[3] The Graphics We Choose:
We're frequently asked why we don't display a bunch of photos or artwork showing disabled people doing stuff. After all, that's what most of the other "disability" websites do.
We sometimes get e-mail and phone calls about this. So here's an answer:
This may come as a revelation for some non-disabled readers, but most people with disabilities don't like to spend much time focusing on their own disability.
We are PEOPLE first ... who happen to have a disability.
It's just an aspect of some people's lives. Like some people have brown skin, or green eyes, or red hair, or blue suede shoes.
Some people have a disability.
No big deal.
And if you're disabled yourself, you already know what a disabled person looks like. Unless you're blind, and then the graphics on our pages probably wouldn't make any difference to you anyway.
And if they do, we provide some pretty good "alternative text" labels and descriptions. Click the picture for an example.
As far as whether we should be doing what the other "disability" websites do, here's another revelation for some of you:
This is NOT a "disability" website.
This is a "Live Life to the Fullest DESPITE Your Disability" website.
We are an Information Service for Disabled Consumers. And whenever you see the phrase "disabled consumers" on our pages, please be advised that this phrase actually means:
"CONSUMERS who happen to have a disability."
So don't expect to see too many "disability" images here, unless related to a quote from someone who's disabled (or a story about them), or somehow relevant to the text on a particular page.
Graphics in any publication, whether in print or on the web, exist to provide a bit of visual interest and to help alleviate the monotony of lengthy text.
Graphics should illustrate or amplify the page's message, or at least relate in some way to the text on the page.
And since we try to NOT focus on being disabled, and don't talk much about being disabled, there's no point in a bunch of gratuitous illustrations of people who are disabled.
Besides, we're too busy locating interesting barrier-free places to go, so you don't have to waste too much time focusing on your disabilities either.
