Guest Post: If people cannot do what they want to do online, they risk losing independence
Ellen Boyle pops by to discuss digital poverty and the role of accessibility
Hello! I’m still taking a break, back next week when usual service will resume.
Thank you to Jess Harpin for last week’s post on transport and growing up in rural Yorkshire - you can read that here if you missed it.
This week of is standing in, talking about digital inclusion, and Access:Given, a digital accessibility conference she’s hosting in Newcastle on 10th September (tickets on sale now). Ellen’s newsletter is brilliant, and she bills it as about mental health for the chonrically online…really it’s about life.
When she mentioned she’d co-founded Access:Given, it immediately sounded like one of those ideas which just made sense - it’s her professional expertise, it’s a poorly understood topic, and it’s something which has a built in audience which won’t necessarily have many opportunities to get together. They have some fantastic speakers lined up, detailed below.
In this post Ellen explains why digital inclusion and digital accessibility are particularly important for a region like the North East.
The North East has the highest rate of digital poverty in the UK.
You’ve probably heard some version of this stat before.
But what does it actually mean?
Digital poverty is a marker for many things, including vulnerability, financial poverty and social instability. It’s a complex issue; one that cannot be solved by a single initiative or movement. For starters, people need better access to hardware and more reliable internet connections. These are issues the likes of the Digital Poverty Alliance are striving to tackle.
But what about when people finally get online?
Is that the issue solved?
Unfortunately, that’s where new problems begin.
Getting online is one thing, but what if you can’t use the services you need? From applying for jobs, to accessing customer support, making appointments, and obtaining vital health information, all of these tasks need to be digitally accessible to you, regardless of your ability. Yet, that is still rarely the case.
Disabled people are among the most affected by poor digital accessibility. Digital inclusion charity Good Things Foundation is strong in its position that "inaccessible technology severely limits what people with disabilities can do independently,” thus feeding into the digital and wider social divide experienced by disabled people.
Independently is the key word here, and one that I want to focus on throughout this piece.
Independence is empowerment.
Being able to access information about your own health, for example, is critical. In fact, digital exclusion is a “major driver of health inequalities,” and inaccessible technology design, alongside concerns around skills and trust, are all contributing factors, according to Dr. Minal Bakhai, Director of Primary Care Transformation at NHS England.
One way designers and developers can ensure their digital products are accessible is by adhering to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). However, WCAG is often treated as a simple tick-box exercise. In reality, creating digital products that are accessible to everyone is far more complicated than ensuring correct colour contrast and adding alt text to images (although both of those are still very important).
Having a job is, of course, one of the critical steps towards independence. Unsurprisingly, there is a direct correlation between digital poverty and unemployment. Those who are digitally excluded are two to three times more likely to be unemployed.
If you cannot access the internet and apply for jobs online, then you risk falling at the first hurdle. And that’s before you even enter the workplace.
According to a government report on the employment of disabled people from November 2024, the North East was the only region that did not reduce the percentage of disabled people in work between 2013/14 and 2023/24, instead seeing it increase by 1.4%.
Obviously, there are many reasons for this, but the high rate of digital poverty is certainly one of them.
Improving daily lives
When businesses and charities build and grow their websites, they need to consider how people access and process information, as this significantly impacts their daily lives.
I’m not the only one who has become the tech support for the older people in my family. It is our responsibility as millennials to ensure our parents and grandparents don’t click on any dodgy links or make the wrong purchase.
In December, my elderly neighbour knocked on the door. We regularly help them with digital tasks, like setting up a new phone or accessing a lost photo. This time, they wanted to secure a Christmas food delivery shop with the local supermarket. This is no mean feat for even the most digitally literate amongst us, so you can imagine how difficult this process might be for someone in their 70s using an out-of-date tablet.
I mention this anecdote not to shame, but to shed light on the daily impact that inaccessible technology has on absolutely everyone. And, for the likes of the supermarkets, for example, this is causing frustration for customers, but also costing them money.
If people cannot do what they want to do online, they risk losing independence in an increasingly digital world.
I’ll leave you with this quote from Joel Tiller at the Digital Poverty Alliance:
“Accessibility is not a technical feature – it is a public good. If we treat it as infrastructure, we build systems that are stronger, fairer, and future-proof.”
About Access:Given
If you want to learn more about building better digital infrastructure and creating a fairer online society, then join me and
for the inaugural Access:Given, a one-day digital accessibility conference in Newcastle Upon Tyne on Wednesday 10th September.Speakers
We have the best speakers from across the board, all experts in their respective fields of digital accessibility.
Ettie Bailey-King - Ettie teaches people to communicate in a way that works better for autistic, ADHD, blind, d/Deaf, distracted, dyslexic, and tired people (and many others).
Craig Abbott - Former head of accessibility for DWP, Craig is the creator of the DWP Accessibility Manual. He specialises in user-centered accessible design.
Rachel Edwards - Senior content designer at Content Design London, Rachel specialises in trauma-informed design to help people experiencing stress, anxiety, and trauma access the information they need.
Helen Dutson and Holly Tuke - Both come from the talented social team at the RNIB, Holly is disability advocate, social media accessibility champion at RNIB and blogger at Life of a Blind Girl. Helen is a creativity and accessibility advocate who has worked on accessible and boundary-pushing campaigns.
The venue
The event will take place in the Catalyst Building on the Newcastle Helix site, and we aim to make it as accessible as possible. Here are some cool things about the venue:
Super-wide aisles so you can easily come in and out of the aisles for loo, to get fresh air, etc.
Fold-up seats in the front row for wheelchairs
Accessible toilets, both gendered and gender neutral, as well as a hygiene room
USB charging points at seats
Ramps from the street to the stage
Hearing loops
Ventilation under every seat
Tickets
Sounds good? There are two types of tickets:
A standard admission, which is £119 plus a small booking fee with the option of adding lunch for a tenner
A free Pay-it-Forward ticket can be applied for via our website soon
We encourage companies to buy Pay-it-Forward tickets so that as many people as possible can attend. We will also cover the cost of some ourselves.
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