Accesstech Innovation urges journalists to promote disability inclusion in digital reporting
By Chibuzo Ihegboro
Accesstech Innovation and Research Centre, has urged journalists to make digital content accessible to persons with disabilities.
The group disclosed this at a workshop held in Lagos to commemorate the Global Accessibility Awareness Day.
The event is the first in a series of workshops as part of Accesstech’s move to change the narrative on disability through proper reporting on the diverse needs within the disability community.
Journalists were equipped with practical steps to create accessible digital platforms as well as inclusive stories catering to diverse needs within the disability community.
The organisers charged media professionals to make their digital content accessible to persons with disabilities including the blind, dyslexic deaf readers and other print-disabled persons.
According to the CEO of Accesstech Innovation and Research Centre, Opeolu Akinola, apart from access to information being a matter of human rights, it is essential to journalists that the information they are passing across reaches as many people as possible including persons with disabilities.
He said: “By incorporating accessibility best practices, journalists can engage a wider audience to interact with their content. This fosters a more inclusive media landscape and ensures that everyone has the opportunity to stay informed. So, we are empowering journalists to set the agenda for disability inclusion through their stories.
“Accesstech Innovation and Research Centre Limited by guarantee is a non-profit committed to fostering the inclusion of persons with disabilities through public enlightenment on accessibility and empowering persons with disabilities through assistive products and services to enable them to access quality education, decent jobs and economic growth, thereby reducing inequality in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals.
“In the last nine months, we have trained more than 200 visually impaired people across Africa in tech skills such as Python for Data Analytics, Advanced Microsoft Excel and Basic Microsoft Productivity Tools.”
Accesstech Innovation and Research Centre, an organisation committed to providing effective and efficient assistive technology solutions for visually impaired persons.
