Deaf actress Marlee Matlin calls out Elon Musk’s new “Chief Twit” over diversity concerns on Twitter.
On Thursday, the first Deaf actor to win an Academy Award for his role in “Children of a Lesser God” took to the platform to call out Musk, who gutted Twitter’s Accessibility team after he fired more than half of Twitter’s staff to cut costs.
Marlee Matlin Calls Out Elon Musk For Firing Twitter’s Accessibility Team
My message to @elonmusk and everyone on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/tJuhDAUOjO
— Marlee Matlin (@MarleeMatlin) November 17, 2022
On Thursday, the “CODA” star took over Twitter to write an open letter to Elon Musk “and everyone on Twitter.”
“During my 12 years on Twitter, I have advocated for diversity, equity, inclusion AND accessibility, on behalf of the millions of us who are Deaf, hard of hearing or disabled,” her message began. “This platform has almost leveled the playing field for all of us but, especially, for people like me; this space has evolved into a seamless game changer.”
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“However, with the news of the dismantling of Twitter’s Accessibility Team, I want to ask @elonmusk, (as someone who has self-identified as having an autism spectrum disorder), why are you doing this?” he asked. “Is it time to take a stand on principle and freeze our accounts until this is fixed?”
Given the confusion generated by Musk’s new blue checkmark verification system — which he says will go back into effect on Nov. 29 — Marlee felt it necessary to add, “PS This is the real me.”
Marlee Responds To Users Asking Why Twitter’s Accessibility Team Is Necessary
Hi. thank you for your question. I posted an article from AdWeek that explains what the accessibility team’s dismantling means. It’s more about the future of accessibility rather than the present. Sorry you misunderstood. And thanks again for asking. ?
— Marlee Matlin (@MarleeMatlin) November 18, 2022
One user asked, “It looks to me like the changes on Twitter didn’t affect you at all. You can still post, am I missing something here?”
Marlee replied, “Hey. thank you for your question. I posted an article from AdWeek that explains what the accessibility team’s dismantling means. It’s more about the future of accessibility rather than the present. Sorry you misunderstood. And thanks again for asking.”
Thank you for your question. There was a Tweet where I posted an article from AdWeek explaining what millions of people like me who are Deaf, hard of hearing or disabled depend on social media. Check it out. Thanks again for asking. ?
— Marlee Matlin (@MarleeMatlin) November 18, 2022
When another follower asked why the team was necessary, Marlee replied, “Thank you for your question. There was a Tweet where I posted an article from AdWeek explaining what millions of people like me who are Deaf, hard of hearing or disabled depend on social media. Check it out. Thanks again for asking.”
Captions And Image Alt Text All Thanks To The Accessibility Experience Team
So, the Accessibility Experience Team at Twitter is no more. We have a lot more to do, but we are working hard! Not many people have the opportunity to make an important global platform like Twitter accessible, but we understand the mission.
— Gerard K. Cohen (@gerardkcohen) November 4, 2022
The Adweek article linked by Marlee Matlin is an opinion piece that calls the layoff of the Accessibility Experience Team “a huge blow to the future of accessibility at Twitter.”
In 2016, Twitter introduced alt text for images to help improve accessibility for the visually impaired. After announcing that they would improve in-app accessibility in 2020, Twitter went ahead with adding automatic captions to all video uploads in December 2021.
I am not happy to say that for all intents and purposes, @TwitterA11y is no longer working.
I wish it hadn’t happened – we had too much planned – but here we are. https://t.co/t18SOsy73U
— Andrew Hayward (@arhayward) November 4, 2022
Now that Twitter’s Accessibility Team has been fired, it looks like there won’t be any more projects to help the app become more accessible for people living with disabilities. According to the World Health Organization, at least fifteen percent of the global population lives with some type of disability.
Although Musk fired more than half of his staff to cut costs, eliminating the Accessibility Experience Team may actually hurt him in the long run. Accessible content can lead to advertisers reaching larger audiences and more customers, and with several companies already pulling their ads from Twitter, it seems Musk can’t afford to lose anymore.
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It remains to be seen if Marlee Matlin will join the many other celebrities and users who are leaving the platform. For now, it looks like he’ll hang on and fight to keep Twitter accessible to a diverse audience.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
