Years ago, as a wheelchair user, I was regularly denied remote work. Without physical presence, I could not be part of a team, could not contribute to team spirit, could not really belong. This was stated as fact, not opinion.
Then came 2020. The pandemic made remote work normal overnight. And I discovered two things simultaneously: teams function fine without physical presence, and healthy people experience isolation as a form of punishment. I was genuinely surprised. What had been presented to me as a structural necessity turned out to be a preference. What had been imposed on me as a constraint turned out to be, for others, a form of house arrest. Twenty-two years of exclusion, dissolved in a crisis.
I am watching the same pattern unfold again.
For years, the hiring process required a specific kind of preparation — the right resume format, the right cover letter structure, the right tone, the right packaging. This was presented as evidence of professionalism, seriousness, fit. There were entire industries built around teaching people to deliver the correct product in the correct box.
Then came AI. Suddenly, the box could be produced instantly, by anyone, for free. And the response from hiring organisations was immediate: please do not use AI. Bullet points are fine. We do not need prose.
Which raises the question I cannot stop thinking about: if the standard dissolved the moment it became easy to meet, was it ever measuring what it claimed to measure?
The office requirement did not measure team commitment. It measured physical presence. The cover letter requirement did not measure professional capability. It measured access to the right packaging — a career advisor, a template, a friend who knew the rules.
Two shocks. Two dissolved standards. One question:
When a problem disappears the moment it becomes easy to solve — was it a real problem, or was difficulty itself the point?
When the Problem Disappears, Was It Ever Real?
Years ago, as a wheelchair user, I was regularly denied remote work. Without physical presence, I could not be part of a team, could not contribute to team spirit, could not really belong. This was stated as fact, not opinion.
Then came 2020. The pandemic made remote work normal overnight. And I discovered two things simultaneously: teams function fine without physical presence, and healthy people experience isolation as a form of punishment. I was genuinely surprised. What had been presented to me as a structural necessity turned out to be a preference. What had been imposed on me as a constraint turned out to be, for others, a form of house arrest. Twenty-two years of exclusion, dissolved in a crisis.
I am watching the same pattern unfold again.
For years, the hiring process required a specific kind of preparation — the right resume format, the right cover letter structure, the right tone, the right packaging. This was presented as evidence of professionalism, seriousness, fit. There were entire industries built around teaching people to deliver the correct product in the correct box.
Then came AI. Suddenly, the box could be produced instantly, by anyone, for free. And the response from hiring organisations was immediate: please do not use AI. Bullet points are fine. We do not need prose.
Which raises the question I cannot stop thinking about: if the standard dissolved the moment it became easy to meet, was it ever measuring what it claimed to measure?
The office requirement did not measure team commitment. It measured physical presence. The cover letter requirement did not measure professional capability. It measured access to the right packaging — a career advisor, a template, a friend who knew the rules.
Two shocks. Two dissolved standards. One question:
When a problem disappears the moment it becomes easy to solve — was it a real problem, or was difficulty itself the point?