Mastodawn

OutOfExile_IDR § Voice ®™️Sep 19, 2023

Vivaldi – Setting an Example for Other Instances on Mastodon regarding Ableism:

I don't often have good things to say about many companies, however, in this case I have no choice but to commend the makers of #VivaldiBrowser in regard to their @Vivaldi instance, here on Mastodon.

Many users with disabilities, including myself, have often taken exception to most instance rules and the wording of the "Mastodon Server Covenant". I have had a piece on the back burner about this issue for quite some time, while examples of this problem continued to occur. Many disabled users have said they feel excluded by these rules, and therefore, left vulnerable to ableism. I personally have had certain instance administrators ignore blatant examples of ableism, seemingly on the technicality that, it does not violate their rules; or that of the Mastodon Server Covenant. To be clear, the instances I have accounts on (kolektiva.social and neurodifferent.me) do list ableism as an offense, and neurodifferent.me seems particularly protective of CERTAIN users in this way.

Servers on mastodon are required under the covenant to have:
"Active moderation against racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia.
Users must have the confidence that they are joining a safe space, free from white supremacy, anti-semitism and transphobia of other platforms."
There is absolutely no mention of ableism or any categorization that it would fall under. So, what about Vivaldi social?

I downloaded the Vivaldi browser last week and have not completely familiarized myself with it but, if you like the bells and whistles that go along with customizable browsers, you should like Vivaldi. It's equipped with many fantastic features for research and writing, as well. They have also recently taken steps to protect the privacy of it's browser users from prying Google eyes. After discovering that they had an instance here on Mastodon, I reached out to Vivaldi who graciously responded to me on several occasions. Their Mastodon instance even offers its users a blog space for writing. This was an exciting prospect for me.

When I looked up instance rules for Vivaldi social, I found the rules to be very similar to many instances and Mastodon's server covenant with a couple of additions including: xenophobia and casteism. Though xenophobia would seem to encompass ableism, I asked about the absence of the term on their server rules. Today, I received a response that speaks volumes about the character of those involved with Vivaldi and their Mastodon instance.

The correspondence said in part: "While for us it's common sense that any form of discrimination is not acceptable, it probably is best to spell it out more clearly. So, we've tweaked the wording of the server rules now." So what do Vivaldi's "tweaked" rules say?

"No discrimination of any form (incl. racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, casteism, ableism, etc.)".

I was pleasantly flabbergasted by this. Words like "fantabulous" and "bravissimo" are not a strong enough complement to this statement of equality and inclusion of the disability community by Vivaldi. Thank you so much for this consideration. Hopefully, other servers will follow the example you have set by adding one simple word to your server rules. You are truly a friend and ally to people with invisible disabilities throughout the world. There is no doubt in my mind about another statement on Vivaldi's server registration page: "EVERYONE IS WELCOME". Thank you again Vivaldi.

#VivaldiBrowser #DisabilityAlly #EndAbleism #privacy #disability #equality #inclusion

OutOfExile_IDR § Unseen®™️Sep 19, 2023