Developing With Privilege

Privilege in all its forms is a hot-button social issue throughout the political spectrum. Whether we see it or not, it informs everything we do, especially what we as developers build. Recognizing and acknowledging our privileges helps us build better websites and software. In this talk, I’ll outline the various privileges developers benefit from, how to recognize them, and how to factor them in to build software and websites that are truly for everyone.

Transcript

1. DEVELOPING WITH PRIVILEGE WORDCAMP MIAMI 2020
2. ACKNOWLEDGING MY PRIVILEGE
3. DEVELOPING WITH PRIVILEGE ABOUT ME ▸ Freelance WordPress developer through Impossibly Creative ▸ WordPress Orlando organizer since 2014 ▸ Accessibility advocate @AdamSoucie | @impossiblycr8v | #WCMIA
4. DEVELOPING WITH PRIVILEGE ▸ Defining privilege as a concept ▸ Learning how to apply our privileges for good ▸ Practical examples related to code @AdamSoucie | #WCMIA TODAY’S FOCUS
5. DEFINING PRIVILEGE
6. DEVELOPING WITH PRIVILEGE WHAT IS PRIVILEGE? @AdamSoucie | #WCMIA ▸ A special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group ▸ Gender, race, sexuality, financial, able-bodied, and so on…
7. PRIVILEGE IS NOT A FREE PASS
8. DEVELOPING WITH PRIVILEGE THE LADDER DEFINITION ▸ Starting from different points on the same journey ▸ Everyone works hard ▸ Some people’s challenges are harder than yours @AdamSoucie | #WCMIA
9. DEVELOPING WITH PRIVILEGE A FEW STATISTICS ▸ Homicide is the #2 cause of death for young black women ▸ 3 times higher than a white man of the same age ▸ Young black men are 7 times more likely to die before age 20 than white men @AdamSoucie | #WCMIA
10. APPLYING PRIVILEGE FOR GOOD
11. DEVELOPING WITH PRIVILEGE WITH GREAT POWER… @AdamSoucie | #WCMIA ▸ What you DO with your privilege matters. ▸ You have the choice to do good or be selfish
12. ASK THE RIGHT QUESTIONS
13. DEVELOPING WITH PRIVILEGE TWO KEY QUESTIONS @AdamSoucie | #WCMIA ▸ Will this solution actually help the people I’m trying to help? ▸ Can this solution be abused by those with an agenda to actually make things worse?
14. DEVELOPING WITH PRIVILEGE APPLY YOUR PRIVILEGE @AdamSoucie | #WCMIA ▸ Use your voice to RAISE UP others. ▸ Ally is a verb, not a label ▸ Call people on their racism, sexism, misogyny, etc. so that the oppressed don’t have to
15. PUTTING PRIVILEGE INTO PRACTICE
16. DEVELOPING WITH PRIVILEGE ABLE-BODIED PRIVILEGE @AdamSoucie | #WCMIA ▸ Frighteningly overlooked ▸ Affects EVERYONE regardless of race, gender, national origin, financial situation ▸ Possibly a legal issue
17. ACCESSIBLE SHOULD BE THE DEFAULT
18. DEVELOPING WITH PRIVILEGE COLOR CONTRAST @AdamSoucie | #WCMIA ▸ Black and white isn’t the default anymore ▸ Standard varies based on font size ▸ 4.5 to 1, but 3 to 1 for text larger than 18px ▸ https://snook.ca/technical/ colour_contrast/colour.html
19. DEVELOPING WITH PRIVILEGE RESIZABLE TEXT @AdamSoucie | #WCMIA ▸ Gives control to the user ▸ Don’t use pixels for fonts. ▸ Relative units ▸ em ▸ rem ▸ vw/vh
20. DEVELOPING WITH PRIVILEGE SEMANTIC MARKUP & CONTENT @AdamSoucie | #WCMIA ▸ Use the right element, not a random <div> ▸ Helps screen readers process your content ▸ Good for SEO ▸ Gutenberg/Block Editor has a helper
21. DEVELOPING WITH PRIVILEGE TIP OF THE ICEBERG @AdamSoucie | #WCMIA ▸ Can be a complex topic ▸ Legal factors come into play ▸ Not an “option” anymore
22. ANY QUESTIONS?
23. ADAMSOUCIE.COM IMPOSSIBLYCREATIVE.COM @ADAMSOUCIE