There’s having patience and problem-solving ability, and there’s not seeing the value in jumping through the various hoops that comprise some ‘90s Internet fetishist’s playground.

This is all just code for “I’m old, set in my ways, and don’t appreciate the fact that the only reason I find my workflow easier is because I know it, not because it’s more intuitive than what people are doing these days”.

Things being this complicated makes them a non-starter. A nerd vanity project.

And this isn’t a knock on the “intelligence” of the general population. They quite rightfully won’t want to spend their limited time on God’s earth learning about all this.

Screen readers are a bit of a lightning rod for accessible technology interest, almost entirely because most people have some sort of sick curiosity. “How can someone use a computer so differently to the way that I do!?”. Of course, most of these people stop here, never bothering to try using a screen reader to navigate whatever they’re making. They might open VoiceOver, realise they don’t know how to intuitively use it, and fumble around with trying to close it again. This tends to have the effect of sucking any motivation out of the room. Most people won’t then go and meaningfully improve their screen reader experience, but they also won’t think to address any other accessibility shortcomings, especially visual ones, because “blind people use screen readers!” Is the pervasive meme.

This is part of why I am all in all so happy with how Apple has been going in this space lately. An obvious result of co-design / consultation, or dare I say it…hiring people with disabilities. Addressing accessibility concerns that the stereotypical SV techie has never even heard of.