The 2023 Inclusive Africa Conference took place at the end of May. The annual conference aims to create dialogue on how the digital landscape can be more inclusive to people with disabilities. The in-person event was held in Nairobi, Kenya; however, it was possible to join virtually.
The event was attended by a wide range of professionals and global businesses in the technology industry. Some noteworthy organisations included Microsoft, Google, Uber and World Bank Group.
The three-day conference touched on a wide range of topics, but a key message was that people with disabilities, and Africa, needs to be actively involved in the design of programmes to ensure it is completely accessible.
During a conversation on consumer research, Bruce Walker, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, noted that there is a “big diversity in Africa and designing for that is a big challenge”. Especially when many of the designers are not from Africa; and thus won’t consider the unique experience of people in Africa.
He used the students from the Institute who worked on programmes for schools as an example. While designing their solutions, they never considered that the school might not have electricity. He said: “Students not from Africa couldn’t image a school without electricity.”
He made a call for more knowledge and experience transfer so that designers in and outside of Africa can be more inclusive in their work.
Christine Hemphill from Open Inclusion, while speaking in the same session, noted: “Design needs to come from Africa so that it can work for Africa.” She added that within the disability community there is just as much diversity and unique experiences to consider.
There was an overall call for people with disabilities to be involved in every aspect of the design for solutions – from adapting buildings to providing software. Irene Mbari-Kirika from inAble took the thought a step further by explaining that accessibility is not enough.
“Something can be fully accessible but not usable. You need both,” she said. There is a need for accessible software or solutions to also be user-friendly so that people with disabilities can benefit from it fully.
Keep an eye out for our Issue 2, 2023, for more from the event.
