Mika was so shocked that his jaw dropped after hearing this. He sat in complete silence, staring at the numbers. He was healthy and did not have any problems, so he never thought about this deeply. But now seeing the data so clearly has opened his eyes to the fact that he was living as an ignorant person until now.
 
Just because he did not experience any disability, it did not mean the people whose situation is different did not exist. Until now, he had never had an opportunity to contribute to this area, but by joining this team and taking on this project, he will have a chance to change that and make someone’s life easier.

Noticing Mika’s reaction, Aleksandr decided to elaborate on this topic. “I will try to give you some examples, so you will get a better understanding. There are several categories when it comes to accessibility: Vision, Hearing, Mobility, Neurodiversity, Learning, and Mental Health*. Each of them can be further divided into subcategories. When we talk about color blindness, which one of those categories do you think it will fall into?”

“Vision,” Mika replied without hesitation.

“That is correct. Ok, one more: what about a person with dyslexia?”

“Learning, I believe.”
 
Aleksandr nodded and added, “What is important to understand, is the fact that those disabilities might be permanent or temporary. If you are driving a car, then you cannot use your hands – in this case, you will listen to an audiobook instead of reading a book. If a woman is holding a baby in her arms, then she also has limited abilities and might prefer to talk to someone over the phone rather than type a message. The same goes for hearing – if you are on a bus and don’t have headphones then, to understand what the people on the video are talking about, you’ll need to read captions.” Aleksandr took pauses between each of the examples to add annotations on the whiteboard. He was taking his time, making sure Mika would be able to follow up and not get lost in all of this new information. “Did you ever break your arm or a leg?”

“No, never.”

“Lucky you. So, the people who have experienced that will fall into the category of ‘temporary disability’”.

“Ok, I get it now. Now that you have mentioned this, I remember that before I moved here, my parents asked me to help them with some settings on their mobiles. Their vision got worse, and they wanted me to make the letters and the entire screen bigger, so they could read.”

“Yes, that is also a very good example of the accessibility features. Gender or age doesn’t matter here. Even if you don’t need them today, you might use them in the future,” he concluded.

After going through the basics with Mika, Aleksandr invited the rest of the team to join them. They proceeded to share more details related to accessibility and the work they would be doing. The entire day was spent reading through various materials and information. 

Aleksandr reassured Mika that even though he was new to the team and this topic, he wanted him to get up to speed as fast as possible. He encouraged Mika to observe how he and others worked and to ask as many questions as possible. Aleksandr also mentioned that going forward, Mika would be included in every conversation and all meetings related to their project.
 
The time passed in the blink of an eye, and it was almost 7 p.m. when they finally closed their laptops. Everyone hurried home, leaving only Mika and Aleksandr behind.

Aleksandr made sure that they had a few coffee breaks and even went out for lunch, but despite that, Mika felt like his head was about to explode. It was only his second day, but the lack of proper sleep over the past year, caused by all the stress related to interview preparation, being betrayed by Chris, the breakup that followed, relocation, and starting a new job, had unfortunately begun to show its effects.

Mika didn’t even realize when he started to rub his aching temples. He tried to stand up, but as soon as he lifted his body, he felt dizzy. The room seemed to spin around him, and he gripped the edge of the desk to steady himself.

Aleksandr noticed immediately that something was off. He stopped packing his laptop and came closer. “Mika, you look quite pale. Are you okay?” he asked softly, almost whispering. Mika could feel the intensity of Aleksandr’s gaze on his face, filled with genuine concern.

“I… I’m fine… my head hurts a little bit… I just need to rest,” Mika answered as he sat back down in his chair, trying his best to avert his eyes. He was afraid to show any signs of weakness in front of Aleksandr at the workplace.

Aleksandr shook his head in disapproval. “It doesn’t look to me like you’re all right. Wait here, don’t go anywhere. I’ll bring you some water and a painkiller,” he announced, leaving the room before Mika could even react and stop him.

Mika clicked his tongue, cursing in his head. Fuck, what is wrong with me? Why is this happening now? I just started this job; now is not the time to get sick!

Aleksandr came back faster than expected, holding a glass of water and medicine in his right hand. “Here, take this pill and drink some water. The office is almost empty, so I didn’t have a chance to ask around for something better,” he said, handing them over to Mika.

Hearing him say this with a clearly apologetic tone, Mika smiled. Despite the headache, he genuinely appreciated this moment. It was the first time someone had shown him this much sympathy. None of his boyfriends had ever gone this far.

Usually, it was the other way around: Mika tried his best while the other person left first whenever something happened to him. They always said it was better this way, so he could be alone and rest. Only now, being in a foreign country and getting help from his colleague, did he understand that it shouldn’t be like this.

After taking the medicine and putting the empty glass on the table, Mika slightly tilted his head. He realized that at this very moment, he was locking eyes with Aleksandr, whose gaze was following his every movement. While it wasn’t the first time their eyes met, it felt different this time.

Aleksandr was looking at Mika with so much affection as if trying to confirm that Mika was all right and didn’t need further help. It could have felt awkward, but neither of them felt uncomfortable. They continued to sit like this for some time, staring at each other.

_______
Dictionary:
- You can read more here: WHO: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/assistive-technology and on Microsoft’s website: https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/accessibility