Fighting Fascism with Fonts

Marco Rubio? More like Dorko Rubio! (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

I think a lot of people mistake equity for unfair advantage. Equity simply means removing barriers, like using a typeface everyone can read.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is changing the State Department’s official font from Calibri to Times New Roman, even though Calibri improves accessibility for readers with disabilities.

Why? Because this administration thinks that making life less hard for some people — at the expense of no one — is woke DEI bullchonk.

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People have always been marginalized by arbitrary rules created by those in power, resulting in a hierarchy of humans based on disability, race, sex, gender, mental health, age class and more.

DEI was working to dismantle those rules, unlocking long-denied opportunities and allowing society to benefit from unrealized talent. Was it perfect? No. Were we evolving into a more advanced, more enlightened civilization? Yes.

Then came The Unpleasantness. Instead of choosing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, our fellow Americans voted for Limitation, Injustice, and Exclusion (the acronym writes itself).

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I have to believe that those who oppose DEI are ignorant, because I don’t want to believe they’re cruel. After all, what decent person would object to wheelchair ramps, sign language, flexible working hours for parents, fair pay, a wider talent pool or cultural holidays?

None of these DEI initiatives harms anyone. For most people, Calibri is irrelevant. But for people with dyslexia, low vision or screen readers, it’s everything.

That’s why, at Popinjay, we exclusively use sans serif fonts like Calibri.

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NEW RECOMMENDATION! If you’re looking for a great book for kids with dyslexia and learning differences, I highly recommend Brilliant Bea by Shaina Rudolph and Mary Vukadinovich.