Tech’s elephant in the room: Digital Ableism

Everyone knows it’s there, but nobody wants to talk about it.

It is becoming all too clear to companies that they can no longer afford to be exclusionary in their business practices, and corporate responsibility efforts. Words are not enough, and people are demanding action. This can be a tough pill to swallow for companies that perhaps never considered themselves prejudiced or discriminating towards BIPOC, the LGBTQIA community — and people with disabilities. However, it is no longer enough to say “all are welcome here” without action behind those words. When it comes to the needs of people with disabilities, this much-needed action involves confronting internal bias and business practices that perpetuate what is known as digital ableism.

What is digital ableism?

To unpack this concept we have to first look at ableism:

“Ableism is a set of beliefs or practices that devalue and discriminate against people with physical, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities and often rests on the assumption that disabled people need to be ‘fixed’ in one form or the other.” — Leah Smith…