -- a spouse, a child. 29 00:01:31.010 --> 00:01:35.450 I care because it's relatively small to care 30 00:01:35.450 --> 00:01:36.330 about these things. 31 00:01:36.550 --> 00:01:39.030 It doesn't cost a lot, and it is 32 00:01:39.030 --> 00:01:41.710 such a game changer for people with certain 33 00:01:41.710 --> 00:01:42.150 challenges. 34 00:01:43.030 --> 00:01:45.370 It might be a little more expensive to 35 00:01:45.370 --> 00:01:48.690 have a ramp for that three-inch step 36 00:01:48.690 --> 00:01:51.150 up into the building, but you know, when 37 00:01:51.150 --> 00:01:53.070 you're making the building from scratch, you can 38 00:01:53.070 --> 00:01:53.730 afford that. 39 00:01:53.730 --> 00:01:56.270 It's a small thing, but it's huge. 40 00:01:56.690 --> 00:01:57.790 It makes all the difference. 41 00:01:58.350 --> 00:02:00.190 Somebody can go from not being able to 42 00:02:00.190 --> 00:02:02.310 enter your building to being able to enter 43 00:02:02.310 --> 00:02:02.750 your building. 44 00:02:03.210 --> 00:02:05.770 And this isn't just about the most visible 45 00:02:05.770 --> 00:02:08.470 form of disability, the wheelchair. 46 00:02:09.070 --> 00:02:11.530 We see the blue placard signs with the 47 00:02:11.530 --> 00:02:12.950 stick figure and the wheelchair. 48 00:02:13.570 --> 00:02:14.230 That's what we think. 49 00:02:14.330 --> 00:02:15.590 That's the be all and end all of 50 00:02:15.590 --> 00:02:16.090 disability. 51 00:02:16.470 --> 00:02:17.030 Well, no. 52 00:02:17.530 --> 00:02:19.290 A ramp can also be helpful to people 53 00:02:19.290 --> 00:02:21.170 who have some motor difficulties. 54 00:02:21.910 --> 00:02:25.450 Say, somebody can walk, but maybe not as 55 00:02:25.450 --> 00:02:29.550 well, or maybe somebody is very old and 56 00:02:29.550 --> 00:02:30.510 uses a cane. 57 00:02:30.870 --> 00:02:33.210 I'm sure that person would prefer to have 58 00:02:33.210 --> 00:02:36.030 a gradual step up, well, a gradual ramp 59 00:02:36.030 --> 00:02:38.710 up, than to have an abrupt step that's 60 00:02:38.710 --> 00:02:40.510 three or four inches off the ground. 61 00:02:41.330 --> 00:02:42.910 So that's part of it. 62 00:02:43.190 --> 00:02:45.270 The other thing, too, about why I care 63 00:02:45.270 --> 00:02:47.970 is that there is the "curb cut effect." 64 00:02:48.570 --> 00:02:50.590 Now, the curb cut effect is named after, 65 00:02:51.110 --> 00:02:52.530 well, literally that -- 66 00:02:52.630 --> 00:02:53.110 curb cuts. 67 00:02:53.610 --> 00:02:56.070 It used to be that in cities when 68 00:02:56.070 --> 00:02:58.710 you had sidewalks, when the sidewalks met the 69 00:02:58.710 --> 00:03:00.670 roadway, when they met the street, there would 70 00:03:00.670 --> 00:03:01.750 be a sudden dropoff. 71 00:03:02.190 --> 00:03:04.290 There wasn't a ramp on or off of 72 00:03:04.290 --> 00:03:04.490 it. 73 00:03:05.330 --> 00:03:06.350 That was the norm. 74 00:03:07.450 --> 00:03:11.290 And if you have limited mobility, that's intolerable. 75 00:03:11.490 --> 00:03:14.730 You can't get around if that's the case. 76 00:03:15.630 --> 00:03:18.450 So how about we have ramps at intersections 77 00:03:18.450 --> 00:03:19.150 now? 78 00:03:19.630 --> 00:03:21.290 Well, by the time I was born and 79 00:03:21.290 --> 00:03:23.510 I grew up, those were quite commonplace. 80 00:03:23.930 --> 00:03:26.630 I could see the advantages in those. 81 00:03:27.050 --> 00:03:29.390 I didn't know why they were there, originally. 82 00:03:29.910 --> 00:03:31.210 I just thought, "Oh, it's kind of nice, 83 00:03:31.670 --> 00:03:33.230 especially if you have a dog and you're 84 00:03:33.230 --> 00:03:34.210 trying to get something heavy. 85 00:03:34.710 --> 00:03:35.890 Well, they got a little ramp up." 86 00:03:36.510 --> 00:03:37.750 There has to be a ramp somewhere to 87 00:03:37.750 --> 00:03:38.270 get on the sidewalk. 88 00:03:38.930 --> 00:03:39.510 It's great. 89 00:03:40.010 --> 00:03:42.670 Also, by the time I came of age, 90 00:03:43.150 --> 00:03:46.290 it was very common to see those bumps, 91 00:03:46.770 --> 00:03:48.990 those things they would put at live intersections. 92 00:03:49.570 --> 00:03:51.870 You would see these bumps all over. 93 00:03:52.450 --> 00:03:54.650 Sometimes they'd be brightly colored, sometimes not. 94 00:03:55.030 --> 00:03:57.390 But there'd always be these bumps that had 95 00:03:57.390 --> 00:03:59.070 a different texture from the rest of the 96 00:03:59.070 --> 00:03:59.310 road. 97 00:03:59.810 --> 00:04:01.550 I thought, oh, well, this is nice. 98 00:04:01.650 --> 00:04:04.110 So when it's very rainy or icy, if 99 00:04:04.110 --> 00:04:06.210 you're in that type of climate, well, the 100 00:04:06.210 --> 00:04:08.170 ramp is no longer a danger because now 101 00:04:08.170 --> 00:04:09.770 you've got these better grips for you. 102 00:04:10.270 --> 00:04:12.870 I was in my 30s, I think, when 103 00:04:12.870 --> 00:04:14.850 somebody explained, no, no, no, no. 104 00:04:15.110 --> 00:04:17.649 Those bumps aren't there for, well, they are 105 00:04:17.649 --> 00:04:19.649 there for safety reasons, but they're originally put 106 00:04:19.649 --> 00:04:22.910 there so that people who have low vision 107 00:04:22.910 --> 00:04:25.550 can tell when the sidewalk ends, where the 108 00:04:25.550 --> 00:04:27.530 intersection starts. 109 00:04:27.770 --> 00:04:29.750 They can feel their cane, they can feel 110 00:04:29.750 --> 00:04:32.410 their feet, they know, oh, this is the 111 00:04:32.410 --> 00:04:33.130 end of the sidewalk. 112 00:04:33.130 --> 00:04:35.610 If I take another step, I will be 113 00:04:35.610 --> 00:04:38.630 on the blacktop instead of the cement sidewalk. 114 00:04:39.670 --> 00:04:41.110 That's their curb cut effect. 115 00:04:41.410 --> 00:04:43.170 It helps us all, even if we don't 116 00:04:43.170 --> 00:04:46.490 realize that it was originally for other people, 117 00:04:46.630 --> 00:04:47.730 had other people in mind. 118 00:04:48.250 --> 00:04:50.670 This was a huge game changer for certain 119 00:04:50.670 --> 00:04:52.830 groups, but everybody benefited. 120 00:04:54.190 --> 00:04:57.050 Nobody says, oh, I wish they did not 121 00:04:57.050 --> 00:04:58.030 have these bumps. 122 00:04:58.910 --> 00:05:01.210 Nobody really says that. 123 00:05:01.410 --> 00:05:03.250 Maybe if you want to count the money, 124 00:05:03.430 --> 00:05:05.890 but it's so small, it's a drop in 125 00:05:05.890 --> 00:05:06.390 the bucket. 126 00:05:07.550 --> 00:05:09.370 Curb cuts, those are great. 127 00:05:09.970 --> 00:05:12.110 I don't want to be a part of 128 00:05:12.110 --> 00:05:14.630 making the world more unwelcoming. 129 00:05:15.090 --> 00:05:17.930 It's already the case that people who have 130 00:05:17.930 --> 00:05:21.230 certain challenges are going to struggle with many 131 00:05:21.230 --> 00:05:21.630 things. 132 00:05:22.290 --> 00:05:24.950 If you go to the typical movie theater, 133 00:05:25.450 --> 00:05:27.410 it probably will not have subtitles. 134 00:05:28.050 --> 00:05:30.490 If you're hard of hearing or completely deaf, 135 00:05:30.710 --> 00:05:31.310 that's huge. 136 00:05:31.730 --> 00:05:33.630 You will not have the same experience going 137 00:05:33.630 --> 00:05:35.410 out to the movie theaters with your friends. 138 00:05:36.170 --> 00:05:38.070 Now, people may say, oh, there are special 139 00:05:38.070 --> 00:05:40.850 theaters here and there or special screenings that 140 00:05:40.850 --> 00:05:43.470 have subtitles, but it's not there by default. 141 00:05:43.570 --> 00:05:44.310 It's not there everywhere. 142 00:05:44.610 --> 00:05:46.450 If you have the resources to put up 143 00:05:46.450 --> 00:05:49.510 subtitles or have sign language interpreters at a 144 00:05:49.510 --> 00:05:51.750 live event, then have that. 145 00:05:52.770 --> 00:05:54.790 It always was great to me how in 146 00:05:54.790 --> 00:05:57.430 Korean political debates, there would be a live 147 00:05:57.430 --> 00:05:57.890 interpreter. 148 00:05:59.030 --> 00:06:01.270 And that's even better than closed captioning because 149 00:06:01.270 --> 00:06:05.670 Newsflash, nobody wants to read nonstop. 150 00:06:05.930 --> 00:06:07.710 It doesn't matter if you have normal hearing 151 00:06:07.710 --> 00:06:08.210 or not. 152 00:06:08.290 --> 00:06:11.030 You don't want to just read that nonstop. 153 00:06:11.170 --> 00:06:13.010 It's also not the way you communicate with 154 00:06:13.010 --> 00:06:13.330 people. 155 00:06:13.430 --> 00:06:15.150 It's just, it's almost like a different language. 156 00:06:15.850 --> 00:06:18.270 Well, it's not just, it is. 157 00:06:18.770 --> 00:06:22.150 The syntax, the grammar of American sign language 158 00:06:22.150 --> 00:06:25.470 is different from other sign languages, even if 159 00:06:25.470 --> 00:06:27.650 those are Anglophone countries. 160 00:06:28.110 --> 00:06:29.630 Sign language is its own thing. 161 00:06:29.870 --> 00:06:31.530 And when you have a little bubble in 162 00:06:31.530 --> 00:06:32.930 the corner, and we can do that now 163 00:06:32.930 --> 00:06:34.870 with HDTV quite easily. 164 00:06:35.290 --> 00:06:37.530 You can send somebody a live feed, a 165 00:06:37.530 --> 00:06:40.430 camera, somebody who's doing live sign language interpretation 166 00:06:40.430 --> 00:06:41.430 of what people say. 167 00:06:41.910 --> 00:06:42.990 That's really great. 168 00:06:43.540 --> 00:06:45.670 And while I'm on the topic of Korean 169 00:06:45.670 --> 00:06:49.310 TV, something that I appreciate as somebody who's 170 00:06:49.310 --> 00:06:52.270 much better at reading Korean than hearing Korean 171 00:06:52.270 --> 00:06:57.050 is that it's standard to have subtitles, captioning -- 172 00:06:57.110 --> 00:06:57.870 whatever you want to say. 173 00:06:58.460 --> 00:07:01.970 There is a text form whenever somebody's speaking 174 00:07:01.970 --> 00:07:03.130 on the news. 175 00:07:03.170 --> 00:07:04.230 It's just standard. 176 00:07:04.430 --> 00:07:08.490 An interview, an announcer, you're going to have 177 00:07:08.490 --> 00:07:10.310 subtitles for many things. 178 00:07:10.870 --> 00:07:13.070 It makes it more accessible, 179 00:07:13.470 --> 00:07:15.190 something that makes a huge difference. 180 00:07:15.710 --> 00:07:18.130 When you're able to be aware of what's 181 00:07:18.130 --> 00:07:20.930 going on around you, when you're able to 182 00:07:20.930 --> 00:07:24.950 stay up to date on various events, you 183 00:07:24.950 --> 00:07:26.470 can participate in society. 184 00:07:26.970 --> 00:07:28.890 I was not a citizen, so I didn't 185 00:07:28.890 --> 00:07:31.150 have, for example, as you would see in 186 00:07:31.150 --> 00:07:32.690 the USA, jury duty. 187 00:07:33.910 --> 00:07:37.750 But when you have trials without sign language 188 00:07:37.750 --> 00:07:41.570 interpretation, "Oh, whatever, you're hard of hearing, you're 189 00:07:41.570 --> 00:07:42.890 excused, you don't have to serve." 190 00:07:43.670 --> 00:07:45.610 Well, sometimes you do want to serve, or 191 00:07:45.610 --> 00:07:50.410 maybe you'd like to have somebody wonder, oh, 192 00:07:50.490 --> 00:07:52.130 maybe he or she will be on the 193 00:07:52.130 --> 00:07:52.410 jury. 194 00:07:52.970 --> 00:07:55.910 It's nice to feel part of society, not 195 00:07:55.910 --> 00:07:58.710 a special charity case all the time. 196 00:07:59.350 --> 00:08:00.850 Why can't we do that in more places? 197 00:08:01.510 --> 00:08:03.930 You know, just the courthouse itself, I mentioned 198 00:08:03.930 --> 00:08:06.750 sign language, but you could also have ramps. 199 00:08:06.830 --> 00:08:08.870 And I don't mean ramps that you put 200 00:08:08.870 --> 00:08:11.250 off to the side, oh, well, technically there's 201 00:08:11.250 --> 00:08:12.630 also a ramp here, it's where we get 202 00:08:12.630 --> 00:08:14.850 deliveries, and also people who use wheelchairs can 203 00:08:14.850 --> 00:08:15.250 use that. 204 00:08:15.670 --> 00:08:15.870 No. 205 00:08:16.930 --> 00:08:19.430 Why does the front have to be such 206 00:08:19.430 --> 00:08:22.490 that it tells anybody with physical challenges, you're 207 00:08:22.490 --> 00:08:23.210 not welcome here? 208 00:08:24.250 --> 00:08:26.730 It's not for nothing that as a result 209 00:08:26.730 --> 00:08:29.470 of civil rights movements, we no longer had 210 00:08:29.470 --> 00:08:32.390 segregated water fountains or entrances. 211 00:08:33.090 --> 00:08:34.610 That's a thing in a lot of old 212 00:08:34.610 --> 00:08:38.710 houses, not just racially, but class-wise too. 213 00:08:39.230 --> 00:08:42.049 "Oh, that's where the help comes, that's for 214 00:08:42.049 --> 00:08:44.530 the help, that entrance, that exit, that back 215 00:08:44.530 --> 00:08:49.530 side entrance, the nice regal front entrance, that's 216 00:08:49.530 --> 00:08:51.070 for the well-to-do." 217 00:08:51.770 --> 00:08:52.870 That's why I care. 218 00:08:53.550 --> 00:08:54.430 Now what do I do? 219 00:08:55.030 --> 00:08:58.150 I make a decision every time I produce 220 00:08:58.150 --> 00:09:02.990 content to have transcripts for the audio content 221 00:09:02.990 --> 00:09:07.030 and to have audio voiceovers for the essays. 222 00:09:07.850 --> 00:09:10.850 I don't want to make the content just 223 00:09:10.850 --> 00:09:11.890 for one audience. 224 00:09:12.570 --> 00:09:14.110 People might say, "Oh, it's just a minority, 225 00:09:14.110 --> 00:09:16.090 who cares. It's just a small thing." 226 00:09:16.230 --> 00:09:18.370 And yeah, maybe it is, but as I've 227 00:09:18.370 --> 00:09:20.010 said, they have a lot of other things 228 00:09:20.010 --> 00:09:20.810 in life that are hard. 229 00:09:21.050 --> 00:09:23.030 I don't want to add to that inconvenience. 230 00:09:23.030 --> 00:09:24.190 Why should I? 231 00:09:26.270 --> 00:09:29.090 And we don't have to think about disabilities 232 00:09:29.090 --> 00:09:31.050 as a total binary. 233 00:09:31.350 --> 00:09:34.870 Oh, you're completely blind or you can see 234 00:09:34.870 --> 00:09:36.430 perfectly without eyeglasses. 235 00:09:37.270 --> 00:09:40.610 Oh, you can hear perfectly or you're deaf 236 00:09:40.610 --> 00:09:41.170 as a post. 237 00:09:41.450 --> 00:09:43.330 No, there is a line in between. 238 00:09:43.550 --> 00:09:46.650 And we also have people who learn languages. 239 00:09:47.730 --> 00:09:49.810 Korea was a lot more accessible to me 240 00:09:49.810 --> 00:09:53.150 because of all the subtitling everywhere. 241 00:09:53.890 --> 00:09:55.790 If somebody is not a native speaker of 242 00:09:55.790 --> 00:09:58.820 English, yeah, maybe that person can catch 80% 243 00:09:58.820 --> 00:10:00.350 of an audio broadcast. 244 00:10:00.990 --> 00:10:03.150 But if there are subtitles to read along, 245 00:10:03.630 --> 00:10:06.170 maybe that person will get 98%. 246 00:10:06.790 --> 00:10:08.870 You know, if you can do the subtitles, 247 00:10:09.070 --> 00:10:10.270 if you can do the transcripts, then why 248 00:10:10.270 --> 00:10:10.550 not? 249 00:10:11.250 --> 00:10:13.870 The excuse for not doing it is going 250 00:10:13.870 --> 00:10:17.250 away very quickly as we see these advancements 251 00:10:17.250 --> 00:10:21.510 in chatbots or LLMs or generative AI, whatever 252 00:10:21.510 --> 00:10:22.330 you want to call it. 253 00:10:22.750 --> 00:10:25.650 I actually wish AI had gone more in 254 00:10:25.650 --> 00:10:26.190 that direction. 255 00:10:26.670 --> 00:10:33.090 Unfortunately, the money is going towards plagiarizing art, 256 00:10:33.650 --> 00:10:37.770 plagiarizing written work, giving confident but false information, 257 00:10:38.830 --> 00:10:42.330 or doing things that will make it feasible 258 00:10:42.330 --> 00:10:44.150 for you to fire your secretary. 259 00:10:45.430 --> 00:10:47.050 That's what AI is doing now. 260 00:10:47.430 --> 00:10:50.470 There's not as much money in subtitling, live 261 00:10:50.470 --> 00:10:53.830 transcriptions, etc., but it's good enough for a 262 00:10:53.830 --> 00:10:54.470 lot of purposes. 263 00:10:55.650 --> 00:10:58.590 I see, unfortunately, an abuse of AI. 264 00:10:58.990 --> 00:11:02.230 Well, there's a big one with NaNoWriMo. 265 00:11:02.750 --> 00:11:05.470 NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. 266 00:11:05.850 --> 00:11:09.110 Every November, this organization puts on a Novel 267 00:11:09.110 --> 00:11:09.790 Writing Month. 268 00:11:10.090 --> 00:11:11.290 I don't want to go over all the 269 00:11:11.290 --> 00:11:14.210 details, but suffice it to say, this organization, 270 00:11:14.730 --> 00:11:17.570 as of April 2025, is shutting down. 271 00:11:18.390 --> 00:11:22.710 Its most recent contest last fall had this 272 00:11:22.710 --> 00:11:27.750 controversial inclusion of AI or promotion of AI, 273 00:11:27.970 --> 00:11:28.770 whatever you want to say. 274 00:11:28.770 --> 00:11:31.510 The organization was okay with having more AI 275 00:11:31.510 --> 00:11:34.250 in the generation of content. 276 00:11:34.760 --> 00:11:36.510 If you know about AI and how it 277 00:11:36.510 --> 00:11:40.210 works, you will know that it trains itself 278 00:11:40.210 --> 00:11:42.710 by looking at existing material. 279 00:11:43.390 --> 00:11:46.930 That has its own ethical issues, of course, 280 00:11:47.270 --> 00:11:50.510 but what was really strange was NaNoWriMo justified 281 00:11:50.510 --> 00:11:54.250 its position by saying, "Oh, you don't want 282 00:11:54.250 --> 00:11:57.390 to be classist or ableist and be anti-AI. 283 00:11:57.390 --> 00:11:57.391 to be classist or ableist and be anti-AI. 284 00:11:58.470 --> 00:12:01.710 Well, is the implication here that you need 285 00:12:01.710 --> 00:12:04.190 AI to write for you because if you 286 00:12:04.190 --> 00:12:08.070 are blind, you can't write well, you can't 287 00:12:08.070 --> 00:12:09.690 come up with good stories, you don't feel 288 00:12:09.690 --> 00:12:10.570 human emotions? 289 00:12:10.890 --> 00:12:13.770 I don't know what they were thinking because 290 00:12:13.770 --> 00:12:16.630 that was -- it was bizarre. 291 00:12:16.930 --> 00:12:18.650 I don't know if they're trying to do 292 00:12:18.650 --> 00:12:21.510 damage control or what, but it did not 293 00:12:21.510 --> 00:12:22.070 go over well. 294 00:12:22.070 --> 00:12:25.370 It was not surprising that the organization folded 295 00:12:25.370 --> 00:12:26.550 a few months later. 296 00:12:27.010 --> 00:12:29.170 It's in the process as of this recording 297 00:12:29.170 --> 00:12:31.870 to go away. 298 00:12:32.090 --> 00:12:34.250 Now if we were talking about AI tools 299 00:12:34.250 --> 00:12:37.090 being allowed in the contest of, oh, this 300 00:12:37.090 --> 00:12:42.550 is helping people who maybe don't have the 301 00:12:42.550 --> 00:12:44.470 same mobility with their hands, they don't have 302 00:12:44.470 --> 00:12:48.230 dexterous, had a hand amputated, maybe they are 303 00:12:48.230 --> 00:12:50.890 low vision and they would like to be 304 00:12:50.890 --> 00:12:53.130 able to talk to the computer, you know, 305 00:12:53.190 --> 00:12:54.650 the feature is now, why can't we do 306 00:12:54.650 --> 00:12:54.890 that? 307 00:12:55.110 --> 00:12:56.970 Well, for a lot of things, we can 308 00:12:56.970 --> 00:12:58.710 just talk to the computer, have the computer 309 00:12:58.710 --> 00:12:59.770 dictate back to you. 310 00:13:00.110 --> 00:13:02.710 That would have been great, but that wasn't 311 00:13:02.710 --> 00:13:04.930 really what the controversy was about. 312 00:13:04.990 --> 00:13:08.450 It was about AI in general, which unfortunately 313 00:13:08.450 --> 00:13:11.370 at this point is probably more bad than 314 00:13:11.370 --> 00:13:12.570 good for the creative arts. 315 00:13:13.470 --> 00:13:15.930 Now that struck me as a bad-faith 316 00:13:15.930 --> 00:13:16.350 argument. 317 00:13:16.350 --> 00:13:19.990 It was maybe a cost-cutting measure, but 318 00:13:19.990 --> 00:13:24.830 it was something that the people who run 319 00:13:24.830 --> 00:13:26.850 NaNoWriMo wanted to do. 320 00:13:26.990 --> 00:13:28.670 They just wanted to do it anyway. 321 00:13:29.050 --> 00:13:31.170 And then when they got pushback, there's 322 00:13:31.170 --> 00:13:33.650 the accusation that, oh, if you're against this, 323 00:13:33.750 --> 00:13:37.870 you're being ableist, you're being classist, you're doing 324 00:13:37.870 --> 00:13:38.450 XYZ. 325 00:13:38.610 --> 00:13:40.870 It's really co-opting the language of the 326 00:13:40.870 --> 00:13:44.350 social justice movements, but that's not the only 327 00:13:44.350 --> 00:13:46.850 time we hear bad faith arguments. 328 00:13:46.950 --> 00:13:50.850 That's like disabilities or people with disabilities, or 329 00:13:50.850 --> 00:13:53.010 if they really want to sound progressive, they 330 00:13:53.010 --> 00:13:54.790 might use other terminology. 331 00:13:55.670 --> 00:13:56.730 The pattern is the same. 332 00:13:57.770 --> 00:14:02.910 You see or you hear an organization using 333 00:14:02.910 --> 00:14:05.850 language that sounds progressive and is trying to 334 00:14:05.850 --> 00:14:08.690 shame critics by saying, "Oh, they're not progressive; 335 00:14:08.810 --> 00:14:11.070 they're heartless, this, that, the other thing," 336 00:14:11.270 --> 00:14:15.770 when really they have ulterior motives. I don't 337 00:14:15.770 --> 00:14:20.830 know what the exact goal was for NaNoWriMo. 338 00:14:21.430 --> 00:14:24.770 So, I'm just talking about what seemed to 339 00:14:24.770 --> 00:14:25.450 be the case. 340 00:14:26.030 --> 00:14:30.610 It seemed as if NaNoWriMo wanted to incorporate 341 00:14:30.610 --> 00:14:33.750 some AI tools or give them a blessing. 342 00:14:33.750 --> 00:14:37.970 And then after the fact, after the pushback 343 00:14:37.970 --> 00:14:41.610 said, "Oh, it's about accessibility." Well, we see 344 00:14:41.610 --> 00:14:44.250 the same thing with the way we design 345 00:14:44.250 --> 00:14:46.330 roads, the way we design streets, the way 346 00:14:46.330 --> 00:14:48.970 we design the built environment, the shops you 347 00:14:48.970 --> 00:14:50.230 go to, all of that. 348 00:14:50.630 --> 00:14:52.570 People may say, "Oh, well, you know, not 349 00:14:52.570 --> 00:14:54.690 everybody can walk, not everybody can ride a 350 00:14:54.690 --> 00:14:54.870 bike. 351 00:14:55.170 --> 00:14:58.400 So, it's more accessible to make everything 352 00:14:58.400 --> 00:14:58.850 car-dependent." 353 00:14:59.290 --> 00:15:01.770 Now, that's clearly from somebody who's just not 354 00:15:01.770 --> 00:15:05.050 familiar with somebody who uses a wheelchair. 355 00:15:05.650 --> 00:15:08.730 Yes, there are custom minivans and yes, for 356 00:15:08.730 --> 00:15:11.710 a lot of long distance trips in many 357 00:15:11.710 --> 00:15:14.850 parts of North America, it's more feasible to 358 00:15:14.850 --> 00:15:18.730 get a specially modified van and have an 359 00:15:18.730 --> 00:15:22.170 elevator or hand controls, whatever it takes and 360 00:15:22.170 --> 00:15:24.390 use that because there may not be a 361 00:15:24.390 --> 00:15:27.990 train from Montana to Minnesota that you can 362 00:15:27.990 --> 00:15:28.290 ride. 363 00:15:28.290 --> 00:15:29.370 I get that. 364 00:15:30.230 --> 00:15:34.350 But for ordinary life, having more cars, more 365 00:15:34.350 --> 00:15:36.770 car dependency does not help much. 366 00:15:37.710 --> 00:15:40.170 The custom van that you need to run 367 00:15:40.170 --> 00:15:41.310 every single errand. 368 00:15:42.330 --> 00:15:44.670 Well, when everything's really far apart in your 369 00:15:44.670 --> 00:15:46.090 town, you're going to have to get in 370 00:15:46.090 --> 00:15:49.610 that van for every errand -- post office, bank, 371 00:15:49.910 --> 00:15:50.990 corner store -- everything. 372 00:15:51.270 --> 00:15:54.630 And when you have more car dependency, you've 373 00:15:54.630 --> 00:15:58.610 got everybody driving more, and everybody's competing for 374 00:15:58.610 --> 00:15:59.650 the parking spaces. 375 00:16:00.330 --> 00:16:01.070 Let me be clear. 376 00:16:01.530 --> 00:16:03.510 When I'm talking about getting rid of car 377 00:16:03.510 --> 00:16:06.170 dependency, I'm not talking about banning cars. 378 00:16:06.310 --> 00:16:09.770 I'm talking about making it so that not 379 00:16:09.770 --> 00:16:13.310 everybody has to drive for every single thing. 380 00:16:14.350 --> 00:16:17.370 This will free up space for people who 381 00:16:17.370 --> 00:16:19.250 do need cars. 382 00:16:19.790 --> 00:16:22.890 Many of us cannot drive safely or choose 383 00:16:22.890 --> 00:16:25.430 not to drive or can't afford a car 384 00:16:25.430 --> 00:16:28.390 or want to not have a car for 385 00:16:28.390 --> 00:16:29.770 any reason at all -- 386 00:16:29.870 --> 00:16:30.570 it doesn't matter. 387 00:16:30.950 --> 00:16:32.490 I don't have a pilot's license. 388 00:16:32.810 --> 00:16:34.350 I do have a driver's license for a 389 00:16:34.350 --> 00:16:36.790 car, but it would be kind of silly 390 00:16:36.790 --> 00:16:39.030 to expect me to learn how to fly 391 00:16:39.030 --> 00:16:40.850 a helicopter and to use that to run 392 00:16:40.850 --> 00:16:41.570 all my errands. 393 00:16:42.950 --> 00:16:44.310 What makes the car so different? 394 00:16:45.110 --> 00:16:48.050 I really don't see how it helps when 395 00:16:48.050 --> 00:16:52.210 you separate the businesses, when every store at 396 00:16:52.210 --> 00:16:54.570 a strip mall is so far apart that 397 00:16:54.570 --> 00:16:57.790 it's like a 200-foot walk from one store 398 00:16:57.790 --> 00:16:58.430 to the next. 399 00:16:58.590 --> 00:17:01.910 You're telling people, "Oh, OK, walk across this 400 00:17:01.910 --> 00:17:03.230 hot blacktop in the sun." 401 00:17:03.550 --> 00:17:06.849