Gateway to Elation, in collaboration with the Internet Society Zimbabwe Chapter, held a three-day training on E-safety skills in Bulawayo for people who are visually impaired as part of efforts to protect them in digital spaces.
The training was themed ‘Inclusive Digital Navigation, E-safety for All,’ where participants learnt about mobile safety, online shopping safety, and cyber security, among other things.
Founder of Gateway to Elation, Robert Malunda believes it is high time people with visual impairment understood and exercised their safety online.
“From November 27 to 29, 2023, we partnered with the Internet Society Zimbabwe chapter, where we trained visually impaired people from Gateway to Elation on how they can enhance their security on the internet. We train computer literacy but now it’s time for them to learn and understand their safety on the internet,” Malunda said in an interview during the training workshop.
Malunda said visually impaired people should be incharge and in control of their lives and that includes learning safety and security especially on the internet.
“We are now living in the digital era and there is a lot of harm on the internet and visually impaired people can also be harmed. They can even harm others, so they need to learn about protecting themselves from that harm and avoid harming others by forwarding those fishing messages especially on WhatsApp and Facebook. This is why people need to learn how to read, understand and take care of their safety,” said the online educator.
“Some of the challenges faced by online users are the adware that we find on the internet. Some of these advertisements are in picture form and are not accessible through our screen readers, so visually impaired people need to learn how to interact with those adverts and not be vulnerable to internet hacking.”
Malunda also urged anti-virus developers to include accessibility features in their products so that they can appeal to visually impaired people while remaining safe on the internet.
Meanwhile, President of the Internet Society Zimbabwe Chapter, Taurai Nyarufuka, stated that for many years, visually impaired people have been overlooked when it comes to E-security.
“Our concern over the years is that we have been talking about reducing the digital divide but we don’t focus on all people in the community and neglect this ratio of people with disabilities. We have decided to cater for this special group because we want to reduce the digital divide, but we cannot talk of reducing the digital divide leaving this group,” Nyarufuka said.
Nyarufuka said the organisation does not want to leave the visually impaired behind, which was why they were spread the word of cyber security.
“There are lots of benefits that the trainees are actually receiving. One of the benefits is that they will be able to use their mobile phones, social media platforms such as WhatsApp and be able to secure them. We also taught them about VPNs, avoiding public networks and also securing their financial accounts from outside intruders,” he said.
