{"id":15270,"date":"2025-05-26T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/?p=15270"},"modified":"2025-05-25T21:18:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T01:18:58","slug":"confronted-by-privilege","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/confronted-by-privilege\/","title":{"rendered":"Confronted by Privilege"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div>\n<p>Last week, I was able to attend the GSA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.section508.gov\/iaaf\/\">Interagency Accessibility Forum<\/a> (IAAF) virtually. I learned about it while doing research for an accessibility series I&#8217;m putting together for work. This was my first year attending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because I found out about it on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.section508.gov\">Section508.gov<\/a>, I expected it to be a more learning-based event. Instead, it was more like a professional conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I did learn a lot, including about some very interesting technology and tools in the works. But, I was also smacked in the face with my own, unacknowledged, privilege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m aware that Jim and I are highly fortunate we live a comfortable, mostly white, middle-class life and everything that goes with that. What I don&#8217;t usually consider is my privilege as a mostly able-bodied person. My vision is still correctable to 20\/20 with corrective lenses; I don&#8217;t have any hearing loss; I don&#8217;t have any speaking disfluencies. Those facts offer me <em>a lot<\/em> of privilege that I don&#8217;t generally think about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The IAAF, especially on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.section508.gov\/iaaf\/archives\/agenda-2025\/\">day one<\/a>, had presentations that made me realize how much I take for granted. We learned about two new applications that are aiming to provide indoor navigation assistance to people with visual disabilities, in development by <a href=\"https:\/\/engineering.lehigh.edu\/news\/article\/new-technology-navigating-great-indoors\">Lehigh University<\/a> \u2014 presented by Dr. Vinod Namboodiri \u2014 the other by NYU \u2014 presented by <a href=\"https:\/\/med.nyu.edu\/faculty\/johnross-rizzo\">Dr. JohnRoss Rizzo<\/a>. The latter even warns when there are obstacles in the user&#8217;s path and how to avoid them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We also learned about a Voice AI model \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heardai.ai\/\">Heard AI<\/a> \u2014 being trained on speech with disfluencies \u2014 e.g., stuttering, lengthy pauses \u2014 to help with captioning, robotic call processing, AI assistants, etc. Their first version reduced transcription errors by an average of 59.94%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was the first time I&#8217;d given either issues real thought, in <em>37 years<\/em>. I felt \u2014 and feel \u2014rather embarrassed about that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don&#8217;t have the skills necessary to help with development, or to make my own apps. But, I can share the work that other amazing people have done. And, I can keep up my web and document accessibility work and research. In a world that doesn&#8217;t generally put accessibility first, I need to make more of an effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Have you heard about any of these tools? What about other upcoming technologies or tools? Let me know in the comments! I&#8217;d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thanks for reading to the end, I hope you enjoyed my post. Make sure to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.us16.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=d9c28d9c11226013eb8c0544e&amp;id=fb56c60d55\">subscribe to my blog<\/a>&nbsp;or&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/randomly_._rachel\/\">follow me on Instagram<\/a>&nbsp;so you don\u2019t miss any posts. I generally post at least once a week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At a professional conference last week, I was confronted with my privilege, and how little I think about or acknowledge it.<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/confronted-by-privilege\/\">Keep Reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Confronted by Privilege<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-me","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/privilege_featured.jpg?fit=288%2C288&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Z77k-3Yi","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8134,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/making-pen-shows-accessible\/","url_meta":{"origin":15270,"position":0},"title":"Making Pen Shows Accessible","author":"Rachel","date":"August 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"After receiving some comments about accessibility on a 2022 DC Pen Show post, I'm dedicating this post to some thoughts on pen show accessibility.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pen Shows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pen Shows","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/pen-shows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/accessible_IGSm-e1661515947492.jpg?fit=288%2C288&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11349,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/london-pen-show-2023\/","url_meta":{"origin":15270,"position":1},"title":"2023 Autumn London Pen Show","author":"Rachel","date":"October 13, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Another new show for me, the London Pen Show! Find out what it's like. Per usual, I review layout, selection, price, and accessibility.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pen Shows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pen Shows","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/pen-shows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The show entrance","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20231008_131248_copy_1080x504.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20231008_131248_copy_1080x504.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20231008_131248_copy_1080x504.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20231008_131248_copy_1080x504.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/20231008_131248_copy_1080x504.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10530,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/stl-show-2023\/","url_meta":{"origin":15270,"position":2},"title":"2023 St. Louis Pen Show","author":"Rachel","date":"June 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim and I attended the St. Louis Pen Show this year! Find out what I thought and see my ratings for the usual categories.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pen Shows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pen Shows","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/pen-shows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"photograph of the map of the show floor posted at the show entrance","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230624_154637-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230624_154637-scaled.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230624_154637-scaled.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230624_154637-scaled.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230624_154637-scaled.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20230624_154637-scaled.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8459,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/scriptus-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":15270,"position":3},"title":"2022 Scriptus Pen and Writing Show","author":"Rachel","date":"November 4, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I went to Scriptus this year, and it was an experience! And, of course I had to review the show. Find out what I thought.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Pen Shows&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Pen Shows","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/pen-shows\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The crowded Epic section of Scriptus.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/313095467_868228677697016_702078319481319218_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/313095467_868228677697016_702078319481319218_n.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/313095467_868228677697016_702078319481319218_n.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/313095467_868228677697016_702078319481319218_n.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3898,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/review-duel-meryton\/","url_meta":{"origin":15270,"position":4},"title":"Review &#8211; A Duel in Meryton","author":"Rachel","date":"February 14, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Read my review for *A Duel in Meryton* by Renata McMann and Summer Hanford","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Book Blogger&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Book Blogger","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/book-blogger\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Duel In Meryton","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/adim.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14137,"url":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/sps-spotlight-lana\/","url_meta":{"origin":15270,"position":5},"title":"SPS Series: Spotlight on Lana le Roux","author":"Rachel","date":"November 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"My Stanford Pen Studio series continues with artist Lana le Roux. Enjoy learning more about her and her beautiful layered works.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Fountain Pens&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Fountain Pens","link":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/category\/stationery\/fountain-pens\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cheese wheel wedding cake","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/image-175084.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/image-175084.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/image-175084.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/image-175084.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/image-175084.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/image-175084.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15270"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15300,"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15270\/revisions\/15300"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racheldelafuente.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}