Altruism, open education and accessibility

Posted in Sandi's blog on 20 July 2010 | 0 Comments

In this turbulant journey that I am on, trying to make the world a better place for folk of all abilities, I meet plently of interesting people, kind people, charitable people and sometimes people that are not so nice, but on balance, it reamins a very interesting and fulfilling journey indeed.

As I have asserted before, most people who meet me and hear of the advocacy and activism work that I do without any expectation of anything in return, don’t trust it. They think, 'Yeah. Sure. What does she really want?' And if I am ever asked directly, my answer is always the same. I simply want to live in a world where people celebrate each other’s differences.

And so it goes. I troddle along, getting plenty of doors slammed in my face, but the love and support that Mark and Martin provide, my passion and dogged detrmination give me the fortitude to carry on. However, there are certainly times when I wonder if it’s wortth it; working crazy hours against the tide to affect what is probably going to be small changes in the grand scheme of things. But when I was on my recruitment drive for the eAccessibility forum, I met the inimitabe Chris Mills, who has made it absolutely clear that, not only is it worth it, it is a necessity, a must, a responsibility.

If you read this blog with any regularity, you will know that when I do meet people who make a difference, I like to acknowledge them, but rarely do I dedicate an entire blog to one person, because until now, I had not met my match.

Chris is a web evangilist at Opera Software, and has written and edited what seems like every decent book or article under the sun about how to build websites the right way, which is just a tad awe-inspiring to a geek like me. What he is intensely passionate about is Open Web Education, which underpins everything that I believe in about making the internet accessible to all.

And like me, he is a modern hippie, just wanting to right the wrongs of the world, with an open heart and a pure soul. And through the work we are doing together on the eAccessibility forum, I have started to help him find ways to make Open Web Education a reality with a sense of urgency and this has resulted in a sort of meeting of the minds and a strange but somehow comforting intellectual and spiritual bond that I seldom experience.

And so the journey continues, but now with what I suspect will be a regular companion. Thanks for rocking my world, Mr Mills.

0 comments | Tags: Altruism, Open Education, Accessibility