One of the ideas that was repeated at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis was that we were going to emerge from the pandemic more technologically advanced. In a way, that’s how it has been. Although in recent months there has begun to be a reaction to teleworking – and pressure has returned to return to the offices – the growth in internet use has not slowed. Many things that were once done offline—or both ‘off’ and ‘online’—are now definitely only ‘online’. They are often questions of leisure or consumption, but in other cases, basic actions for day-to-day life, from requesting administrative paperwork or managing the savings account. But is this digitalization reaching everyone or is it leaving a part of the population behind?
The idea that there is a digital divide is not new. In fact, it could be said that the digital divide has many faces, such as that which is connected to gender or that which is linked to the elderly. It can also be connected to a gap in accessibility: that is, it can represent an extra element of blocking access to content, services and even jobs for people with disabilities. And even here the fear of this happening is not new either: in 2020, a study by the Adecco Foundation and Keysight Technologies Spain pointed out that 45% of people with disabilities recognized difficulties in being able to use technological devices.
The figure has not changed years later, with a pandemic in the middle and a society much more dependent on technology. “In the report ‘Technology and disability’, which we published in July together with Keysight, 45% of people with disabilities surveyed stated that they encountered barriers in the use and management of new technologies,” the Adecco Foundation points out. . Not only do 75% of those surveyed acknowledge that they face economic barriers to accessing these ‘tech’ devices, but 58% say they have “usability problems because they are considered complex.”
Additionally, the latest technological advances open up new layers of potential fears. “The advancement of technology and the increasingly leading role of artificial intelligence pose a challenge for the labor inclusion of people with disabilities,” the Adecco Foundation points out. The problem lies both in the biases that AI can bring to personnel selection processes and in the potential loss of job opportunities due to automation or “access barriers.”
Another study by this foundation has analyzed the patterns of access to work for young people with disabilities and has discovered that, on average, it takes them two years to find a job, twice as long as the average for their generation. Technology plays a not very positive role in this access to the labor market. “The barriers begin in the search itself,” they explain, because all these processes are carried out online and not all people with disabilities – and here they speak in a general way and not focusing only on young people – have the skills in new technologies or the tools to access it. “In short, it is essential to provide people with disabilities with digital skills so that they can access emerging employment niches and compete on equal terms in the labor market,” they say.
And, no less important, because the same technology that is now creating new gaps can serve to eliminate them. Well used or with a development that takes into account that not all its future users will be the same, it can serve to open access to many more people.
Working on accessibility
Companies are already working to improve accessibility. From the outset, community regulations already establish minimum standards that must be applied to reduce entry barriers.
To continue, inclusive design is essential to attract the most varied talent for your workforce and the broadest market for the consumption of your products. An estimate by McKinsey says that companies lose $6.3 billion a year for not having adapted websites that are easy to use for users with diverse needs, a figure that could increase as the population ages and problems such as difficulty in vision become more common.
And, finally, if companies are turning the principles of equality and sustainability into cornerstones of their strategies, not ensuring that their services reach as many people as possible would not be consistent. “Accessibility is not a business issue, it is one of equality,” defends Jennifer Blumer, sales manager at Equalweb, a company specialized in making the websites of companies, organizations and public administrations more accessible.
Adding a layer of functionality can serve to amplify that accessibility on the Internet and reduce the digital divide. As Fnac points out in the press release presenting the incorporation of Equalweb functionalities to its online store, “the website is now more accessible for users with different disabilities and also for older people.”
In fact, this mention of “different” is an important point: you cannot put all disabled people in the same bag and reduce working on accessibility to the fact that the letters can be amplified or that a voice system reads the contents. According to the aforementioned ‘Technology and Disability’ report, 52% of those surveyed acknowledge that they have encountered accessibility problems related to their specific type of disability.
If we talk about functional diversity it is because, precisely, people are diverse in what they can do and what they may need. Equalweb technology, as Blumer shows, works in 43 different languages and allows you to activate 32 different profiles so that navigation is more correct for very diverse needs, from people with epilepsy who cannot receive flashes, to those with reduced mobility and problems to move the mouse to those who are color blind and cannot differentiate colors, including dyslexics who need help with reading. These are just a few examples—Blumer also points out that those with ADHD may prefer certain navigation aids, among others—but they serve to understand that making technology accessible requires understanding a range of variables.
“The idea is not only to provide for European law, but also to give the ability to all those people who do not have the opportunity to navigate,” says the expert. It is “going beyond what is needed” out of obligation to make the internet and technology truly accessible to everyone. Converting websites into more accessible spaces is not that expensive and does not make loading—that great fear of technology managers—slower. It is not, she promises, an unaffordable challenge.
According to data from the Adecco Foundation, 65% of people with disabilities trust that the technological revolution will help boost their access to employment, improving equality in jobs. But, as the foundation reminds us, “for these advances to lead to the empowerment of people with disabilities, they must be accompanied by intense training and awareness work.” That is, not only must these people acquire digital skills and knowledge, but the world must understand that we all have different needs.
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