I think I know some of the people who wrote this. Unless more than a few people work this way. That can’t be true, right? Right!?

Good news? They replied to my message. I'm linking and transcribing my comment on this Reddit thread.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Blind/comments/15rn2jz/comment/jwcfm6s/

About 11 hours after this post, I received the following reply:

Thank you for sharing your concerns with us.

You expect specific actionable contributions, without consideration. That sounds too much like working for free.

While we encourage participants to be actively involved in the Accessibility Feedback Group (AFG), we do not require that you complete specific tasks. Your participation is optional. The purpose of the program is to inform participants of the work we’re doing on accessibility and to give you the opportunity to give feedback and ask questions. You will also have the option to test the accessibility improvement but this is not required.

You expect participants to contact Reddit for help in preventing information from being provided to legal authorities. Offering some kind of support would be nice, but this is an actual requirement.

We’re not quite sure we understand this comment. We are clarifying here that this agreement doesn’t prevent you from disclosing information if you are legally required to do so, but if this were to happen we would want notice and the ability to prevent further disclosure (which may in some instances require your assistance).

You have language on staying on topic. My experience has been that Reddit Inc narrows the topic with little notice and to such an extent as to be useless.

The admins working on this project are only focused on accessibility improvements and have limited visibility into other areas/products. So this inclusion is to let you know that admins in the AFG will not be able to speak on other areas across the organization. However, we may be able to direct you to mod support or the help center depending on your inquiry. Please let us know if you have any other questions and if you are still interested in joining the AFG.

End quote.

In the interest of transparency, I'm sharing it and also publicly reiterating my stance - in fact, my reply will be a link to the comment.

I'm not comfortable with these terms and will not be joining the group. I would like to hope Reddit Inc. would instead have open interactions with users and hire disabled people to do the work that needs to be done here.

You're not missing much, apparently. Just your typical corporate double-speak.

I believe it would be both and I agree with your assessment. I makes me incredibly uncomfortable and I have received no clarification.

Thank you, highly appreciated! I'm not used to using archive links, but I also didn't want to force people to go over there.

First, the idea of holding the elbow is that you and the guide are walking with a more natural posture and communication can be streamlined through natural body movement. Give it a try.

Second, I go from gently and politely asking them to let go and explaining I don’t need help, to assertively ordering. It’s great to assume it’s all well-meaning ignorance, but you may end up needing to protect yourself.

Very Rembrandt-appropriate, if the subject was in a different pose.