iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ruth H

@therehn.bsky.social

656 followers 1.9K following 190 posts

Disabled OU student, designer and creative, studying digital society, design & tech. Just moving over from Twitter and trying to figure out BlueSky atm. a11y

Posts Replies Media

Reposted by Ruth H

Peter Geoghegan @petergeoghegan.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

The houses of ethnic minorities in Belfast didn’t ’go on fire’ last night - as my radio has told me - they were set alight

Reposted by Ruth H

Prof Katherine Schofield 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇪🇺 @katherineschof8.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

So, my son is really good at GCSE history and absolutely loves it (perhaps unsurprisingly given he's my boy!) He is not taking history at A Level because he hates writing essays under exam conditions. Thanks SO MUCH Michael Gove for getting rid of coursework for humanities subjects. Golf claps.

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

I feel like the reason is to require people to have and use (and register) their smartphones, because from what you are saying it otherwise seems unnecessary. I'm concerned about how it will affect folks already excluded, but also whether protestors will be required to unlock phones to show IDs.

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

The main difference seems to be to disenfranchise people without smartphones. With such plans I think of a neighbour I had for a few weeks in temporary (homeless) accommodation. An older man, he said he had been street homeless for about half of his life, was struggling to use even a basic phone.

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Our chocolate sauce growing up was a spoonful of syrup mixed with spoonful of cocoa powder and spoonful of margarine (equal sized spoon) put in the microwave for 30 secs or so. It was probably cos it was cheap, but it's actually really nice, warm sauce, that goes hard when it hits the ice-cream!

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Arthur Webber 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 @bernietranders.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

Got dressed for work this morning and then realised

Arthur the man in a yellow jumper, white shirt, blue jeans, and round glasses

Arthur the cartoon in a yellow jumper, white shirt, blue jeans, and round glasses

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

It's on the AxeCon website you have to register to watch the recording. Very good talk 😀

Reposted by Ruth H

Channel 4 News @channel4news.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Plan to scrap many jury trials in England and Wales despite criticism www.channel4.com/news/plan-to...

Plan to scrap many jury trials in England and Wales despite criticism

The government has set out its plan to reduce the backlog of court cases, which stands at some 80,000 criminal cases.

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

yes they actively disable people. We just ignore so much. Like the people mining minerals for our tech whose health and bodies can be permanently affected from the labour and don't even benefit from the tech.

Reposted by Ruth H

A Menace. @minmaxmango.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Technology is not unbiased, and it is willfully obtuse to pretend that tools to "help" disabled and neurodivergent people will in fact be weaponized against us. Already has been. It's irresponsible to pretend it is neutral and objective.

Reposted by Ruth H

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

When talking about AI for accessibility surely we should also be considering the environmental impact on disabled people globally, many of whom don't have digital access? We know climate change disproportionately affects disabled people, who can't easily get evacuated and is also disabling #AxeCon

Reposted by Ruth H

jrdpa.bsky.social @jrdpa.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

"Many of our designs are built around the idea of a normal or average user, but an average user is a fiction. No human body or mind is an average. " 1/2 @annaecook.com #axecon

Reposted by Ruth H

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Not every product needs AI, but every product needd accessibility. And important message after the previous two #AxeCon talks!

Reposted by Ruth H

sylvia @svillegas.com · 24/02/2026

Lovely talk from @annaecook.com at #AxeCon. I wanna broadcast it across our internal design channels, or really everywhere. Repeatedly. I wish for all those great messages to percolate gently into everyone's psyche. *sigh* 👏 💙

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Sadly not this time!

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Definitely a palate cleanser

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

@geekgalgroks.bsky.social did you catch Anna's talk? Right on point.

Reposted by Ruth H

Jenn @geekgalgroks.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Also so much on AI training people with autism to mask. Which I think is just horrible. Masking is draining, sure glasses that "teach" you to look at faces looks great, but it is still MASKING.

Reposted by Ruth H

Unlimited @weareunlimited.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Dreaming of connecting and sharing ideas across borders? 🌍 It's your last chance to apply for up to £3,000 to support small-scale, international online partnerships led by disabled artists. Supported by @britisharts.bsky.social. ⏰ Deadline: Mon 23 Feb, midday Full details: bit.ly/45jB2Dm

A photo of an artist speaking in a crowd of other artists. Text reads: International Micro Awards. Last chance to apply.

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

www.deque.com/axe-con/sess... #AxeCon

Let me enjoy the show! Accessibility in event platforms - axe-con

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Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

You can find David Sabaté's talk: Let me enjoy the show! Accessibility in event platforms on the AxeCon 2026 website to watch for free, although registration is required. #AxeCon

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Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Incredibly practical and useful talk from David Sabaté from TOTHOM about digital accessibility when booking tickets for the theatre, football or a gig. We journeyed with three disabled people trying access the poster on social media, to choose a seat and use the calendar - so many barriers #AxeCon

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Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

I suspect you will love it. It's not digital focused at all, but the development of theory and seeing disabled people as designer actors in their own lives is so powerful. I actually came across it thanks to the Design and Disability Exhibition at the Victoria and Albert!

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

^ is chaos

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Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

A few more excellent insights from my notes from @annaecook.com's #AxeCon talk - You can't patch clarity - Needs come before knowing why (diagnosises etc) - Personalisation without structure are chaos - LLM's are trained on the web as it is, not how we wish it were, they inherit accessibility debt.

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

oops solution!

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Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

@annaecook.com your mention of affordances in your talk made me think of fantastic disability studies ethnography book called Activism Affordances by Arseli Dokumacı about how disabled people improvise more habitable worlds and it explores affordances of disability bodies. It's fascinating. #AxeCon

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Not every product needs AI, but every product needd accessibility. And important message after the previous two #AxeCon talks!

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Technology decisions are not neutral says @annaecook.com #AxeCon. Is AI actively solving a problem or are we designing a problem that needs a soltuon? AI without consent is not personalisation, it's coercion. AI didn't end determinism, it exposed it.

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

you are going to have a very receptive audience.

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

www.ted.com/talks/rana_e... it's infuriating and also her whole scenario at the beginning about not telling her family she was struggling when studying abroad was really sad. Like the solution isn't tech surveilling emotions, it's open and honest communication, hearing loved one's voice or video etc

This app knows how you feel -- from the look on your face

Our emotions influence every aspect of our lives -- how we learn, how we communicate, how we make decisions. Yet they're absent from our digital lives; the devices and apps we interact with have no wa...

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

I saw a TED talk demo where she shows how it 'recognise' emotions by asking an audience member to smile and then look sad or angry or something. So she literally shows it is not recognising emotions, because the person wasn't feeling those things, she just asked them to make an expression!

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

When talking about AI for accessibility surely we should also be considering the environmental impact on disabled people globally, many of whom don't have digital access? We know climate change disproportionately affects disabled people, who can't easily get evacuated and is also disabling #AxeCon

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

I am pretty sure I wrote a whole argument against some of her emotion 'recognising' work in a uni assignment about how it is coercive 'power-over'. What scares me is she seems so far inside her own BS and no idea she is perpetuating harm, thinks she is preaching ethics!

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

you can imagine the chat comments.

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

She kept talking about ethics whilst describing unethical things.

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

yes exactly! You do have to understand what you are doing, especially since we are designing and making for people, not for AI.

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Thank goodness Anna, the keynote was so depressing! Video showing them using AI glassses to make autistic kids to make eye contact made me feel sick!

Reposted by Ruth H

Feral T. Robot, Oil Swamp Utility Bot #7629 @feralrobots.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Saying 'we should design AI with emotional intelligence' is like saying 'let's make the slavery kinder & gentler.' #axecon

Reposted by Ruth H

Leah Millis @leahmillis.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Today in St. Paul: A house is raided by ICE agents and other law enforcement officers in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S., days after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good, January 18, 2026. REUTERS/Leah Millis

Federal agents break a door down during a raid on a home in St Paul.

A man is removed from a home in St Paul by ERO and ICE agents.

A baby looks out the window after their home was raided by federal law enforcement in St Paul and a man was removed.

Reposted by Ruth H

Rev. Robin @hanford.me.uk · 20/11/2025

A recent quiz told me that if I were an Anglican, I would be a Matthew Fox kind of Anglican, so I am now finally reading some Fox. Have I picked the best starting point for gaining a general understanding of Fox’s theology?

A copy of ‘Original Blessing’ by Matthew Fox.

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

I also did this quiz and got the same result! Interestingly I have a book with the same title by Danielle Shroyer that I really like and a few people have assumed it is the one by Matthew Fox and been confused!

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Imagine losing most of your belongings in a house fire and just managing to keep a few valuables and having those confiscated to pay for fire service and rebuild. Your last few possessions. No choice. There is no insurance for having to flee your home and your country for your life.

Reposted by Ruth H

Dr Jay Watts @shrinkatlarge.bsky.social · 17/10/2025

“Yeah but I saw on the internet that if you fill out a form you get a free BMW!” I’m sure you did, babe. I also saw on the internet that I can make tens of millions from a timeshare pyramid scheme.

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

It cheered me up 😁

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

This thread explains why my brother @hennell.bsky.social sent a video of an orange monkey on a swing yesterday 🤣 #orangetober

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

I wonder if some of them could be made into postcards 🤔

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Reposted by Ruth H

Paul Hennell @hennell.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

Monkey found a play in the book shop that seemed appropriate!

Monkey with an orange cover edition of "our day out" 😁

Reposted by Ruth H

Paul Hennell @hennell.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

I've been terrible at spotting orange things for @jennyrowbory.bsky.social 's #orangetober so figured I'd bring a friend out with me today!

An orange monkey standing on the pavement.

Ruth H @therehn.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

Definitely worth getting it in for that, good grief

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