I came across this quote:
Your net productivity is the balance of the productive and unproductive forces in your life.
A great deal of time and energy is spent thinking about how to increase effort, but there is a lot to be gained by reducing friction.
A car will travel faster not only if you press the accelerator, but also if you remove the speed bumps.
This made me ponder on how, not what, I deliver to clients. Remote work is becoming the norm or has been made more convenient. As well as the corporate landscape has shifted and become more remote. There are technological advances making things more accessible and convenient. For example, there are video conferencing platforms. In the case of providing remote interpreting services, not all platforms are well-suited for the users.
To date, Zoom has been a favourable platform for users because of its multi-pinning capability. When screens are being shared, Sign Language interpreters are still visible while allowing users the flexibility to adjust the size. Whereas MS Teams, get pushed to the smaller screens. (If this has changed at the time of reading this, please let me know!) I’m aware there are other platforms like WebEx, GoToMeeting, etc. With that being said, there are too many variables since companies have to choose platforms that based on privacy or security reasons. This causes inconsistency, unpredictability, and uncertainty for the users and providers involved. This then compromises the quality and creates varying expectations of the services provided. For example, when I set up meetings with clients with interpreters, they provide the platform their organization or company uses. Often, they don’t realize the journey or the experience of the users would be wildly varied because of the varying platforms.
As a Deaf user myself, this journey is all too familiar whereas it is new for hearing users who never had to think about this. Even more so, when they are the ones that are using the platform, they are not familiar with setting things up ensuring interpreters are to remain visible. I can imagine they’d feel burdened by this as it’s typically new to them and stressful for them to manage. This is where I come in. Regardless of the car you have, I’ll ensure the road is smoothened for everyone on the road to ensure the accessibility journey is a smooth one.