This month , we reached out to Karen Smit , Head of Accessibility at Vodacom South Africa , and asked her to tell us about the five most pressing steps that need to be taken to foster a more inclusive telecom sector .

Recognise disabled persons as a viable consumer segment More than 15 % – or about 1.3 billion – of people in the world have a disability . Disabled persons want to be recognised as consumers and not as charity cases , as they access and pay for technology and services like everyone else . Together with friends and family , disabled persons have a combined spending power of $ 13tn , proving why this section of society shouldn ’ t be overlooked .

Embrace systemic inclusion When technology companies include disabled consumers as part of their company ’ s diversity and inclusion strategy , it benefits both the company and disabled persons . Don ’ t treat accessibility as a one-off project ; embed inclusion into your company ’ s systems , structures , processes and roadmaps , with business units sharing the responsibility to promote the inclusion of disabled persons .

16 May 2022