The final yr and a half of our lives have been an eye-opening one in lots of methods. We’ve all had little else to do however watch because the constructions supporting our society are confirmed to be flawed of their design, buckling underneath the added weight of this new viral risk.
Racism, misogyny, transphobia, and the very imperfect political infrastructure we trusted to maintain us protected 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 certain lots of 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 surprising approach, there’s so much to study 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 must 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As we’ve seen already, many components of our ‘outdated lives’ have been dysfunctional and harmful- maybe these ones are higher left previously.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 undeniable fact that’s been fairly surprising and- dare I say- surprisingly nice is the best way 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 instantly 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 college 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 educating content material with ease. The accessibility key that so many with bodily disabilities, psychological diseases, and a bunch of different situations have been asking for is now lastly a actuality.
Folks with disabilities have been hit more durable by COVID-19 than every other demographic. Sure components 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 have been unsettlingly okay with placing the susceptible at risk for the sake of freedom pints down on the pub).
And now could be the time to be questioning that mentality- we’re all answerable for upholding equality for all. Now, particularly, for folks with disabilities.
Different providers have made the notable transfer to on-line as nicely. The normalisation of on-line medical doctors’ 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 instructional content material produced with the expressed intent of on-line consumption, however this has additionally turn out to be 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 comparable to 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.
Alternatively, nonetheless, there’s nonetheless a lot work to be accomplished. As with all issues, COVID-19 has shined a lightweight on and exacerbated the inequalities we had already been dwelling with up till this point- and revenue inequality is not any exception. It’s no secret that the working class is among the teams hit hardest by the pandemic as staff have been confronted with no alternative 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 folks additionally noticed a near-unprecedented stage of unemployment as many depend on hospitality work with the intention 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, enormous numbers of employees have been left with little to no revenue.
As if that wasn’t unhealthy sufficient, a surprising 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 troublesome to neglect the reality that not everybody can have entry to a high quality web connection- one thing that’s actually vital for the technologically demanding nature of video conferencing specifically.
And, as we all know, video conferencing has turn out to be 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, decreased as availability is torn between a lot of customers.
In a post-pandemic world, how can we steadiness these wants and necessities in a approach 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- protecting the brand new, digital infrastructure in place while additionally providing some pre-pandemic normalcy may provide an answer to this difficulty. The balancing of those completely different parts 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 means of (and hopefully by no means need to ever once more) has opened our eyes to the issues in our system in a approach we’d by no means skilled earlier than. It’s not all the time been straightforward to see, however it’s necessary that we do.
All of us have 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 looks like there’s nothing else to lose. Now’s 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 now have 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 not too long ago 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, growing 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 means 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 dwelling, 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 all the time attend, to one thing as grand as narrowing the gaps in wealth in our nation.
