I get this. It's one thing to have a diverse workplace and stuff, but it's another to be used like a freakshow or a token 'Look at our BLIND PERSON! We're so INCLUSIVE! We have a DISABLED!!'

I'd be pissed off and fed up with it myself.

Also, you're not working for them as a disability/access consultant. You're a software engineer. I don't care that you're on the disability/inclusion committee. If they're using your time, knowledge and experience as a Blind Person, then they need to be paying you for that as well. I don't care if it's only in your work hours. It's not in your job description. They don't get extra work from you because you're blind without having to pay for it. They wouldn't try it with Macy the single mom if they wanted to know how to make X more kid-friendly.

Please do your best to ensure they aren't being allowed to take advantage of you.

Yeah, I've had a similar experience. Like you in many situations, I'm the "only one." What I've come to realize is my own energy and well-being are important. If I don't feel I have the spoons to spare, I don't. If I feel like I'm window dressing or nothing will come out of these initiatives, I bow out. It's a hard thing to do because if you do bow out, you also have to reconcile yourself to the outcome without you. Be well.

Ooh, as a legally blind, 43yr old software engineer who is also a founding member of my company's diversity, equity and inclusion committee, this is a topic on which I can relate and have opinions!

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>As far as the broader diversity and inclusion stuff though, while I do support it, there’s this idea of being your authentic self, dwelling basically on your differences.

Yeah, this feels like kind of the wrong approach, but the language is 100% familiar.

My take on it (and the company's take) is not to dwell on it, so to speak, but to acknowledge it and create safe spaces where people don't have to hide some aspect of themselves that is important to them. There are a lot of ways to do this; diversity training, affinity groups, awareness training, guest speakers, various leadership programs ("Dare to Lead" comes to mind), etc.

But equally as important, no one should feel pressured to be performative about whatever minority group(s) they belong to, either. They shouldn't feel pressured in any way to be focusing energy that they don't want to exert on their age, gender, sexuality, race, religion, ethnicity, etc.

People should be able to exist anywhere on that spectrum of "quietly going about my day" to "loud and proud" and feel equally safe, comfortable, and respected doing so.

It's also not their responsibility to educate the rest of the company (though they're certainly welcome to if they want to).

Honestly though, the most important part, I think (and the part missing from your language) is the equity. Equity is not equality, or inclusiveness, but it's where committees like this can make the biggest impact in ways that actually change lives for the better.

As to your particular personal situation, I and my other blind co-worker have made it clear that we're not there to be accessibility consultants. We're not there to tell everyone how it's done or to QA how accessible our product features are or aren't. We're engineers who are there to solve engineering problems. How to make something accessible might be a part of that, but we're no more responsible for it than anyone else on the engineering team. True, we are more cognizant of the need for it sometimes, and we do speak up about that, but that doesn't make it our responsibility. Also, as we've done that more and more over time, it's increased the awareness of the other engineers on the team, so we have to do it less and less.

I feel a similar conflict. I like being a part of the representation, and this usually means being the only one in a singular space to represent disabilities. However, I find that this usually leads me to feel a strong pressure to be “perfect“ because everyone is looking at me as a direct definition of a blind person. I need to show independence, I need to show confidence, I need to show capableness… I would like it to be one of my characteristics which people need to keep in mind, but not the only thing they keep in mind. I’m at a new workplace, and my coworkers that I pass in the hall almost solely interact with me in regards to my blindness.

I’m a man living with legal blindness (RP) which I find easier to explain to people as low-vision because otherwise I end up having to give the entire song & dance definition vs. reality, etc. I completely agree with your statement “ I’m tired of being ambassador to all things blind, a science experiment, a novelty, an oddity, a superhero.” I’ve said time and again “Yes, I am a person living with blindness, but it’s not integral to my identity. It doesn’t even rank in the top 5 aspects of how I see myself.”

Oddly in regards to your “rant” I’m in school now to become a Vision Rehabilitation Therapist and our assisted research class is working with one of the leading researchers/therapists in the field of vision rehabilitation therapy on the possibility of developing a tool/widget/app we’re not 100% sure what it’ll flesh out as for universal design/inclusivity for employers, so that things like on-boarding/orientation, hardware & software, HR accessibility, etc works for everyone. We literally just had our first meeting Wednesday so very early stages, but we’re hoping to be able to design something similar to a website AARP developed for Environmental Assessment for vision loss in the aging populatio.

Yea I ain't a fan of it either but we aren't normal. That doesn't mean we should be coddled but the obvious should be kept in mind.

I hate explaining what I have and what it means to have it but I understand the need to do so. When the shit hits the fan I'm gana need a sighted person to assist.

The superhero thing really pisses me off too. TV tropes aren't real. People need to understand that.

Oh god yes. I was basically drummed out of my union because I refused to be the mascot of the diversity and inclusion people, most of whom were basically really unpleasant shouty radical feminists who expected me to just fall into line. There is a real danger that people mistake being strong for just being unpleasant to people and that applies in spades here.

A lot of this is about short term gain, you get to feel you did the right thing and all virtuous and wonderful, but the long term is you end up making yourself look like a useless cripple who can't cope.

Personally I am keen to succeed on exactly the same level as everyone else and I don't want to lie in bed at night wondering if I'm only where I am because I got some sort of handout, and no I definitely do not want to be part of the freak show. Exactly the opposite. I mean, doesn't everyone?

Oh and edit yes I am perpetually the only one, other than the people I mentor I know literally no blind people at all. I didn't when I could see, why would I suddenly now.

This can be exhausting, I sometimes enjoy it, but wish I could turn it off. It especially sucks when I don't have a choice, and am forced to play this role. There is just so little representation in the community. My visual impairment isn't always noticeable to other people especially with remote work which can make me self-conscious that people don't believe me.

I work with a lot of front end developers that have started to be curious about my experience, since they are forced to follow web accessibility standard, but have sometimes never worked with someone who is blind or visually impaired.

I used to want to fade in more, and made my visual impairment my problem, but I have found recently being the squeaky wheel can lead to change in an org, as long as it is not just tokenization 😕.

I don't have a job but I get where you're coming from.