Making a difference in the community for people with disabilities We view the Accessible Icon as a “translational” symbol: it helps translate the notion of “disability” or “access” to an able-bodied population that often both: stigmatizes and/or fails to notice people with disability.

Inspiration behind The Accessible Icon Our initial inspiration to update the symbol of access was that the original design was from the 70's, was 'blocky,' and out-of-date. It was an issue in aesthetics for us. But, In late 2013, when our project began to get more significant news coverage, we were inundated with disability advocates who felt that this was a 'better' symbol, so the Accessible Icon became part of an advocacy campaign to acknowledge the need for better access and jobs for people with disabilities.

Who can benefit from The Accessible Icon We hope that both disability activists and advocates can use the Accessible Icon as a rally point, similar to the “pink triangle” and “silence = death” was used for AIDS advocacy or a ‘raised fist’ for discriminatory retaliation. If the Accessible Icon was a chosen symbol of disability activism, we would feel an eureka-like success.

Our message People with disabilities are not really “special” and when they succeed, it is not really “inspiring” any more than anyone else succeeding. But, to combat stigma regarding people with disability, one needs to see, hear, or know something about equal representation, and that is often done with “super” representation, people going above and beyond expectations. I think this is related to Mike Mort’s "Super Accessibility" project. (https://www.teepublic.com/user/rollingmort91)
Design SHOULD be part of this “super” work, but without crossing these almost invisible boundaries of ‘inspiration.’ One non-problematic and clear way to do that is when people with disabilities play people with disabilities in Film and TV. It is important that this is done.