I posted a thread on @ravelry just now that breaks down the problems with the survey allegedly addressing issues with the new design.

Since then the post was archived and locked, and when I posted to call them out on doing so to accessibility threads, they deleted both posts.

(The one calling them out on deleting it technically violates the rules for posting. The initial post does not, but I can't post asking about it because then I'd be banned forever ).

I'm sharing the post as a thread below (it's going to be a long one, simply because it's not written for twitter) for those who can't see screenshots. For context, this is literally stuff I study for a living-how knowledge is put together and its implicit contexts and assumptions

For those who don't know: Ravelry designed its new website without consideration for accessibility issues. The site has since caused multiple seizures, migraines, vertigo, and other sensory issues in users.

The option to "switch back" to the old site does not actually revert back to the old site as it was, but the new site with the old site's skin on top (eg issues of contrast persist, causing vertigo for someone like myself-like my previous posts, I've wrote it in a separate doc)

Ravelry recently added a survey to the main page, presumably in response to the complaints they received about the site.

**This survey is disingenuous and serves only to undercut and gaslight accessibility communities and advocates on the site.**

Here are the questions it asks:
1 What do you think of Ravelry's new logo?
2 What do you think of Ravelry's new color scheme?
3 What do you think of Ravelry's updated navigation bar?
4 Do you have a disability that affects how you navigate the internet? (response options: y/n)

All questions but the last have the option to respond on a sliding scale, going from "Hate" to "Love." All questions have a comment box to add more details.

The survey, along with a lack of new threads on accessibility issues with the new Ravelry, at first glance (ie without clicking) seems to respond to the accessibility community. But there are *many* reasons why it does not. Here are just a few:

**First, a note about access:** The survey, as with all resources for reporting problems to Ravelry right now, is inaccessible to those who are impacted by the site changes for health reasons.

Worse, it limits users to one response per account--so that people cannot advocate for their friends or fill it in for them without also sharing account information (which many may not be willing to share).

Many have already addressed the issue of privacy and anonymity, so I'll refrain from diving into that just now. The important takeaway from this is that **the people who are unable to use the site are unable to report that they can't use the site. They are effectively silenced.**

**The survey solidifies this silencing effort.** The important thing to remember as you're reading this is that surveys don't just give the people who make the information--**they also inform the survey takers about what's of interest to the people making the surveys.**

Many people don't think much about this when they fill in these kinds of forms or surveys, but for those who often fall out of standard categorizations, this is a common and well known issue

(think, for instance, of forms that only list "male"& "female" when you're nonbinary or similar-the assumption made by the survey makers in that example is that gender is a binary and it reinforces that binary for anyone who takes it, violently for those who are not cisgendered).

Back to the survey:
The first three questions are primarily about aesthetics. For those clicking on the survey hoping to find out what some of the "fuss" is around the site redesign, the questions make it appear as though concerns with the redesign are primarily about aesthetics.

The Ravelry team has fundamentally and *intentionally* misunderstood the *very real health issues* the website is causing is clear from these questions--they think the issue at hand is no more important than the design of the logo.

This is not only evidence that they are digging their heels in, but it's effectively a form of gaslighting. It serves to provide them information on the site redesign that they can leverage as a reason not to redesign (x% of people love the new logo! Why would we change it?)...

...& **it is also a source of information itself** for users who are unaffected. What it tells any who click on it is that accessibility isnt an issue they should be concerned about because "lol didn't you see that it's the logo people are really having trouble with? etc etc."

The last question is the most damaging for 3 key reasons:
1) It places the onus on the person answering to self-identify as having a disability that affects how they navigate the internet.

This not only places the burden of disability on the person experiencing it, but also creates confusion for those experiencing symptoms while suggesting to those who don't that the issue lies outside of Ravelry and with a person already dealing with this on multiple sites.

But many now experiencing illness from the website do not have a disability defined in these terms. E.g as a previous sufferer of migraines, it was never framed as a website navigation issue. Many like myself now have vertigo and dizziness while using a website for the first time

And this question forces us to ask ourselves--so again, putting the onus on us--if we are disabled enough to check that box (I checked "no" myself and added a lengthy comment). And it asks us that question at the same time as it diffuses responsibility from Ravelry.

(I hit twitter's thread limit, more to come...)

2) In no way at all does it allow for anyone to state that they are experiencing *symptoms* and what those are, except in the "any more details" box. This is important.

When you put the details of access issues in an open form like that within a survey, it individualizes the prob(no collective sense of the issue) & allows Ravelry to say "there were no significant reports of x, y, z issues but 90% of users like the colours"

If the entire thing were an open form, that's one thing-but our society privileges statistics first and foremost, & given both the assumptions laden in this question & Ravelry's refusal to address accessibility issues as a whole, those responses probably won’t carry much weight

3) Again, as with the first three questions, this question also serves as a source of info for those who see it. It not only gaslights impacted users (see above) but again, tells unimpacted users that the problems lie within already defined parameters beyond Ravelry's purview

It allows Ravelry to say that they have a percentage of users who are already impacted by other websites facing issues, and "we'll get to it in time." It demands that those with accessibility issues wrestle with an internal debate about whether or not we have a disability.

Most importantly of all, *it takes the blame away from Ravelry, places them as unexceptional in relation to other sites, and puts the onus on those impacted to find a solution.* The survey already presumes to know what these issues are while giving Ravelry a shield to hide behind

This is disgusting. I have previously posted on this in one of the feedback forums (also tweeted) but I cannot begin to express my outrage at their refusal to listen, to learn, and to change. It's is hurting people, fundamentally ableist and unconscionable https://twitter.com/sdeutsh/status/1275824727655923713