Once more for the folks in the back. Calibri is easier than Times New Roman for folks with certain visual disabilities to read. That’s why the Biden Administration chose Calibri for their digital communications: to include more people and make life just a wee bit easier for the disabled. And who in their right mind could object to that?
You know who, and they’re not in their right mind—unless you’re talking far-right.
See, to these buffoons, with their narrow zero-sum minds, choosing to meet the needs of the largest number of Americans is the same as withholding special privileges from “real” Americans—straight white men who voted for Trump. That’s what they mean by “woke.” And that’s why, last week, [U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio directed diplomats to bring back Times New …
Once more for the folks in the back. Calibri is easier than Times New Roman for folks with certain visual disabilities to read. That’s why the Biden Administration chose Calibri for their digital communications: to include more people and make life just a wee bit easier for the disabled. And who in their right mind could object to that?
You know who, and they’re not in their right mind—unless you’re talking far-right.
See, to these buffoons, with their narrow zero-sum minds, choosing to meet the needs of the largest number of Americans is the same as withholding special privileges from “real” Americans—straight white men who voted for Trump. That’s what they mean by “woke.” And that’s why, last week, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio directed diplomats to bring back Times New Roman as their official typeface.
Of course it’s petty bullshit, but it’s also deliberately disempowering to the disabled, which is Eugenics at work, which is Nazi stuff—barbaric and cruel. Prove me wrong.
Oh, wait. Let’s ask an expert. Axios quotes Maria Town, president and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities:
Ending the State Department’s use of accessible, sans-serif fonts like Calibri is more than a shift in design preferences—it is a direct step backward for millions of people with low vision who rely on digital accessibility features to read vital information.
At a time when families across the country are struggling to afford the basic necessities of life, eliminating accessibility features should be the very last thing our government is concerned with.
So you’d think, if you believe the government exists to help the people. Which, before this presidency, was a reasonable belief, even if previous government services were distributed inequitably and plenty of past administrations had blood on their hands.
But never before has a U.S. administration existed to illegally enrich the president while keeping his convicted felonious ass out of lockup, punishing all but the richest Americans, spurning America’s allies, turning our backs on those around the world who most need our help, and engaging in round-the-clock performative nonsense to satisfy MAGA voters’ thirst for cruelty.
Why write about a font change? After all, this government gets up to many worse things every day. Murder. Kidnapping. Brutality. It’s all too true.
But this one small detail—a typographic change intended to make digital communications just a bit harder for the disabled to read—encapsulates the moronic sadism of this hateful administration.
As Joni told us long ago, you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.
By L. Jeffrey Zeldman
“King of Web Standards”—Businessweek. Ava’s dad. Automattician. OG blogger/web designer. Publisher, A List Apart & A Book Apart. Author, Designing with Web Standards & Taking Your Talent to the Web. Emeritus: An Event Apart, SVA MFA IXD, Happy Cog.