Remarkable World Commentary Episode #94: Who is Being Left Behind?

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In this impassioned episode of Remarkable World Commentary, Donna J. Jodhan turns her attention to a question that recurs throughout the world of advocacy: who is being left behind? She identifies three groups bearing the brunt of rapid technological change, seniors who often cannot afford up-to-date devices or keep pace with shifting tools, persons with disabilities who are shut out by apps and websites built without accessibility features, and the technically challenged who never grew up with technology and now struggle to keep up. Donna argues that inaccessible apps and websites are not a neutral inconvenience but an active form of exclusion, and she presses companies to actually sit down with these communities to understand why they feel left out, reminding her audience that seniors in particular are bread-and-butter consumers too easily ignored.

She closes with her monthly highlight of a stressful life circumstance, this month focusing on the experience of losing one’s home, whether through financial hardship or conflict with family or friends. Calling a home a person’s dynasty, the place where one resides, thinks, feels, and lives, Donna frames its loss as among the most distressing circumstances anyone can face. She invites listeners to share their own perspectives and feedback at donnajodhan@gmail.com.

TRANSCRIPT

Podcast Commentator: Greetings, Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP and MBA invites you to listen to her biweekly podcast, Remarkable World Commentary. Here, Donna shares some of her innermost thoughts, insights, perspectives, and more with her listeners. Donna focuses on topics that directly affect the future of kids, especially kids with disabilities. Donna is a blind advocate, author, sight loss coach, dinner mystery producer, writer, entrepreneur, law graduate, and podcast commentator. She has decades of lived experiences, knowledge, skills, and expertise in access, technology and information. As someone who has been internationally recognized for her work and roles, she just wants to make things better than possible.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: Hello everyone and greetings from me. I’m Donna Jordan, your remarkable world commentary person for the month of June. This is my first biweekly podcast for June and I hope that everybody is doing fine. And I’m just so happy that June is finally here so that we could enjoy some wonderful, wonderful weather. So what’s on my mind for this month? What am I most interested in talking about or sharing with you? For the month of June. And it’s all about this. Who is being left behind. And I really do not think that this is a topic that is new or that is strange to anyone who is in the land of advocacy. I don’t. I think it’s a topic that we continue to talk about. It’s a topic or a subject that we continue to mull over, and we’re constantly trying to find solutions to these challenges and these problems. So who’s being left behind? In my opinion, seniors. Let’s look at why seniors have often been left behind, especially so when technology comes into play. And, you know, most companies, most entities honestly believe that they are using technology to forge ahead to increase their customer base, to increase their revenues because they feel that this is the right thing to do. What they fail to realize, and I apologize if someone thinks that this is a facetious statement to make is that seniors are not always ready, able and willing to grapple with rapidly changing technology. A lot of them can’t even afford to have the technical pieces needed, i.e. devices, computers with up to date software. So they are being left behind, and it is becoming more and more of a fight to get companies to understand this.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: After all, seniors are our bread and butter consumers. But a lot of people don’t realize this or fail to understand or simply ignore. Okay? Or avoid the whole subject altogether. Persons with disabilities is yet another group. How many times have I personally advocated for companies to really sit down with persons with disabilities to understand why. Why they feel that they are being left behind or being left out. Because a lot of the apps that are being developed these days do not contain accessibility features, and persons with disabilities still need to depend on a sighted person or a person with more expertise to help them out. That means that they are being left out and being left behind. Okay, but technically, challenge is yet another group. And who are the technically challenged? The technically challenged are those who did not grow up with technology, who are still struggling to use technology to be able to keep up. Inaccessible apps really play a part in both seniors and technically disabled and persons with disabilities. Not being able to keep up. They’re being left behind. They’re there being left out. And I know that apps are becoming more and more the way of the world to interact, to purchase, to, to seek information, to do all kinds of things. And it’s great, but these groups are being left out. Okay. When inaccessible websites exist and if there’s not a good enough reason, and I don’t think there is a good enough reason for an inaccessible website, it means, again, that seniors, persons with disabilities and the technically challenged are being left out and are being left behind.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA: That is my rant for today. Okay. This is what I truly believe, and I hope that someone listening is going to give me some feedback. Write to me at Donna jordan@gmail.com. That’s donnajodhan@gmail.com. Okay, I look forward to hearing from you. Now, I always promise myself that every month I’ll do my best to highlight a story that becomes very stressful for anyone who gets into such a circumstance. And for this month, we’re going to talk about when someone loses a home. Okay, it’s very stressful for someone to lose her home, whether it’s through financial circumstances or an in-fight with the family, or an in-fight with friends or an in-fight with somebody. Losing a home is not an easy thing. It is one of the most stressful circumstances that anyone could ever hope not to get into. Your home is your dynasty. Your home is where you reside. Your home is where you think, where you do, where you feel. And when you lose that home after whether it’s just a few years or many years of living there, it is very stressful. So this is one of the stories I just wanted to highlight for this month. Losing a home. I’m Donna J. Jordan, and I do thank you for listening to me for the month of June. My first episode. All right. Being left out. And you have a great week and I’ll talk to you again soon. Bye for now.

Podcast Commentator: Donna wants to hear from you and invites you to write to her at donnajodhan@gmail.com. Until next time.

Donna J. Jodhan, LLB, ACSP, MBA
Global Leader In Disability Rights, Digital Accessibility, And Inclusive Policy Reform
Turning policy into progress for people with disabilities.