Digitalization and technological adoption has been accelerating dramatically across the world in recent decades. Data access and analysis, educational system and mechanization of work place are also operated dominantly with technological gadgets.
The extent of technological adoption and expansion has been seen the most transformative tool of the existing socio-economic phenomena. However, some of the frontier existing technologies has defect to be adopted by disable individuals while some of other innovations gives special attention on inclusiveness, according to UNICAD report 2018.
Furthermore, united nation’s sustainable and development goal planned to ensure inclusiveness on the existing and emerging technologies. In Ethiopia, inclusive technological advancement has becoming source of chagrin since most workplaces are guided poorly to those who need special advancement. More than 17 percent of Ethiopian population lives under physical disability as to the report of International Labor Organization.
Of course, absence of advanced inclusive technological expansion is the prevailing challenge on both developed and developing countries as to reports from UNICTAD. Most technological advancements bare designed to ease life style but cannot be easily manipulated by individuals who live under disability.
In contrast to this, technological advancement is more likely needed by disable peoples since they are supposed to spend their longer time within their homes and demands gadgets to simplify their activity.
Additionally, disable persons are more likely to have limited job opportunity because of poor supply of special technologies; even the technological innovation is highly dominated by exclusive gadgets.
Now day’s innovations are becoming concerned with inclusive discoveries to make disable individuals familiar with digital world which could compensate their lives.
As a result, the Ethiopian government has also been working in coordination with those who innovate and conjoin to help physically disable peoples striving more.
Last month Addis Ababa University in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Job Access with Speech Software certified more than 170 trainees who are living under physical disabilities after 45 days of training. The training was aimed at enhancing technological adoption especially for individuals who are under visual and or hearing impairments.
One of the trainees who faced visual impairment told The Ethiopian Herald that most of the existing technologies are difficult to be handled by visually impaired individuals. Thus, he was unable to access or analyze any information via computer. And the training made all the trainees aware of how to access and analyze information.
“I am serving for decades as a teacher and all my students’ documents were analyzed by my coworkers since I am not able to write with computer. Currently, I hope all my jobs will be completed without the help of others,” he noted.
Ethiopian government is too late to implement such technologies for needy experts thus many of the experts are depending on their work fellows, he added.
Dr. Estifanos Ele, acting Vice President of the university insisted that the access to technological materials and actions on creating platforms needs aggressive decision. The training was mainly aimed at assisting visually and hearing impaired individuals to access and analyze information via computer.
It is possible to make all physically disabled individuals competitive in the digital world and the government must sustain such special designed programs. And Ethiopia needs to strengthen such trainings to empower physically disable individuals to make them among the frontier user of technologies in their workplace.
Ministry of Education Teacher’s Development Directorate Director, Asefash Tekalign, also says that experts with physical disabilities should not continue doing their jobs manually. It is a must to enable them log on the existing frontier technology; especially on information and technology.
For the last years, especially, students with visual impairment have been taking exams with a guider but currently online examination system is designed to improve this challenging task.
In general, besides the ongoing government’s efforts on inclusive technological advancement, all the stalk holders should give due attention to benefiting the physically disabled persons. And the 17 percent population needs better consideration.
The Ethiopian Herald September 6, 2019
BY YESUF ENDRIS
