By Terry Loerch A recent report from The Royal Society reaffirmed what the disabled community has long understood, but what too many innovators continue to miss: when disabled people are not included from the very beginning, digital assistive technologies risk being ineffective, exclusionary, or even harmful.
Digital assistive technology encompasses everything from voice-to-text software and navigation tools to wearable health monitors, smart-home systems, and screen readers. When built correctly, these innovations don’t just improve lives, they transform them. In a recent global survey, more than half of disabled participants said they could not live the way they do without these tools.
Yet the same research highlights a stark contradiction... millions of disabled individuals still face deep economic hardship, rendering even the most basic accessibility tools financially out of reach. The promise of technology becomes meaningless when the very people who need it most cannot afford it or, worse, are excluded from shaping it.
Governments, researchers, and technology companies must therefore move beyond tokenism. Disabled individuals are not data points or post-production testers, they are co-creators. True accessibility must begin with a design that reflects lived experience, not as an afterthought, but as a guiding principle. Smartphones, tablets, and other everyday devices must also be recognized as legitimate assistive technologies. They are not conveniences; they are lifelines.
Equally critical is better data collection. Systems must shift away from simplistic labels like “disabled” and instead focus on real-world challenges, mobility, vision, memory, communication, and how technology can address each. But this vision requires infrastructure. Without affordable internet, accessible training, or reliable devices, no software, no matter how advanced, can bridge the divide.
This is not a call for national reform; it is a global imperative grounded in human rights and common sense. The world needs a binding international law that ensures disabled people are meaningfully included at every stage of assistive-tech development, mandates affordability, strengthens accessibility infrastructure, and enforces accountability across borders.
Imagine a world where every innovation, from AI assistants to mobility aids, is co-designed with those it seeks to serve. Where nations share best practices, collaborate across cultures, and elevate accessibility to the same level of priority as defense, finance, and trade. The rewards would be profound: empowered citizens, stronger economies, and a more humane, inclusive global society.
Technology was never meant to divide us; it was meant to elevate us. For that to happen, inclusion can no longer be optional. It must be codified, protected, and enforced as law. Every nation, every company, every developer must treat accessibility not as a checkbox, but as the foundation of innovation.
If technology defines our future, then the future must belong to everyone. The time to legislate inclusion is not tomorrow, not eventually, but now.
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