The final yr and a half of our lives have been an eye-opening one in numerous methods. We’ve all had little else to do however watch because the buildings supporting our society are confirmed to be flawed of their design, buckling below the added weight of this new viral menace.
Racism, misogyny, transphobia, and the very imperfect political infrastructure we trusted to maintain us secure in moments of disaster have all reared their ugly heads within the worst attainable methods. To not point out the sheer political and ideological extremism and division that’s cropped up- taking a look at you, anti-vaxxers and Q-anon. For sure, it’s been an eye-opening little time frame.
The pandemic is an expertise I’m certain numerous us are eager to neglect as rapidly as possible- I do know I’ve had moments the place I’ve wished it to vanish as rapidly because it appeared to roll in. We miss normalcy, and that’s pure.
Nonetheless, when the world will get turned the other way up in such an sudden manner, there’s so much to be taught from the scenario. I’d argue that proper now, as we’re slowly gearing as much as try to flip our society right-way-up once more (because of the efforts of medical groups and vaccinations) we ought to be very rigorously contemplating how we’d prefer to go about this.
As we’ve seen already, many elements of our ‘previous lives’ had been dysfunctional and harmful- maybe these ones are higher left up to now. So how will we select what to banish to reminiscence and what to maintain with us in our new, post-pandemic lives? One huge reply is the way in which we’ve been taking a look at accessibility.
A proven fact that’s been fairly surprising and- dare I say- surprisingly nice is the way in which so many establishments and corporations managed to redirect their providers to a brand new, primarily-online mode over the previous yr and a bit. College lectures, staff conferences, and leisure actions have all settled themselves on the earth of Zoom and different such video conferencing software program, permitting an ease of entry that’s by no means actually been seen earlier than.
To make use of a private instance, college lectures are out of the blue recorded and uploaded on a non-public server as a norm for watching in your personal time and for revision functions. As somebody who’s spent a not-insignificant period of time campaigning and nagging on the college board to implement such measures, it was a bittersweet feeling seeing it so simply enacted.
This begs the query: why had been they so reluctant to take this step within the first place?
Each time the query was requested, a unique reply was given- maybe it was to do with the lecturers’ private reluctance to be filmed. To others, it was about the truth that college students supposedly wouldn’t present as much as class anymore if all lectures had been recorded and uploaded on-line.
But now that we’ve taken the classroom out of the equation, we’re cataloging every bit of educating content material with ease. The accessibility key that so many with bodily disabilities, psychological sicknesses, and a number of different situations have been asking for is now lastly a actuality.
Individuals with disabilities have been hit tougher by COVID-19 than another demographic. Sure elements of the general public have proven a level of disinterest in defending these with underlying situations that’s concerningly giant (see: anti-lockdown protestors who had been unsettlingly okay with placing the susceptible in peril for the sake of freedom pints down on the pub).
And now could be the time to be questioning that mentality- we’re all liable for upholding equality for all. Now, particularly, for folks with disabilities.
Different providers have made the notable transfer to on-line as properly. The normalisation of on-line docs’ appointments, remedy, and even enterprise conferences is a cultural norm I really hope continues to stay round even after we’ve exited our last lockdown. This pandemic has taught us what we do and don’t need- and what we undoubtedly don’t want is an unnecessarily tight schedule stuffed with back-and-forth commutes to conferences.
Even the schooling sector has seen booming development. Not solely has there been an enormous rise in academic content material produced with the expressed intent of on-line consumption, however this has additionally develop into a normalised practise.
With this accessibility got here new doorways to be opened- sure alternatives which can have been beforehand unattainable are actually centralised on-line and some clicks away. It’s changing into increasingly more widespread for professionals to show to the web to do some additional coaching reminiscent of the grasp of main schooling on-line. All in all, in some respects it’s by no means been simpler to entry a lot content material with such ease.
However, nonetheless, there’s nonetheless a lot work to be achieved. As with all issues, COVID-19 has shined a light-weight on and exacerbated the inequalities we had already been residing with up till this point- and earnings inequality is not any exception. It’s no secret that the working class is without doubt one of the teams hit hardest by the pandemic as staff had been confronted with no selection however to maintain working in probably perilous important roles, while many others discovered work from the consolation and security of their very own dwelling.
Younger folks additionally noticed a near-unprecedented stage of unemployment as many depend on hospitality work with a purpose to maintain themselves afloat- a sector that has been notoriously crumbled by the pandemic. With nightclubs, bars, and eating places unable to (legally) maintain their doorways open for very lengthy, big numbers of workers had been left with little to no earnings.
As if that wasn’t dangerous sufficient, a surprising 20% of the UK is alleged to stay in a state of poverty.
While the transfer to on-line has confirmed to be extra accessible for many people, it’s additionally troublesome to neglect the reality that not everybody may have entry to a top quality web connection- one thing that’s really mandatory for the technologically demanding nature of video conferencing specifically.
And, as we all know, video conferencing has develop into a brand new necessity. Along with this, entry to units able to connecting to and accessing the web will not be one thing that’s assured. With so many households sharing a single laptop computer or pill, accessibility turns into, as soon as once more, diminished as availability is torn between quite a lot of customers.
In a post-pandemic world, how can we steadiness these wants and necessities in a manner that enables all individuals (in no matter this can be – work, schooling, or recreation) the entry they want with out endangering or alienating any group?
The reply appears to be a big mixture of strategies. Twin supply appears to be the key- maintaining the brand new, digital infrastructure in place while additionally providing some pre-pandemic normalcy may provide an answer to this concern. The balancing of those totally different elements could take some getting used to.
Nonetheless, there’s a powerful hope that the final yr and a bit that we’ve all collectively gone by way of (and hopefully by no means must ever once more) has opened our eyes to the failings in our system in a manner we’d by no means skilled earlier than. It’s not at all times been simple to see, however it’s necessary that we do.
All of us had been conscious of the inequalities plaguing our societies in our pre-pandemic state of existence, I’m certain. Nonetheless, the blessing of this COVID-ridden time of our lives (of which there are admittedly only a few) is that it’s given us the instruments to concretely establish the areas we should goal, and given us the collective power to place these plans into motion.
In any case, when society has already been fully metamorphosed in a single day by a catastrophe out with any of our controls, it appears like there’s nothing else to lose. Now could be the time to take a maintain of the way in which we stay while it’s in such a pliable state and attempt to construct one thing higher again up from these scattered items. It’s clear now that our pre-pandemic world was damaged. And we’ve got the possibility to repair it.
I hope that this collective expertise has proven what we’re able to and the way we’ve been falling quick. And I hope that we handle to maintain the momentum of social change we’ve lately seen going with simply as much- and, if not, more- depth.
With the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter motion, the uproar over the deep-rooted misogynistic violence we normalised in our society, rising class consciousness, and a lot extra, we’re in a collective state that’s primed to alter the way in which we do issues. It’s about time we see it by way of as we work in the direction of opening the world again up once more.
Change is troublesome, however we do it on a regular basis. The final yr and a half is a residing, respiratory, a diseased testomony to that. It’s time we actually take a look at why we don’t do one thing so simple as document college lectures for the good thing about those that bodily can’t at all times attend, to one thing as grand as narrowing the gaps in wealth in our nation.
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