Is it because developers are often using dependencies that are ahead of release versions?

That has been my experience recently. I had the same mindset as you until a critical piece of software I use shat the bed on Arch (LiveCaptions) that affected my being able to watch training videos for work.

Because it was time critical and I didn’t feel like possibly breaking other things for one package, I grabbed the flatpak. It came with its own nvidia driver package (mine was newer) and it worked out of the box without having to mess with anything and that was enough to change my hardline view on that.

Now it’s just another tool to use in an emergency when important things randomly break.

Disclaimer: not lived in the US in over 10 years

I’m Deaf and used to rely on interpreters. The ADA improved quality of life immensely, as I only needed to inform doctors, schools, and employers when I needed one, and they would provide instead of the burden being on me, the person who didnt ask to be Deaf. My right to an interpreter during interviews, performance reviews, and meetings was violated several times. After a few reports, that got resolved.

Now in The Netherlands? Thats another story, we desperately need an equivalent of the ADA here. The discrimination is DISGUSTING.