Preexisting or Induced Disability!?
Nigel Dupree
Project Director at S.M.A.R.T. Foundation - also known as: Legin Nyleve, LeginNyleve and @l3gin on other Social Media
“The shame that went with being “statemented” in the past has dissipated, and “neurodiversity” has become an identity rather than a stigma. For parents, such a diagnosis can be both a relief, for it implies that difficult behaviour is innate rather than the consequence of poor parenting, and a help”.? Emma Duncan, The Times
Yeah but, no but, it is time for a "Reality Check" in the 21st Digital Century for a review of ineffective parenting and ineffective education churning out children as "functionally and digitally illiterate" as they arrived whether formally diagnosed or not excluded from participating.
However, so long as the child is blamed for being disabled both parents and government can excuse education for not being Accessible for ALL, highlighting COVID as a scape-goat for children allegedly falling behind academically not that significant numbers could engage in the first place.
Whether visibly disabled or not mainstream education is still solely based on being "enabled to read fluently enough to participate" in learning especially having narrowed the curriculum to exclude the range of vocational more practical subjects prior to the end of last century.
https://literacytrust.org.uk/parents-and-families/adult-literacy/what-do-adult-literacy-levels-mean/
The economic and social costs of functional illiteracy or impairment whether preexisting or due to induced visual repetitive stress injuries exhibited in presenteeism and an average 20% lost productivity has been expediently ignored by just tokenistically addressing the tip of the iceberg introducing WCAG 2. Website minimal "Colour Contrast Validation" omitting Product Safety of everyone's display screen devices.
Accepting there will always be a difference between reported stress related occupational health injuries perhaps the government is more concerned by potential retrospective occupational health claims than recovering lost productivity although I am now lead to believe we are not in a period of austerity or even being prudent but, fiscal management?
Anyway, surely by enabling "Digital Literacy" and reducing predictable vision losses alongside restoring 20% productivity the savings in economic and social costs would provide a significant ROI !
Or maybe just an expediency to sustain UK status with a population of "Haves and Have-nots" during the decades of the "Hourglass Economy" by which time there will be a digital solution to the Human Resources basic literacy skills-gap and chasm between the Haves and Have-nots!?