You open a video link. You need captions. You click the "CC" button. Nothing happens. You refresh. You try a different browser. You send a message to the host: "Sorry to bother you, can you turn on the captions?" They reply: "Oh, I didn't know you needed them." You smile. You say "No problem." It is a problem. This is the 15th time this month you have had to ask for captions. The 15th time you have had to prompt the world to simply let you in.
For people with disabilities, this is the daily reality of algorithmic fatigue. It is the exhaustion that comes from constantly prompting systems, software, and humans for accessibility features that should be automatic. For the able-bodied, a prompt is a query. For the chronically ill, a prompt is a tax on their limited energy.
What is Algorithmic Fatigue?
In tech, we talk about "user fatigue" when an interface is too confusing. But algorithmic fatigue is different. It is the specific exhaustion caused by the repetitive labor of advocating for access.
The Cycle:
Encounter a Barrier: A website with tiny fonts. A social media image with no alt text. A meeting platform with broken screen reader compatibility.
The Prompt: You must interrupt your workflow to ask for the fix. "Can you add alt text?" "Can you share the PDF instead of the JPEG?"
The Wait: You pause your life while the system (or the human) catches up.
The Gratitude Dance: When they finally comply, you must thank them for doing the bare minimum.
The Math:
If a disabled person encounters 10 accessibility barriers a day, and each one takes 2 minutes to resolve (asking, waiting, following up), that is 20 minutes of "prompting labor" every day. Over a year, that is over 120 hours of unpaid, invisible work just to access the same information as everyone else.
A Contrarian Take: The "Prompt" is a Medical Intervention.
For a person with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), the energy required to type "Can you turn on the captions?" is not a trivial social nicety. It is a physiological expenditure.
Invisible illnesses have energy budgets. A single email asking for a font change might cost a spoon (a unit of energy). Ten emails might cost a full day of bed rest. When we demand that disabled people "just ask" for accommodations, we are effectively asking them to spend their medical energy on our failure to design inclusively.
The Hidden Hierarchy of Prompting
Not all prompts are created equal. The fatigue varies depending on who you are asking and what you are asking for.
Level 1: Prompting the Machine (Lowest Fatigue)
Example: Clicking a button to turn on high-contrast mode.
Cost: Minimal. The machine does not judge you. The machine does not get annoyed.
Risk: The button often doesn't work.
Level 2: Prompting the Peer (Moderate Fatigue)
Example: Asking a coworker to "please describe the chart in the email."
Cost: Emotional. You risk being seen as "high maintenance." You worry about annoying them.
Risk: They forget. You have to ask again.
Level 3: Prompting the Authority (High Fatigue)
Example: Emailing IT to request a screen reader license. Asking HR for a specific chair.
Cost: Administrative and psychological. You must justify your need. You must provide medical documentation. You must wait.
Risk: Denial. "We don't think that accommodation is reasonable."
A Contrarian Take: The "Prompt" is Actually a Hostage Negotiation.
When a disabled person asks for alt text, they are not requesting a feature. They are reminding the world of a legal requirement (the ADA, Section 508, the European Accessibility Act).
They are holding up a mirror to a system that chose not to include them. The "fatigue" is not from the labor of asking. It is from the trauma of being forgotten in the first place.
The Spoon Theory of Prompt Engineering
The "Spoon Theory" is a metaphor for the limited energy of people with chronic illness. Each task "costs" a spoon.
Applying Spoon Theory to Prompting:
Writing a clear, polite prompt: 1 spoon.
Following up when ignored: 1 spoon.
Managing the emotional fallout of being perceived as "difficult": 2 spoons.
Choosing to give up and simply not access the content: 0 spoons now, but 3 spoons later when you miss critical information.
The Result:
Many disabled people choose the fourth option: silence. They stop asking. They drop out of meetings. They leave the group chat. They are not "being difficult." They are conserving spoons.
The Irony of AI as a Solution
Generative AI is often touted as the solution to algorithmic fatigue. "Just ask ChatGPT to summarize the image!"
The Problem:
The Burden Shifts, It Doesn't Disappear. Instead of asking a human for alt text, you are now prompting an AI. The labor of prompting remains.
AI Hallucinates Accessibility. AI-generated alt text is often wrong. It describes a "man in a blue shirt" when the image was actually of a woman holding a whiteboard. The user still has to verify the AI's work, which is its own form of fatigue.
A Contrarian Take: AI is Not a Bridge. It is a Lifeboat.
We celebrate AI for generating captions. But why do we need a lifeboat? Because the ship (the web platform, the software) was built without a ramp.
AI accessibility tools are a heroic patch on a broken system. The real victory would be a world where alt text is mandatory, where fonts are responsive by default, and where no one ever has to "prompt" for captions again.
Reducing the Fatigue: What Needs to Change
We cannot eliminate the need for prompts entirely, but we can drastically reduce the frequency.
For Designers and Developers:
Assume Disability by Default. Do not build "accessible versions." Build the main version accessibly.
Automate the Obvious. Captions, alt text fields, and semantic HTML are not "features." They are the baseline.
Prompt the User Once. Ask the user about their accessibility needs during onboarding, save that preference, and never ask again.
For Managers and Peers:
Stop Asking "Do You Need Accommodations?" This is a prompt that forces the disabled person to perform their disability for you. Just provide the accommodation.
Add Alt Text Proactively. Do not wait for the request. The 30 seconds you spend describing an image saves the disabled person 5 minutes of drafting a polite email.
For Disabled Users (Self-Care):
Create a Prompt Library. Save your most common requests as templates. "Hi, could you please add alt text to the attached image?" Copy and paste. Save your spoons.
Use Browser Extensions. Tools exist that force websites to respect your font size and contrast preferences without you having to ask.
Know When to Stop. You are not a accessibility activist for every single interaction. It is okay to mute the video and walk away.
Algorithmic fatigue is not a sign of weakness. It is a symptom of systemic exclusion. The goal is not to make disabled people better at prompting. The goal is to build a world that stops demanding the prompt in the first place.
Think of the last time you had to ask for something you felt should have been automatic. Did you ask, or did you stay silent? What did the silence cost you?
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