Marlee Matlin Calls Out Elon Musk Over Twitter Diversity Concerns

Deaf actress Marlee Matlin is calling out new "Chief Twit" Elon Musk over diversity concerns on Twitter.

On Thursday, the first Deaf actress to win an Academy Award for her role in "Children of a Lesser God" took to the platform to call out Musk, who deleted Twitter's Accessibility team after he fired over half of Twitter's staff in order to cut costs.

On Thursday, the "CODA" star took to Twitter to pen an open letter to Elon Musk "and everyone on Twitter."

"During my 12 years on Twitter, I have advocated for diversity, equity, inclusion AND accessibility, on behalf millions of us who are Deaf, hard of hearing or disabled," her message began. "This platform has virtually leveled the playing field for all of us but, particularly, for people like myself; this space has evolved into a barrier-free game changer."

"Yet, with news of the dismantling of Twitter's Accessibility Team, I'd like to ask @elonmusk, (as someone who has self-identified as having autism spectrum disorder), why would you do this?" she asked. "Is it time to take a stand on principle and pause our accounts until this is rectified?"

Considering the confusion generated by Musk's new blue checkmark verification system - which he says will go back into effect on November 29 - Marlee felt it necessary to add, "PS This is the real me."

One user asked, "It seems to me like the changes at Twitter haven’t affected you at all. You’re still able to post, am I missing something here?"

Marlee replied, "Hey there. thanks for your question. I posted the article from AdWeek that explains what the dismantling the accessibility team means. It was more about the future of accessibility rather than right now. Sorry you misunderstood. And thanks again for asking."

When another follower asked why a team was necessary, Marlee replied, "Thank you for your question. There is a Tweet where I posted an article from AdWeek explaining what millions of people like myself who are Deaf, hard of hearing or disabled have come to depend on with social media. Check it out. Thank you again for asking."

The Adweek Article that Marlee Matlin had linked to is an opinion piece that calls the firing of the Accessibility Experience Team a “huge blow for the future access on Twitter.”

In 2016, Twitter introduced alt text for images to help improve accessibility for those who are visually impaired. After releasing a statement that they would improve accessibility in the app in 2020, Twitter went on to add auto-captions for all video uploads in December 2021.

Now that the Twitter Accessibility Team has been fired, it looks like there will not be any further projects to help the app become easier to use for those who live with disabilities. According to the World Health Organization, at least fifteen percent of the global population lives with some kind of disability.

Although Musk fired over half of his staff in order to cut costs, eliminating the Accessibility Experience Team might actually hurt him in the long run. Accessible content can lead to advertisers reaching a greater audience and more customers, and with several companies already pulling their ads from Twitter, it doesn’t look like Musk can afford to lose any more.

It remains to be seen if Marlee Matlin will join the many other celebrities and users that are leaving the platform. As for right now, it looks like she is going to stick around and fight to keep Twitter's accessibility for diverse audiences alive.