The final yr and a half of our lives have been an eye-opening one in a number of 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 underneath 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 period.
The pandemic is an expertise I’m positive a number of us are eager to neglect as shortly as possible- I do know I’ve had moments the place I’ve wished it to vanish as shortly because it appeared to roll in. We miss normalcy, and that’s pure.
Nonetheless, when the world will get turned the wrong way up in such an sudden means, there’s lots 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 (due to the efforts of medical groups and vaccinations) we needs to be very fastidiously contemplating how we’d prefer to go about this.
As we’ve seen already, many components of our ‘outdated lives’ have been dysfunctional and harmful- maybe these ones are higher left previously. 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 best way we’ve been taking a look at accessibility.
A incontrovertible fact that’s been fairly stunning and- dare I say- surprisingly nice is the best way so many establishments and firms managed to redirect their providers to a brand new, primarily-online mode over the previous yr and a bit. College lectures, crew 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 all of a sudden recorded and uploaded on a non-public server as a norm for watching in your individual time and for revision functions. As somebody who’s spent a not-insignificant period of time campaigning and nagging on the faculty board to implement such measures, it was a bittersweet feeling seeing it so simply enacted.
This begs the query: why have been they so reluctant to take this step within the first place?
Each time the query was requested, a distinct 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 have been recorded and uploaded on-line.
But now that we’ve taken the classroom out of the equation, we’re cataloging each bit of instructing 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 more durable by COVID-19 than another demographic. Sure components of the general public have proven a level of disinterest in defending these with underlying situations that’s concerningly massive (see: anti-lockdown protestors who have 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 chargeable for upholding equality for all. Now, particularly, for individuals with disabilities.
Different providers have made the notable transfer to on-line as nicely. 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 closing lockdown. This pandemic has taught us what we do and don’t need- and what we positively don’t want is an unnecessarily tight schedule stuffed with back-and-forth commutes to conferences.
Even the training sector has seen booming development. Not solely has there been an enormous rise in instructional content material produced with the expressed intent of on-line consumption, however this has additionally change into a normalised practise.
With this accessibility got here new doorways to be opened- sure alternatives which can have been beforehand unattainable at the moment are centralised on-line and some clicks away. It’s turning into increasingly more frequent for professionals to show to the web to do some additional coaching equivalent to the grasp of main training on-line. All in all, in some respects it’s by no means been simpler to entry a lot content material with such ease.
Alternatively, nevertheless, there may be nonetheless a lot work to be carried out. 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 revenue inequality isn’t any exception. It’s no secret that the working class is likely one of the teams hit hardest by the pandemic as staff have been confronted with no selection however to maintain working in doubtlessly perilous important roles, while many others discovered work from the consolation and security of their very own residence.
Younger individuals additionally noticed a near-unprecedented degree of unemployment as many depend on hospitality work as a way to preserve themselves afloat- a sector that has been notoriously crumbled by the pandemic. With nightclubs, bars, and eating places unable to (legally) preserve their doorways open for very lengthy, large numbers of workers have been left with little to no revenue.
As if that wasn’t unhealthy sufficient, a stunning 20% of the UK is claimed to reside in a state of poverty.
While the transfer to on-line has confirmed to be extra accessible for many people, it’s additionally tough to neglect the reality that not everybody can have entry to a top quality web connection- one thing that’s really vital for the technologically demanding nature of video conferencing specifically.
And, as we all know, video conferencing has change into a brand new necessity. Along with this, entry to gadgets able to connecting to and accessing the web isn’t 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 plenty of customers.
In a post-pandemic world, how can we stability these wants and necessities in a means that permits all contributors (in no matter this can be – work, training, 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- protecting the brand new, digital infrastructure in place while additionally providing some pre-pandemic normalcy may supply an answer to this difficulty. 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 (and hopefully by no means should ever once more) has opened our eyes to the failings in our system in a means we’d by no means skilled earlier than. It’s not at all times been simple to see, but it surely’s essential that we do.
All of us have been conscious of the inequalities plaguing our societies in our pre-pandemic state of existence, I’m positive. 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 determine the areas we should goal, and given us the collective vitality to place these plans into motion.
In spite of everything, when society has already been utterly metamorphosed in a single day by a catastrophe out with any of our controls, it seems like there’s nothing else to lose. Now could be the time to take a maintain of the best way we reside 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 have now the prospect to repair it.
I hope that this collective expertise has proven what we’re able to and the way we’ve been falling brief. 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 best way we do issues. It’s about time we see it by as we work in the direction of opening the world again up once more.
Change is tough, however we do it on a regular basis. The final yr and a half is a residing, respiration, a diseased testomony to that. It’s time we actually take a look at why we don’t do one thing so simple as file college lectures for the advantage of those that bodily can not at all times attend, to one thing as grand as narrowing the gaps in wealth in our nation.
