RE: Content Usable pronouns and Tal

  *   I also continue to be concerned about cultural sensitivity - not every culture is as accepting of gender diversity as our increasingly secular Western society, and I believe we need to be mindful of that as well.

Not every culture is accepting of people with disabilities but that has not stopped us from doing our work to promote accessibility for people with disabilities.

Jonathan

From: John Foliot <john@foliot.ca>
Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2021 1:14 PM
To: Rain Michaels <rainb@google.com>
Cc: Laura Carlson <laura.lee.carlson@gmail.com>; Rachael Bradley Montgomery <rachael@accessiblecommunity.org>; Shawn Henry <shawn@w3.org>; WCAG <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>; public-cognitive-a11y-tf <public-cognitive-a11y-tf@w3.org>
Subject: Re: Content Usable pronouns and Tal

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

Hi Rain,

Thanks for this research!! It is quite interesting.

As an additional "option" (consideration?), if we *DO* continue to include the statement that Tal prefers to be identified as they/them/their, what if we include this for *all* of the personas: make it a standard bit of information about all of the personas, not just the one. I think that would help a little in reducing my impression of 'tokenism' ("Look, we've got one of those too!" - yes, that comes off as insensitive, and I do not mean it that way - it's simply an observation that it could be interpreted that way).

I also continue to be concerned about cultural sensitivity - not every culture is as accepting of gender diversity as our increasingly secular Western society, and I believe we need to be mindful of that as well.

Thoughts?

JF

(Related: editorial note - the text currently reads "Tal like to be referred to (pronouns) as they/them/theirs" - should it not be "Tal likes to be referred to (pronouns) as Tal/they/them/theirs" - i.e.the addition of the "s" on "like")

On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 12:26 PM Rain Michaels <rainb@google.com<mailto:rainb@google.com>> wrote:
Hello all,

I'm hoping that my comments below don't further complicate or confuse this conversation, but after reading the conversation that followed, I connected directly with a researcher who has done a lot of work around the intersection of cognitive and gender diversity in order to better understand how important it is that we include a non-binary persona.

This researcher confirmed the following:
·         Choosing to use one's name instead of a pronoun (as Rachael proposed in option 3) is an approach that will be recognized and appreciated by the community we are trying to include, as it is both a personal preference, and also a self-protective preference that offers more subtly.
·         There is a higher than average prevalence of individuals with cognitive difference also identifying as non-binary; these individuals are left out in so many ways that it would be a small and positive gesture for us to include them in the Tal persona.
·         A good resource to help think of the importance of this single move: Gender Dysphoria and People with Intellectual Disability<http://www.intellectualdisability.info/mental-health/articles/gender-dysphoria-and-people-with-intellectual-disability>
Additionally, given the link to the emerging style recommendation from EOWG that Laura referenced<https://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/wiki/Style#Personas_and_use_cases>, and given that we do have many personas, including Tal as a non-binary individual who prefers to be referred to by name feels like an important thing for us to do.

Rain


On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 11:24 AM Laura Carlson <laura.lee.carlson@gmail.com<mailto:laura.lee.carlson@gmail.com>> wrote:
Hi Rachael and all,

I prefer option 1 and 3 combined.

If specifying pronouns in our personas is going to help to promote
diversity, equality, and inclusiveness, we should be doing it.

It seems like the Education & Outreach Working Group (EOWG) may be
working on persona pronouns for the WAI Style Guide:
https://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/wiki/Style#Personas_and_use_cases


Perhaps Shawn may have some guidance for us?

Thank you,

Kind Regards,
Laura

On 3/23/21, Rachael Bradley Montgomery <rachael@accessiblecommunity.org<mailto:rachael@accessiblecommunity.org>> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Thank you for the thoughtful discussion at today's meeting about the plural
> pronoun used in Tal. A resource you can read if this is a new area for you
> is https://www.mypronouns.org/

>
> We discussed the following options:
>
>    1. no change
>    2. add it in 1 or 2 places in the main persona
>    3. Tal like to be referred to (pronouns) as Tal/they/them/theirs
>    4. change the persona to remove gender diversity
>    5. use the pronouns as frequently as would be used naturally
>
> COGA had voted against 5 because of readability and translatability
> challenges and compromised with using the minimal pronouns in option 1.  I
> have created a google document with all of the options at
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/18FabK-X1AgOMPqG2YydOrcyl1d89rHxbcfqso2du1vo/edit#<https://docs.google.com/document/d/18FabK-X1AgOMPqG2YydOrcyl1d89rHxbcfqso2du1vo/edit>
>
> Please take a look and weigh in with your thoughts on how to proceed.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Rachael
> --
> Rachael Montgomery, PhD
> Director, Accessible Community
> rachael@accessiblecommunity.org<mailto:rachael@accessiblecommunity.org>
>
> "I will paint this day with laughter;
> I will frame this night in song."
>  - Og Mandino
>


--
Laura L. Carlson