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Come inside the tech lab making accessibility fun

It all started with gaming, modifications for joysticks, and controllers that allow disabled veterans to once again play their favorite video games. Now, Microsoft’s Inclusive Tech Lab is a haven of innovation and creativity, featuring toys and tools created by and for the disability community. Come along as Program Manager Solomon Romney takes GZERO on an exclusive tour of the lab making accessibility awesome.

Digital Equity

As the world emerges from Covid-19, how can digital access and inclusive approaches to education and skilling connect global citizens to the next billion jobs?

Accessibility is critical for the world's disability community

An estimated 1.6 billion people, roughly 18% of the world’s population, are part of the disability community, and that number grows each year. Yet Microsoft’s Chief Accessibility Officer Jenny Lay-Flurrie says only 2% of websites globally are accessible. As Disability Pride Month comes to an end, GZERO’s Tony Maciulis spoke to her about confronting challenges at work and home while embracing the diversity of different abilities.

Private sector partnership key to funding digital access for all

To connect the next two billion people to the internet, funding is crucial – and not the small type. To accomplish these kinds of enterprise projects, the UN requires a massive financial war chest.

No internet, no education, says Vickie Robinson

The pandemic accelerated the shift to digital. But that left behind those offline, widening the digital access gap — with big implications for education. Vickie Robinson, general manager of Microsoft's Airband Initiative, recalls how she dealt with school closing as a mother. Having in-home connectivity helped her children transition from middle to high school with some sense of normalcy. But two-thirds of school-aged kids around the world didn't have that opportunity, she says during a Global Stage livestream conversation.

Overcoming inefficiency with education

Lack of investment in education is often regarded as a structural problem in low-income nations. Leonardo Garnier, a special adviser for the UN's Transforming Education Summit, knows why. Countries with an ample supply of cheap labor tend to get investments from businesses whose profits depend on that. Not to increase productivity, not to spur tech innovation, and definitely not to create a highly educated workforce. The result, Garnier explains during a Global Stage livestream conversation, is forever low wages and stagnant productivity.

COVID upended the job market & focused employers on skills

COVID had few silver linings. But perhaps one of them is that it upended the labor market in ways that, for once, favored workers over employers. The switch to virtual meant that recruiters were forced to urgently find people with the right digital skills instead of waiting for those that had gone to the "right" schools. "The talent market became a little dry," Jonathan Rochelle, VP of Product Management, Learning Content & Instructor Experience at Linkedin, says during a Global Stage livestream discussion.

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Digital Equity

In order to make sure that the post-pandemic economic recovery is inclusive, what can be done to ensure that all people, especially those unreached or displaced by technology, have access to connectivity and training to develop the skills needed in this more digital economy?

Crisis Recovery

COVID-19 ravaged economies and communities everywhere, but provided a unique opportunity to harness technology and reset entrenched, failing systems. Governments and the private-sector showed productive cooperation in desperate times. Is there a more robust, resilient world beyond the pandemic?

Sustainability

Climate change continues to wreak havoc across the world. How can emerging, innovative technologies help mitigate immediate risks from climate change, and unlock longer-term solutions?

Digital Governance

Amid the rise of cyberattacks and the growth of digital footprints, we’ve never needed stronger security and clearer privacy regulations more. Where should governments draw lines, and how much control should tech companies have, as public trust wavers?

Come inside the tech lab making accessibility fun

Digital Equity

Accessibility is critical for the world's disability community

Private sector partnership key to funding digital access for all

To connect the next two billion people to the internet, funding is crucial – and not the small type. To accomplish these kinds of enterprise projects, the UN requires a massive financial war chest.

The fight to “connect every last person” to the internet

Doreen Bogdan-Marin spends a lot of time thinking about how to keep the world connected as the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union. The biggest frontier in that realm is expanding internet access to those in the developing world who struggle to get online.

No internet, no education, says Vickie Robinson

Overcoming inefficiency with education

COVID upended the job market & focused employers on skills

Explore these topics

Digital Governance

Online violence means real-world danger for women in politics like EU's Lucia Nicholsonová

The online abuse crisis threatens the mental health of young women worldwide

What impact will AI have on gender equality?

Voters beware: Elections and the looming threat of deepfakes

GZEROMEDIA

Digital Equity

To connect the next two billion people to the internet, funding is crucial – and not the small type. To accomplish these kinds of enterprise projects, the UN requires a massive financial war chest.

Doreen Bogdan-Marin spends a lot of time thinking about how to keep the world connected as the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union. The biggest frontier in that realm is expanding internet access to those in the developing world who struggle to get online.

Explore these topics

Digital Governance

GZEROMEDIA

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