Promoting Inclusion Through Technology: A simple thought breakdown
When I look at where our technologically driven society has come, I see the tree of topics we’ve research and developed upon. People used to joke off the idea of a “self-driving vehicle,” but Tesla seems to exist. No one imagined 100 years ago that there would be a way to share information with people from across the world. If I’ll be honest, I don’t think most people knew a lot about other cultures at that time. But, to get back on track, scientists and engineers have been heavily focused on creating the future of technology, while not assessing its impacts on society. One clear focus that has been missing for a while now is inclusion. While there are innovative products that come to market often, they aren’t always geared at marginalized communities, like disabled people, economically disadvantaged people, and so on.
I think that alongside testing the feasibility, safety, and innovation of new products, there should be a certain “Inclusion Index” assigned. This can be done through a variety of methods: allowing disabled people to use your product and rating it, understanding the affordability of your product and checking whether economically disadvantaged people can use it, or having a standard set of questions that need to be answered by the inventor of a product.
I know that this article has not been very content-heavy, and overall is a quite short read. However, I think it’s important to mention that as our society evolves to become more inclusive, our mentality has to evolve as well. There need to be new standards in place to judge the inclusivity of a product, as there are for various other aspects of product design.
Thank you so much for reading!
Shivam Syal is a 17 y/o disruptive innovator, computer science enthusiast, and emerging entrepreneur. Currently, he is looking for ways to use management and technology to address social inequalities arising out of unequal opportunities that are caused by disabilities, socioeconomic status, and global disparities.
Connect with him here 👇
shivamsyal.com | linkedin.com/in/shivamsyal | github.com/shivamsyal
