Women with disability overcome the digital divide

Transcript

21 April 2013

Roberta: New research from Women with Disabilities Victoria has found that digital divide experienced by people with a disability is even wider for women and here to talk about the issue is Media Access Australia’s Eliza Cussen. Welcome, Eliza.

Eliza: Hi, Roberta.

Roberta: Now, what is this digital divide?

Eliza: Well, the digital divide is really just a shorthand way of saying that certain sections of society don’t have equal access to technology and the internet. Regular listeners will know we talk about this all the time as it applies to people with a disability. Now we’ve found that it’s even worse for a subsection of that community and that’s if you have the misfortune to be female, unfortunately.

Roberta: So, Eliza, why is this divide wider for women, do you think?

Eliza: This is particularly interesting. What it really comes down to is just perception. There’s a perception that for women with disabilities technology just isn’t for them and that’s coming from outside and from within the community as well.

There’s an idea in our society that all women are somehow less capable of using technology and also that people with disabilities don’t use technology or don’t need technology. Of course, we both know that those things aren’t true.

Roberta: Absolutely not. In fact, there’d be more need for it, really, wouldn’t there?

Eliza: Exactly and I think that’s what the able community doesn’t quite understand that people who are born disabled or become disabled over time actually rely on technology more and, of course, they’re just as tech savvy. There are maybe extra barriers to get across but there are no natural limitations at all.

Roberta: And what are the main consequences of this?

Eliza: Well, the sad truth is that this digital divide is contributing to a vicious cycle. Women with a disability suffer from social disadvantage which makes them less likely to take up technology and, of course, not using technology means you’re more likely to suffer social disadvantage. The report mentions that workplace participation is 10 percent lower for women with disabilities compared to men with disabilities and, of course, workplace participation is lower if you have a disability at all.

So it’s kind of a double whammy, but using the internet is becoming more and more important for things like accessing government services, talking with your friends, getting an education, finding a job, all those things that are vital for all of us. And the longer a person holds off from taking up computers the deeper this disadvantage sets in.

Roberta: And how can this disadvantage be overcome?

Eliza: Well, the good news is that, of course, we women are just as tech savvy as blokes and, given the opportunity and the right tools, people with all kinds of disabilities can be just as active online as everybody else. You can pick up a basic laptop or tablet these days for a few hundred dollars and what a lot of people don’t realise is that most of these technologies come with assistive tools right out of the box.

You know, a basic computer will have a good quality screen reader on it or a magnifier also. So if you’re blind or vision impaired there’s nothing stopping you from giving it a go and the research has found that as soon as women sat down in front of a computer the barriers just started to come down.

Roberta: And, of course, there are screen readers as well which has come to the fore in the last decade, I would think.

Eliza: That’s right. In the last five years or so there’s been top quality screen readers available in Macs and PCs. You’ve got VoiceOver if you’re an Apple user and NVDA for Windows. There’s really nothing stopping you, I can’t emphasise that enough.

Roberta: Any women out there listening to this don’t be afraid of it because I wasn’t exactly afraid of it but I was a little bit slow in taking up some of the new technologies. I knew they were going to be good for our radio station in particular but it was just getting used to it. And once you do it you think “how could I not?”

Eliza: Exactly.

Roberta: “How could I not be aware of this?”

Eliza: I think that’s a huge thing. A lot of girls are taught that for some reason they’re less capable of using technology. I don’t know when exactly that sets in but I know that’s definitely the perception I had until I went to uni and learnt how to be a radio producer myself and kind of get over those barriers. My sister wanted to be an astronaut when she was little and her primary school teacher told her that girls couldn’t be astronauts and guess what? She’s an aerospace engineer.

Roberta: That’s wonderful. So, girls out there, you can do what you think maybe you can’t. You can do anything. Now, you can download the Your Say, Your Rights Report from the homepage of the Women with Disabilities Victoria.

Well, thank you for all of that today, Eliza.

Eliza: Thanks, Roberta.

Roberta: I’ve been speaking with Eliza Cussen from Media Access Australia. Media Access Australia are supporters of this program.

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