Fwd:You can start by making all your communications on a grey background asa default. Was Making the European Union (and elsewhere) trulyaccessible. Middle to low contrast Real Universal Design Dark tomiddle grey Arial 20 on a middle to light grey background which doesnot cause sensory overload and potential damage and death toepileptics and others. Attn. Haydn Hammersley Assisted/Supervisedby Alejandro Moledo [Please note that I was unable to alter the formatting beyond these points]. And it remains unalterable in terms of the subject line and also the email to, cc and bcc lines, except possibly if you can change the default colours of the browsers. Andincidentally it is indirectly ageist (against people aged over 40,and even more so against the elderly (65+ (and the very young (priorto mid-20s, before the brain typically reaches a mature stable state,in terms of higher rates of epilepsy amongst them), as well asagainst those lower down on the hierarchy of differences includingimpairments, who are more likely to suffer from sensory overloadchallenges (as well as involuntary physical reactions and involuntarydysregulation in general), including voice hearers, those sufferingfrom other mental health challenges, people with global and/orspecific learning differences, attention deficit and hyperactivitydifferences, autism, dyspraxia and apraxia (of any type), cerebralpalsy, and neurodegenerative conditions.Infact, just about anybody apart from the bureaucratic neuro-elite (the5% who prefer black type on a white background) of wheelchair users,the big and small d "deaf", and of the Blind and Partiallysighted. Sad to say, even the vast majority of the above potentialbeneficiaries do not understand real, not fake, universal design andhow it can include them without excluding others. Attn. AndréFélixCommunicationsManager – European Disability Forumandre.felix@edf-feph.org ----------Forwarded message --------- De: AdrianWhyatt Date: domingo,9/03/2025 à(s) 22:24 Subject: Making the European Union (andelsewhere) truly accessible. Middle to low contrast Real UniversalDesign Dark to middle grey Arial 20 on a middle to light greybackground which does not cause sensory overload and potential damageand death to epileptics and others. Attn. Haydn HammersleyAssisted/Supervised by Alejandro Moledo To: Makingthe European Union (and elsewhere) truly accessible. Middle to lowcontrast Real Universal Design Dark to middle grey Arial 20 on amiddle to light grey background which does not cause sensory overloadand potential damage and death to epileptics and others. Attn. HaydnHammersley Assisted/Supervised by Alejandro Moledo Yourdocument converted to this format: Ihave been resident in Portugal since 2020. I was on the BritishStandards Institution (BSI) Neurodiversity, Cognitive Impairment andAccess to the Built Environment Task Force and the BSI DisabilityExpert Reference Group (DERG) as well as its successor, the BSIAccessibility Committee. Greybackground was the default in computing until commercial interestshijacked computing and its standards,from the 1960s onwards andsought to bling things up to excite people to buy. 95%of the population prefer something other than black type on a whitebackground. A grey background is what can be comfortably read by thegreatest part of the population, especially online. Idiscovered universal design, really, as part of the BSI DERGTraining. But, what I also discovered, independently of this, was howsociety has gone from being very well aware and accommodating, sinceancient times, of the need to combat sensory overload,but generallyvery unaware or at least unwilling to accommodate the needs of peoplewith mobility needs,who are deaf and/or blind or partially sighted,tothe reverse since the 1950s. This has started to meet increasingresistance and attempts to eliminate what has been neuro-exclusion.This is not just a disability or a general population neurodivergenceissue, but is also a racial or ethnic origin issue, in terms ofdirect and indirect discrimination because blue-eyed people, like me,are more sensitive to light than the rest of the population. Inaddition, it is far more common amongst people who areneurodivergent, including those who are brain injury survivors, thanin the rest of the population. Males heavily outnumber females inthis area, though both are grossly under identified. It is also morecommon amongst people who are aged over 40 because of increasedneuro-rigidity. I was diagnosed with scotopic sensitivity at the ageof 41, though I should have been screened far earlier given my knownneurodivergence. I had a skull fracture and consequent traumaticbrain injury at just one month old, but wasn´t informed of it untilI was 29 years and 7 months old. In 2022 I had to invoke the supportof the anti-torture authorities against the University of Coimbra,here in Portugal, to force my needs to be met, despite a greybackground having worked perfectly well in terms of classroom studiesfor almost two years, when applied. Iam now 59. Iattach a somewhat converted copy of the UK Disability RightsCommission (DRC) Neurodiversity and Autism Action Group MajorityReport from 2007, which I proposed and got passed by 9 votes to 7. Ifnon-user-led organisations had been excluded, the vote would havebeen 9 to 1. It built upon other unanimously agreed documents, like aflea upon a flea. So,I´m attaching a copy of this as well. Suitably modified. Bestwishes, Adrian

https://drcnaagimplementationandlegacy.blogspot.com/2025/03/fwdyou-can-start-by-making-all-your.html

 Fwd: You can start by making all your communications on a grey background as a default. Was Making the European Union (and elsewhere) truly accessible. Middle to low contrast Real Universal Design Dark to middle grey Arial 20 on a middle to light grey background which does not cause sensory overload and potential damage and death to epileptics and others. Attn. Haydn Hammersley  Assisted/Supervised by Alejandro Moledo [Please note that I was unable to alter the formatting beyond these points]. And it remains unalterable in terms of the subject line and also the email to, cc and bcc lines, except possibly if you can change the default colours of the browsers.

And incidentally it is indirectly ageist (against people aged over 40, and even more so against the elderly (65+ (and the very young (prior to mid-20s, before the brain typically reaches a mature stable state, in terms of higher rates of epilepsy amongst them), as well as against those lower down on the hierarchy of differences including impairments, who are more likely to suffer from sensory overload challenges (as well as involuntary physical reactions and involuntary dysregulation in general), including voice hearers, those suffering from other mental health challenges, people with global and/or specific learning differences, attention deficit and hyperactivity differences, autism, dyspraxia and apraxia (of any type), cerebral palsy, and neurodegenerative conditions.

In fact, just about anybody apart from the bureaucratic neuro-elite (the 5% who prefer black type on a white background) of wheelchair users, the big and small d "deaf", and of the Blind and Partially sighted. Sad to say, even the vast majority of the above potential beneficiaries do not understand real, not fake, universal design and how it can include them without excluding others.

 

Attn. André Félix

Communications Manager – European Disability Forum

andre.felix@edf-feph.org

---------- Forwarded message ---------
De: Adrian Whyatt <adrianwhyattsubscricoes1@gmail.com>
Date: domingo, 9/03/2025 à(s) 22:24
Subject: Making the European Union (and elsewhere) truly accessible. Middle to low contrast Real Universal Design Dark to middle grey Arial 20 on a middle to light grey background which does not cause sensory overload and potential damage and death to epileptics and others. Attn. Haydn Hammersley Assisted/Supervised by Alejandro Moledo
To: <info@edf-feph.org>

Making the European Union (and elsewhere) truly accessible. Middle to low contrast Real Universal Design Dark to middle grey Arial 20 on a middle to light grey background which does not cause sensory overload and potential damage and death to epileptics and others. Attn. Haydn Hammersley  Assisted/Supervised by Alejandro Moledo

Your document converted to this format:

I have been resident in Portugal since 2020. I was on the British Standards Institution (BSI) Neurodiversity, Cognitive Impairment and Access to the Built Environment Task Force and the BSI Disability Expert Reference Group (DERG) as well as its successor, the BSI Accessibility Committee.

Grey background was the default in computing until commercial interests hijacked computing and its standards,from the 1960s onwards and sought to bling things up to excite people to buy.

95% of the population prefer something other than black type on a white background. A grey background is what can be comfortably read by the greatest part of the population, especially online. 

I discovered universal design, really, as part of the BSI DERG Training. But, what I also discovered, independently of this, was how society has gone from being very well aware and accommodating, since ancient times, of the need to combat sensory overload,but generally very unaware or at least unwilling to accommodate the needs of people with mobility needs,who are deaf and/or blind or partially sighted,to the reverse since the 1950s. This has started to meet increasing resistance and attempts to eliminate what has been neuro-exclusion. This is not just a disability or a general population neurodivergence issue, but is also a racial or ethnic origin issue, in terms of direct and indirect discrimination because blue-eyed people, like me, are more sensitive to light than the rest of the population. In addition, it is far more common amongst people who are neurodivergent, including those who are brain injury survivors, than in the rest of the population. Males heavily outnumber females in this area, though both are grossly under identified. It is also more common amongst people who are aged over 40 because of increased neuro-rigidity. I was diagnosed with scotopic sensitivity at the age of 41, though I should have been screened far earlier given my known neurodivergence. I had a skull fracture and consequent traumatic brain injury at just one month old, but wasn´t informed of it until I was 29 years and 7 months old. In 2022 I had to invoke the support of the anti-torture authorities against the University of Coimbra, here in Portugal, to force my needs to be met, despite a grey background having worked perfectly well in terms of classroom studies for almost two years, when applied.

I am now 59.

I attach a somewhat converted copy of the UK Disability Rights Commission (DRC) Neurodiversity and Autism Action Group Majority Report from 2007, which I proposed and got passed by 9 votes to 7. If non-user-led organisations had been excluded, the vote would have been 9 to 1. It built upon other unanimously agreed documents, like a flea upon a flea. 

So, I´m attaching a copy of this as well. Suitably modified.

Best wishes,

Adrian