TECHNOLOGY FEATURE
Digital inclusion
At a time when many occupational therapists are
evaluating new ways of working, Joel Reynolds
and Suzy England demonstrate that people
should already have the skills to promote digital
inclusion within their workplaces and wider society
There has been a growing interest in the use of digital tools to improve
the accessibility and efficiency of business activities for some time. Over
recent years, an increasing number of organisations have developed
digital strategies that seek to embed digital ways of working that
support staff productivity, as well as tools designed to improve citizen access and
experience of their service.
In relation to occupational therapy service provision, previous digital articles (as
part of the OTnews TEC series) have shone a light on the ways in which digital
technologies are impacting on a range of services across health and care, as well as
education contexts.
In addition, RCOT has facilitated two ‘digital first’ networking events to capture the
experiences of occupational therapists. The learning from these activities has been
pulled together into a RCOT digital topic webpage (www.rcot.co.uk/node/3507).
Two clear themes have emerged and those are: how the occupational therapist
uses their Person-Environment-Occupation (PEO) lens to plan, implement and
evaluate digital interventions; as well as the need to consider both staff and citizen
digital literacy when introducing new ways of working.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a reliance on digital tools for working,
living and participating in society. Considering the internet has been described as
an inherently disabling environment (Easton 2013), when considered within the
social model of disability there is an established digital divide that is at risk of being
exacerbated.
Furthermore, failure to recognise the inequalities within society in relation to digital
skills and access to technology is a matter of social justice.
Larson-Lund (2018) asks that occupational therapists adopt an occupational
justice perspective on digital transformation. We call on occupational therapists to
utilise their PEO lens to reflect and evaluate on whether these new ways of working
are inclusive practices for all staff and citizens.
What is digital inclusivity
Digital inclusivity is not about disability but about universality and making something
that can be used by as many people as possible. We are proposing that occupational
therapists adopt a two-step approach, whereby they consider both the access and
the experience of occupation in the digital environment.
Enabling access
Web accessibility is a legal requirement under the Equality Act (2010) to ensure digital
spaces, for example websites and apps, are accessible to individuals of all abilities.
There are clear guidelines for web access, including guidance on adjusting the
information to meet the person’s ability level (www.w3.org/TR/WCAG21/). Some of
the barriers to this include language, specific impairments, as well as the readability
and layout.
OTnews July 2020 57