30 Days of MD: Jessica Oddi

by Kevin Schaefer | September 1, 2020

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Day 1 of 30 Days of MD Topic: Accessibility and MD This is @oddi.jessica’s story: I've had a form of MD since birth. Disability was a driving force behind most of my life decisions. It led me to a career in graphic design. It allowed me to better understand empathy, and look through the world with a unique lens. It introduced me to a beautiful community with brilliant and powerful individuals. The more I connected to disabled folk, the more I began to implement advocacy into my career. I wanted to bridge the gap between design and accessibility. I learned various ways to make design and web more accessible. In doing so, I also became more aware of the beautiful diversity within our own community. And I quickly realized the necessity to advocate beyond an MD perspective. Those with MD (or even wheelchair users in general) tend to dominate disabled representation. But the need for access is universal. It's more than just ramps or wheelchair access. It's captioning, audio descriptions, using direct language, noting sarcasm and tone, and SO much more. It's celebrating our diversity and holding space for each and every one of us. I want to hold pride for my MD experience, and at the same time, I want to open the conversation about accessibility beyond it. #MDAwarenessMonth #MDAwareness #30DaysofMD

A post shared by MDNewsToday (@mdnewstoday) on Sep 1, 2020 at 7:22am PDT