TIMELINE
FIVE ST This month, we reached out to Karen Smit, Head of Accessibility at Vodacom South Africa, and asked her to tell us about the five most pressing steps that need to be taken to foster a more inclusive telecom sector.
16
May 2022
1
Recognise disabled persons as a viable consumer segment More than 15% – or about 1.3 billion – of people in the world have a disability. Disabled persons want to be recognised as consumers and not as charity cases, as they access and pay for technology and services like everyone else. Together with friends and family, disabled persons have a combined spending power of $13tn, proving why this section of society shouldn’t be overlooked.
2
Embrace systemic inclusion When technology companies include disabled consumers as part of their company’s diversity and inclusion strategy, it benefits both the company and disabled persons. Don’t treat accessibility as a one-off project; embed inclusion into your company’s systems, structures, processes and roadmaps, with business units sharing the responsibility to promote the inclusion of disabled persons.
