A world without exclusion by overcoming barriers
Dear CSR, diversity, innovation managers and all those who want to make the world a little better. This article is for you!
My task at work was writing a blog article for our market entry in the German-speaking countries. After the first few minutes I realized how difficult it is to get across serious facts in an original way. How do I manage to seem professional and at the same time not too swollen? Well, let’s try it …
Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Everyone knows this question and probably no one would have answered it 10 years ago with “I see myself in a worldwide pandemic”. The world has turned upside down overnight and a bit of doubt and uncertainty will remain. But what matters is not what situation we are in, but how we learn from the revealed problems in order to make our world a better place in the future.
This article is intended to give an impetus to action. We have talked long enough about the existing social problems. In the prevailing crisis, many people are questioning for the first time whether it really has to be higher, faster, further. It is often forgotten that there are permanent crises all over the world – be it the famine on a global level or a deaf person who cannot participate in everyday life due to existing communication barriers. In business, success is defined by key figures such as sales development or customer numbers. We as individuals are often neglected. Think about the difference a technical aid makes for an individual deaf person, with which he can communicate independently and with full respect for privacy with his fellow human beings.
My task at work was writing a blog article for our market entry in the German-speaking countries. After the first few minutes I realized how difficult it is to get across serious facts in an original way. How do I manage to seem professional and at the same time not too swollen? Well, let’s try it …
Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Everyone knows this question and probably no one would have answered it 10 years ago with “I see myself in a worldwide pandemic”. The world has turned upside down overnight and a bit of doubt and uncertainty will remain. But what matters is not what situation we are in, but how we learn from the revealed problems in order to make our world a better place in the future.
This article is intended to give an impetus to action. We have talked long enough about the existing social problems. In the prevailing crisis, many people are questioning for the first time whether it really has to be higher, faster, further. It is often forgotten that there are permanent crises all over the world – be it the famine on a global level or a deaf person who cannot participate in everyday life due to existing communication barriers. In business, success is defined by key figures such as sales development or customer numbers. We as individuals are often neglected. Think about the difference a technical aid makes for an individual deaf person, with which he can communicate independently and with full respect for privacy with his fellow human beings.
The restart in a world without social problems
All of us have experienced what it means to be dependent on the decisions of others, in this case politics. We know what it means to be cut off from social life. After more than a year now, the situation is still difficult and we are happy that we can finally do a little bit more again. Now just imagine what it means to be restricted all your life. A lack of accessibility still prevents too many people from coping with everyday life independently without the help of others. This and many other problems are existing in our lives for a long time. Let’s compare this to a fire in front of the entrance of our neighbours’ house. In this case, we would intervene immediately, as it is an existential threat that directly affects our fellow human beings and ourselves. Usually, we do nothing or too little about social problems, either because we don’t know how, we don’t feel responsible, or we simply don’t care. Soon there will be a restart and we will have to do everything we can to extinguish these fires. It will be about putting our ideas into practice and not just striving to maximize profits.
Have you ever heard of the “Homo oeconomicus”? Economic theory, which is also taught in general education schools in Germany, is based on a person who is guided exclusively by monetary motives. The desire of our society for social and ecological sustainability, which has arisen in recent years, shows, however, that we are motivated much more diversely. The first step has already been taken, the established companies have introduced corporate social responsibility teams which take care of the needs of their fellow human beings. If we stick to our example with the fire, these efforts can only be compared to trying to put out the fire with the garden hose. The fire will eventually get smaller, but it will never go out completely.
Have you ever heard of the “Homo oeconomicus”? Economic theory, which is also taught in general education schools in Germany, is based on a person who is guided exclusively by monetary motives. The desire of our society for social and ecological sustainability, which has arisen in recent years, shows, however, that we are motivated much more diversely. The first step has already been taken, the established companies have introduced corporate social responsibility teams which take care of the needs of their fellow human beings. If we stick to our example with the fire, these efforts can only be compared to trying to put out the fire with the garden hose. The fire will eventually get smaller, but it will never go out completely.
How do we create a society without exclusion?
If you are now thinking, what does he want with his fire, I can just call the fire brigade, then you are exactly right. There are already a large number of social start-ups that have devoted themselves to solving essential social problems. All you have to do is enter into an open exchange with them.
Shall I tell you something? Fortunately, I know the fire fighters for the inclusion of the deaf and hard of hearing: Pedius is an AI-based communication service which has already helped more than 35,000 people in 14 countries to fully participate in everyday life by enabling independent phone calls. In addition to private use, users benefit from accessible call centers and work inclusion solutions for the workplace established together with partners like AXA, BNL, ENEL or TIM.
In addition, Pedius is providing live captions for school lessons, events or business meetings. Pedius’ vision is a world without communication barriers for the deaf and hard of hearing. On this path, they are currently looking intensively for partners in Germany and Austria in order to guarantee complete accessibility here as well.
Shall I tell you something? Fortunately, I know the fire fighters for the inclusion of the deaf and hard of hearing: Pedius is an AI-based communication service which has already helped more than 35,000 people in 14 countries to fully participate in everyday life by enabling independent phone calls. In addition to private use, users benefit from accessible call centers and work inclusion solutions for the workplace established together with partners like AXA, BNL, ENEL or TIM.
In addition, Pedius is providing live captions for school lessons, events or business meetings. Pedius’ vision is a world without communication barriers for the deaf and hard of hearing. On this path, they are currently looking intensively for partners in Germany and Austria in order to guarantee complete accessibility here as well.
If you identify with Pedius’ vision and can understand my metaphor to some extent, write me on Linkedin or at luca.e@pedius.org.
It goes without saying that we put our energy, in whatever way, into maintaining and improving our society. Together we can extinguish the blazing fire and thus remove all communication barriers for the deaf and hard of hearing!
Luca Ehrhardt
Student of sport- and health management – great fan of Juventus Turin and guitar music. Since 2021 he has been working at Pedius in order to enter the German-speaking market.