Everyone in the world plays a role in society. But when you look at how the community is built, the focus lays more on people without disabilities. There are a million ways disabled people can help the economy, particularly the digital economy. All the economies around the world have gotten a severe hit due to the pandemic, but now, everything is slowly getting back to normal. However, the digital economy has remained its position at the top of the list with even never seen economic growth. There are a few positive outcomes Post-COVID for the Digital Economy.
Post-COVID Digital Economy
The digital economy has been given a push that kick-started a myriad of incentives for disabled people. This is because this economy has opened various doors of opportunities for people, particularly the disabled ones. According to the International Labor Organization, Because of the post-COVID digital economy, approximately one billion disabled people worldwide can now participate in the labor force.
However, with the digital economy, some of the problems may also arise. Like, what if you don’t come up with new strategies? What if there are no new initiatives? Competency will work side by side in this post-COVID digital economy. Therefore, one has to develop targeted and proficient initiatives to conciliate the threats of exclusion and inequalities.
An Inclusive Digital Economy for People with Disabilities
Now, the main question that has been eluding our minds is how all of this will work? Well, the International Labor Organization has remained one step ahead and came up with a report known as An Inclusive Digital Economy for People with Disabilities. The Global Business and Disability Network (GBDN) of ILO work in accordance with ONCE that is the Spanish NGO Fundacion. This report highlights the effects of the digital economy on our job sector. For example, the revolution of the jobs, all the recruitment processes that will be online, renovation of the existing roles and responsibilities, etc. Moreover, this report also helps figure out various courses of action by several stakeholders, including employees, the government, the digital industry, and the disabled people themselves.
According to this report, there are three primary devices incorporated into the digital economy to increase the feasibility of disabled people. These levers are:
- Ensuring accessibility
- Nurturing technical and digital skills
- Promoting employment digitally
One step behind
The digital economy will help turn the lives of people with disabilities and come with some acute problems. These problems can be about the lack of knowledge of the specific equipment or insufficient skills. According to a study, it is found out that people with disabilities, it is difficult to acknowledge, have a lesser amount of knowledge than those who have no disabilities. This is generally because disabled people have always been one step behind due to the many barriers they face along their way, both in society and online. For example, in society, people living with a disability still tend to receive lower levels of training and education, which compromises their work prospects. This is happening all over the world.
Therefore, it is essential to enhance the already existing skills coupled with integrating newer and innovative skills. This up-skilling can make a significant difference in future workplaces from this day forward. Due to these augmented skills, one can foster pioneering employment in the digital sector.
Assistive Technology
Another technology that can provide various opportunities and occupations is Assistive Technology. But there is one thing to keep in mind here, which is the availability of these Assistive Technologies. If there is an abundant supply of these technologies, nothing can stop a company from flourishing. However, if these technologies are lesser in number and the people using them are more, it can create new hurdles for the entire team. This is because if there’s not a sufficient supply of these technologies, then all the other digital tools would be of no use to disabled people.
Positive aspects of the Covid-19 for Digital Economy
The Director of the Conditions of Work and Equality Department of ILO, Manuela Tomei, has driven out some of the positive aspects of the Covid-19 such as the acceleration of the digital economy. She said that this economy needed a push to get started, and Covid-19 has provided that. She also claimed that this is the right time to use the power of people with disabilities. Manuela wants to direct the trend so that it supports a maximum inclusive work future in which all the disabled people also contribute their parts and work towards the betterment of worldwide societies.
Another notable personality remarked that if one wants to take everyone with it in the way forward, then it is essential to indulge in the digital economy but make sure that it doesn’t prove to be a barrier for anybody in the short-term or long-term, particularly to the people with disabilities. Therefore, in this post-COVID digital economy, everybody divulged into making the work future a lot more inclusive. This remark was given by the Director of Institutional Relations and Social Responsibility, known as Fernando Riano.
Zero Project Conference
On February 10th, a conference known as the Zero Project Conference was held in which this report was published. This conference was specific for people with disabilities, and the theme of this conference was Employment and ICT. In this conference, everything was thoroughly discussed, keeping the infusion of disabled people in the digital economy at the top. This conference worked out how one can increase the awareness of making the workplaces much more inclusive and shape them up, which suits the country best. This project had been funded by the European Social Fund, but its lead was taken by Fundacion ONCE.
The future of the Digital Economy Post COVID-19
All the problems arising from Covid-19 have a negative impact on the people, whether financially or mentally. But in the midst of all this, it is pretty praise-worthy to come up with something that can shape up the entire globe in a positive way. All of this can be possible with this post-COVID digital economy. People with disabilities have always been left one step behind along the way. Now is the right time to make them part of online and offline society and work towards a better future. Make sure your website is accessible to all, try one of these free solution platforms.
The expansion of the digital economy can help in including all those persons who live with a disability. Equal access to online information will be provided to disabled persons; if not, the economy can face inordinate hurdles on the way.
