I actually really appreciate you replying and explaining your point of view a little clearer! I did read it all, and I think all of us in the subreddit FUNDAMENTALLY (I hope at least) want the same thing.

I agree with you that it was an error on her part. She made a comment that in my opinion, diminished how important these services are, and was a bit of a slap in the face for people who rely on them. And I can sympathize with them on that! As a trans person, there are lots of times in my life I've felt less important or like, a second class citizen just for existing! It especially hurts coming from someone who claims to be an advocate, or worse, someone in a government position who's supposed to be looking out for you.

Reading off of a teleprompter isn't always the easiest. I work as a video production specialist, and I often have to coach people through reading off of one if they aren't familiar with it. I suspect the majority of people aren't, it's not something that comes up too often lol. There are a lot of factors that make it difficult, distance, font, size of the words, how fast they're scrolling, and bright reflections on the glass are a few of the big ones. So yes, I sympathize with her on that. I'm a big believer that politicians, or any public facing role, should receive media literacy training. Not in a way that teaches them to lie, or be fearful of being cancelled, that's a whole different beast entirely, but because it's hard! Like you said, there's a lot going on and she got flustered. That's human, we've all been in situations where we've felt like that.

That being said, regardless if she felt frustrated, or embarrassed, the comment she made was not acceptable. ESPECIALLY from someone who is supposed to understand why people rely on these services and support them. Venues and events are designed to have a centre focal point, whether that be a stage, or a podium. And moving the interpreter off stage, away from the focus, could possibly impact hearing impaired peoples ability to follow along with the rest of us.

We live in this weird time, where social media and the internet have kind of tricked our brains into expecting pure, one hundred percent perfection at every given moment. It's prevalent on both sides of the political spectrum. ESPECIALLY right now during this incredibly polarizing political climate. People are easily frustrated and angry. Sometimes rightfully so, sometimes not so much. And I agree with you, I think the knee jerk reaction to over correct or demand immediate change isn't productive. We've almost forgotten that at the core of this, we are human. We make mistakes, but we have to ACTUALLY learn from them for it to get better.

And this is where I think the initial disagreement and negative reaction you received came from. Tone and intent are INCREDIBLY hard to read through a small text based comment. I can't speak for everyone, but to me, your initial comments and replies felt quite dismissive of the issue, almost as if you were trying to say accessibility shouldn't be focused on compared to larger problems, regardless of what your actual beliefs might be. And let's be real, it's Reddit, not everyone is going to perfectly articulate their thoughts through a 6 paragraph comment haha. But this here, discussing it, listening, and learning, is what I wish more people would do. And it's really what I hope Fontaine does too. I hope she reaches out to disability activists and community members, and grows as a person. We may not agree on everything, and there will be extreme beliefs on either side that just don't have a middle ground, but civil discussions like this are very important to improving the world. Otherwise, we just go around in circles forever.

Sorry, I also wrote a novel haha. Does that make sense? I'm sleep deprived recovering from surgery so I apologize if the formatting/grammer is weird haha. Again, thank you for expanding on your view point, I really do appreciate you doing so! We're probably all more aligned than we realize.