“Too Many Gaps in Tech Skills” — AEBC Calls for Back-to-Basics Training

The Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC) has warned that many blind and partially sighted people lack the fundamental technology skills needed to fully engage with modern life, calling for a renewed focus on back-to-basics training. The organisation says that as essential services, banking, and communications continue to move online, the knowledge gaps are leaving people behind.

Speaking to Double Tap, Marcia Yale, national president of AEBC, said the issue often stems from how people first encounter technology. “Some have been using tech for 20 years, yet they’ve only learned enough to get by,” she explained. “You only realise the gaps when someone says, ‘I didn’t know you could do that’—and it’s a basic screen reader command.”

To tackle this, AEBC has been running weekly “Tech Training Tuesday” sessions for the past year and a half, breaking down tasks from Windows navigation to VoiceOver settings on the iPhone. Yale said participants are often surprised by the features they’ve missed, even after years of smartphone use. “We literally start from the assumption that people know nothing,” she said. “We go step by step, and every week someone says, ‘I wish I’d known that years ago.’”

Yale also criticised technology companies for releasing devices without accessible, practical user guides. She noted that while manuals exist, they are often difficult to understand or inaccessible to beginners. The lack of foundational training, combined with increasingly app-based services, is creating barriers in essential areas such as online banking, where inaccessible features can block users from completing everyday transactions.

AEBC argues that lasting change will require a combination of peer-based learning, better corporate responsibility, and potentially legislation to ensure equal access. “We are people too,” Yale said. “Until companies and society acknowledge that, these gaps will keep growing.”

Resources:

– Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians
https://www.blindcanadians.ca

– AEBC YouTube Channel
https://www.youtube.com/@BlindCanadians

– Apple Accessibility
https://www.apple.com/uk/accessibility/

– Microsoft Accessibility
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/accessibility