System Update - Episode 9: When accessibility and disability strengthen the digital future

When internet policies and platforms are designed without considering the needs of persons with disabilities and diverse global users they create systems that are uneven, difficult to use, or even exclusionary. Ensuring accessibility affects whether people can meaningfully participate in education, work, civic life, and public debate. Without inclusive design and policy, the digital promise as a universal resource is weakened, reinforcing existing inequalities rather than reducing them. Today we are joined by Dr. Muhammad Shabbir an Internet governance and public-policy professional with extensive experience in board governance, multistakeholder processes, and global digital policy, particularly from a Global South perspective. Dr. Shabbir is also engaged in ICANN community processes, including the At-Large and non-commercial stakeholder spaces. He currently coordinates the Internet Governance Forum Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability (DCAD), contributing to global policy dialogue on inclusive and trustworthy Internet governance. Drawing on his lived experience of disability as being blind, today with him we are going to look at accessibility and inclusion as a governance consideration and at how we can reinforce attention to usability, robustness, and real-world impact of Internet policies and systems for the full diversity of all users. "System Update", is produced by Forus as part of CADE - the Civil Society Alliances for Digital Empowerment - a project co-funded by the European Union. CADE’s objective is to support the capacity of civil society organisations for effective advocacy in multilateral and multistakeholder internet governance processes. https://cadeproject.org/ https://www.forus-international.org/en/campaign/let-s-talk-digital This podcast was co-funded by the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of Forus and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.