Is your digital space invisible or impossible? How lack of accessibility undermines impact

by Dr. Kristen Liesch, co-CEO of Tidal Equality, in collaboration with Kirsten Dodd and Bryony Anderson of Hey Nova

Our digital and real worlds during a pandemic

Quarantine, self-isolation, physical distancing… the coronavirus pandemic has sent us indoors like no other event in generations. My personal footprint has shrunk dramatically. Like so many others whose work is non-essential and can (theoretically) be completed from home, the “world” I inhabit now is exponentially more virtual, digital, online - and not by choice, but out of necessity.

And in the current state of affairs, I’m certainly among the most fortunate. I have a front yard where my kids can kick a soccer ball around. I have access to funds that give me enough of a buffer that I don’t quite need to panic about the fact my CRA online access is all tangled up. I’ll be okay. 

And, by the looks of it, a lot of people I know will be okay: my neighbours are landscaping their front yards, my friends on social media are taking second-language classes and taking a crack at fermenting cabbage.

But we’re not all okay. In fact, a lot of people are not okay in a very fundamental way. 

Exacerbated inequalities

COVID-19 has, in many ways, laid bare the bias that exists in our systems (think: lower testing rates in black communities), and exacerbated existing inequalities (think: children meant to learn at home without internet access).

For the past two weeks, my co-CEO Anna has been working with a tech maven’s company and a local food security initiative to coordinate a Toronto-wide plan for getting food to hungry people. Because there are a lot of them. And they’ve been falling through the cracks. And in the process of wrestling with the challenges related to coordinating - at speed and scale - this sort of project, it’s become painfully obvious exactly how inequitable our systems - programs, communications, policies - can be, and are having baked into them as we speak during this pandemic. 

WE’VE BEEN ASKING QUESTIONS LIKE:

1. Does low turn-out to a local pop-up food pantry mean there is little need, or that people in need don’t know the pantry exists?
2. How is a person who is living alone meant to access food bank provisions if they’re also supposed to be in self-isolation?
3. When 2.4million Canadians don’t have at-home internet access - and the places they’d usually access wifi (cafes, public libraries) are now closed - how can they find the information and supports they need?

People in the midst of a pademic: Amrita and Devon*

I know, without a doubt, there are equality champions, changemakers, and concerned citizens, volunteers, public servants, and others who are working very hard to get help to those who need it. Nevertheless, inequalities are exacerbated, even in the midst of good work.

Let me explain.

But first, meet Amrita

Amrita just came home from spending a few months in Palm Springs with her sister-in-laws, and she finds everything in Toronto - and the country - has changed. Not only is she told she must self-isolate for 14 days because she’s been out-of-country, she’s to remain in self-isolation until further notice because she’s over 70. It’s all pretty overwhelming. She wishes her sister-in-law were there to help her through this new challenge. Since her spouse died a few years ago, she’s had to weather some storms on her own. Nothing unusual for a woman of her age: cataracts which have affected her vision, and her arthritis has gotten worse. But she’s taken the knocks and pushed through; she’s swapped reading biographies for listening to them, and while she misses sketching, she’s taken some cooking classes and gets creative in the kitchen. 

Today, though, Amrita is at a bit of a loss. She’s not supposed to go out to buy groceries, and even if she were to venture out, her local Little Portugal grocer doesn’t seem to be open. She’s never tried online grocery shopping before, and realizes she’ll have to give that a go sooner rather than later. But first she decides to get good and caught up. Her radio is tuned to CBC Toronto, and she’s heard more than once that 211Toronto.ca is where she can go for all the latest information and resources, so she sits down with her iPad and powers up.

Next, meet Devon.

Devon is pouring himself another cup of coffee. From the sound of the creaking floorboards overhead, he figures that his upstairs neighbour has come home from wherever they go this time of year. His boyfriend somehow managed to get to know most of the people in their 16-unit apartment, but Devon had kept mostly to himself since his accident. 

Devon had put 15 years into his job at a roofing manufacturing plant when he got caught in some machinery and lost his hand. But he lost a lot more than that. He was put on light duty when he was able to go back to work, but that saw him assigned to a different role, and the learning curve, combined with worsening mental health issues, were more than he could cope with, so he took disability. He’s been working the occasional shift at the grocer around the corner, but they’ve had to close up for the time being, and they laid him off. 

Now, the creaking floorboards above and the occasional passing pedestrian are the only humans Devon feels he has around him, and he knows he’s going to need help soon. His parents and sister are in British Columbia, and they’ve got their own challenges - job losses, kids to homeschool. He certainly doesn’t want to ask his parents for money… with the ways the markets are going, their retirement fund is at risk. Sooner than later, Devon’s going to need help with food. He heard Mayor Tory mention 211Toronto.ca in today’s press conference, so he opens a search engine on his phone.

Amrita and Devon represent some of the people who really need access to the kind of information a site like 211Toronto.ca provides: information about mental health services, food security programs, income support. There’s a 24/7 helpline, a live chat. And while 211Toronto.ca has built their site - with all its information, language translation, live chat, multiple hyperlinks - for folks like Amrita and Devon. It hasn’t been built for Amrita and Devon.

When the digital world is invisible or impossible

Like far too many spaces, both real and virtual, the accessibility of that space has been (inadvertently) overlooked such that the failure to build access into the design causes a failure in the system itself. 

Now let me introduce you to Kirsten Dodd so she can explain.

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE ON THE TIDAL EQUALITY WEBSITE.