Like many of us, I have never experienced anything remotely like the current Covid 19 (or, more descriptively, the Chinese Bat Virus) pandemic. I just completed my first week of lockdown/telecommuting, with who-knows how many weeks to go. What can I do during this time to help?
Crises bring out the best in some, the worst in others. There are scammers, hoarders, corrupt politicians, fake-news ‘journalists’, and other low-life out to make a quick buck or score political points from the suffering and death of others. There are also many heroes – medical workers, truckers, cops, grocery store workers, delivery drivers, many others – on the front lines putting their own health and even lives at risk to help you and me.
I don’t consider myself to be firmly in either group. I’m not a bad guy – not going to hoard or scam or steal. But I’m no hero either – not about to put my own health and life at risk for strangers. So, what can I do to help – without putting myself at risk?
I’m an IT manager for the California Department of Public Health, so first I need to keep up with my assigned work, from home whenever practical. But the lockdown has brought a work slowdown, so I have the capacity to do more.
I’m appalled by the poor accessibility of documents being put out by federal and other health agencies – including my own. I have expertise in PDF accessibility – my website on the topic is TaggedPDF.com – so I could definitely help there. My offers to do so, even as an unpaid volunteer, have been consistently declined. Government agencies tend to put a low priority on accessibility. Even more so in a crisis when it is imperative to get accurate information out quickly, and no one is likely to complain about its accessibility.
I’m using some of my excess time to continue learning WP development, with the goal of a major update to my published Greetings byGosh plugin. Then on to future planned development projects. This is about self-improvement though, not related to alleviating the pandemic.
I am trying to make a positive difference by lifting spirits with humor. My Micromismanagement.com workplace webcomic has been Covid 19-themed lately, and will likely remain so for the duration of the pandemic. And I post a daily lockdown dairy entry on facebook …
- Lockdown day 1: Determined to use this experience productively, and for self-improvement, to emerge better at the end. Will start as soon as I finish the next sudoku.
- Lockdown day 2: Reviewing a Stage 1 Business Analysis in my pajamas. How it got in my pajamas I’ll never know.
- Lockdown day 3: Tense encounter with a fellow Winco shopper, in the restroom, over who could wash his hands longer.
- Lockdown day 4: Instinctively tried to steal my own office supplies.
- Lockdown day 5: Running low on peanut butter. Still no word from Publisher’s Clearinghouse.
Still thinking of ways to do more.
