Amazon Pharmacy delivers meds in a variety of ways, including by drone.
One of the common themes running through the seemingly disparate stories posted to this space is the idea that the most basic of technologies—namely, the internet—can be an assistive technology unto itself. So much of the contemporary internet has enabled the disability community, such as connecting with other people far and wide through social media platforms like Facebook. As another example, consider Amazon. While people love online shopping for its convenience—as a longtime Prime subscriber, I too attest to loving free, two-day shipping—the reality is online shopping (whether speedy or not) can be a lifeline to legions of disabled people. As I often say, not everyone is capable of leaving their home and going into their neighborhood for groceries and other everyday essentials. Perhaps they’re immunocompromised or have some other chronic condition that make public appearances unduly risky. Likewise, perhaps the logistics of getting to and from one’s home to the nearest supermarket are difficult or nigh impossible because they don’t drive and public transit and/or ride-share is unreliable in their area. All told, these factors obviously hinder a disabled person’s ability to live their life by limiting their access to the wider world around them.
This means what’s convenient for some may be accessibility to others.
This sentiment adds key perspective when analyzing Amazon’s latest news. As reported by The Verge’s Wes Davis, Amazon earlier this week published a blog post wherein the company announced its Amazon Pharmacy service is expanding same-day delivery to residents in New York City and the Los Angeles metro area. Amazon notes same-day delivery will expand even more, to “more than a dozen cities by the end of the year,” and will be facilitated through environmentally-friendly vehicles such as e-bikes, electric vans, and drones. Customers in Austin, Indianapolis, Miami, Phoenix, and Amazon’s home city of Seattle already can access same-day delivery, while those in College Station, Texas can have prescriptions delivered via drone in less than an hour.
Amazon touts using artificial intelligence and machine learning to power this initiative. The company posted a video to YouTube about it too.
“By bringing Amazon Pharmacy’s deliveries into our existing world-class logistics network, Amazon is building the fastest and most convenient service for the home delivery of prescription medications,” Doug Herrington, chief executive officer of Worldwide Amazon Stores, said in a statement for the post. “These faster delivery speeds will be a game changer when you or your family need your medications quickly.”
Amazon includes a statement from Dr. Vin Gupta, a pulmonologist and Amazon Pharmacy’s chief medical officer, who, in a nod to accessibility, said the elimination of extended wait times for medication is critical because many people require treatment soon after they’re diagnosed. Amazon, masters of operational efficiency that they are, certainly has the know-how and the infrastructure to make this delivery system work.
“The current pharmacy experience is broken, with patients facing long pharmacy lines and unexpected prices at the counter,” Dr. Gupta said. “Amazon Pharmacy is tapping its world-class logistics network, along with a variety of cutting-edge technologies, to change that.”
That Amazon is widening the aperture for pharmacy delivery in more cities is, again, a testament to the power of technology as an assistive technology. As a personal anecdote, I’m fortunate that, despite my multiple disabilities, I’m fairly nimble and ambulatory. This means I can walk around my neighborhood in San Francisco because the places I frequent are in close proximity to my house. This is pertinent because my health insurer has a pharmacy location a block away from home; after ordering my medication through the app on my phone, I can quickly walk over and pick it up and be back within a few minutes. More pointedly, I don’t need something like Amazon Pharmacy to deliver my pills because I do live so close and can get them. But what works for me won’t work for everybody else. To reiterate a point made earlier, that Amazon Pharmacy does deliver to people’s doorsteps could very well be a boon for the scores of others in the disability community who don’t have the privilege of (a) living in a major city; and (b) aren’t as ambulatory as I am. Without a service like Amazon Pharmacy, it’s highly plausible that many in the disability community would be left in the lurch and put their wellbeing more at risk because their much-needed medication(s) are inaccessible. To reiterate another point, what this ultimately means is online shopping transcends sheer convenience for a not-insignificant swath of people. Having access to medication isn’t a trivial matter, and technology literally delivers access in spades.
The moral of this story is simple: don’t take anything for granted. There are a lot of people on the internet who are staunchly anti-Amazon (and anti-Meta, Facebook’s parent company) for a host of very valid reasons. This contingent is commensurately very vocal about dissuading people from using Amazon and Facebook due to the shady practices both engage in. In an accessibility context, the salient point for using Amazon, for instance, is as a tool for survival. It doesn’t excuse their behavior in other areas, nor does it mean people are hiding their heads in the proverbial sand. For a disabled person, using something like Amazon means gaining easier access to things like the drugs they need in order to live. As I’ve written in the past, to posit otherwise is disingenuous and the faux Sophie’s Choice scenario reeks of ableism. Whatever lies beneath Amazon’s sordid underbelly doesn’t unilaterally negate the genuine good a service like Amazon Pharmacy can have on the world.
