Epilogue

For decades, many disabled people who wanted to work from home couldn’t do so, even at jobs where an office wasn’t required, such as coding for big tech companies and similar jobs. Many disabled people were denied this accommodation because their bosses assumed that working from home would diminish their loyalty to the hustle culture we praise over health and happiness. The internet still wasn’t valued until a pandemic in 2020 forced people to work remotely.

March 2020 was a monumental time for many reasons. The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic forced people to work from home because this was a virus that was airborne and killing thousands of people daily. Vaccines hadn’t been developed yet. The whole country, most of the world, were forced online.

Suddenly, an accommodation that disabled people have been asking for was no problem at all in the wider American culture. Because non-disabled people needed it, it was no problem to work from home. It was also no problem because big tech companies saw a way to capitalize on the pandemic and make billions of dollars in revenue. It was out of necessity people were working from home to avoid catching the virus, but it was also a wakeup call for big tech companies. The internet was a way they could still make money.

While many other disabled people protected themselves against the beginnings of this virus, we also sighed a little in relief because, for once, society was disabled just like us. Society was hampered by the inability to go to events, to participate in hustle culture, to travel. Society was stuck online, as we were, and it opened many eyes to the realities of being trapped in a world that doesn’t value anybody outside of its capitalistic measures.

Even though society was forced online, I didn’t, and still don’t, believe many understood the takeaway of those forced online months starting in early 2020. When the pandemic was mostly controlled with vaccines, that’s when CEOs and shareholders demanded that workers go back into offices at all costs. Those unwieldy giant buildings had to be used for something, and the upper class certainly wasn’t going to turn them into homes for the homeless, food banks, or anything useful that didn’t make them money. The internet went back to being just a fun luxury, and governmental figures in the United States did nothing to ensure that the internet would be a utility that would be installed in all homes. Nobody made the internet easier to access. The Affordable Connectivity Program created by the FCC and enacted in May 2022 only provided a small credit to make internet bills shrink by a few dollars. Internet infostructure wasn’t increased and, I’m sad to say, I still think this book is relevant today. In fact, I think it’s even more poignant today than when it was first penned.

This book illustrates life before the COVID-19 pandemic. I believe it shows why the internet should be classified as a utility in America. It shows how the internet connects people. It shows how the internet allows us to retrieve information. It shows how the internet allows disabled people a mostly equal foothold in participating at events, by allowing us to travel across social networks and meet new people in and out of our communities.

This book highlights so many facets of the internet that were never allowed to occur. The purpose of the internet, in today’s mind anyway, is to just consume and keep consuming content and buy things. We’re supposed to stop talking to each other and buy things online. Perhaps because of the COVID-19 pandemic, enthusiasm for tech is drastically falling. The internet included. Many are engaging more offline, by choice. Many view the internet as holding very little good in society. To disabled people, this is a new kind of slap in the face we now must contend with daily.

Tech culture has dampened what the internet could be. Social media featured in this book has long since come and gone, or changed hands to aid and enable fascism, aid more people to enact discrimination, or build up hype regarding robots replacing humans all because shareholders wanted trillions instead of billions.

At the beginning of this book, I said that this work might seem outdated to some. That’s true. It will and, probably, as the years continue to climb, this book will fall even more out of touch with society. I don’t believe all is lost though. I believe my work shows all the possibilities the internet could be if we build it right. I believe this book demonstrates concepts that are timeless even if the technology featured within will, one day, become a lost relic.

The connections I’ve made while performing this social experiment are timeless. The conversations I’ve had with many friends I’ve met while embarking on this challenge will linger in our memories for years to come. The social wisdom I’ve obtained about strength and resilience will never fade. I’ve learned very valuable lessons while offline. I didn’t just buy things like the modern internet wants us to do. I experienced, ironically, what the internet could be if we treated it as it should be treated, as a utility that allows us to talk to each other as people, NOT as commodities.