Inside the Little Plastic Castle

kestrell linked me to the most eloquent sheribyrnehaber’s concise dive into why disabled people’s days have a different length than non-disabled people. I noticed her newer article Are bad graphical descriptions better than no graphical descriptions to someone with vision loss?. Her answer is basically, "no."

Given that a month ago I was whining about the "Accessibility Overlay" racket, accessiBe in particular. I was very pleased to see Sheri Byrne-Haber join with 200 other folks working in accessibility on the Overlay Fact Sheet.

This essay explores time's dimensions for someone who speaks with an alphabet board. I'll admit my first thought was "better assistive tech!" and the Australian writer, Anne McDonald, tells me exactly why that's a bad idea.

Crip Time by Anne McDonald

begin quote  ... my time is different from yours in a more important way. Imagine a world twenty times slower than this — a world where cars travelled at three miles an hour, lifesavers took an hour to chew, a glass of water half an hour to drink. Pissing would take quarter of an hour, lovemaking longer than it does now (which might be a good thing). A sitcom like Rosanne would run for ten hours, longer than Hamlet and Lear combined. quote ends

http://www.annemcdonaldcentre.org.au/crip-time

Anne McDonald was one of the fortunate few who got out of a total institution for disabled people. She was a vibrant advocate until her death in 2010, and you can see lots of her essays here:
http://www.annemcdonaldcentre.org.au/anne-mcdonald-writings

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It seems that every group has a $SubculturalNameHere time.

I think of crip time as having to rely on people following mystery schedules. My experience is mostly with paratransit: when I can't take the city bus, I must plan every event in my day with 30-minute windows before and after to allow for late rides. Most of the time that means I'm very early, but I learned in my first wheelchair year to always have reading material along. Many times the driver has been 30 minutes early, and I have to leave whatever or miss the ride.

What's your experience of crip time?