What changes covid-19 has brought, what should DPOs do?

No more of the age on the blind side

150 days after covid-19 infiltrated us, our lives have changed so much that we can not think without covid-19.

One of the major changes is socio-physical distancing, such that the beginning of a non-face-to-face society is the biggest change.

"The digital transformation, which would take two years, took two months one," said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.

It is the role of organizations to understand the changing society and seek ways to respond, just as companies shine in times of crisis.

covid-19 caused a lot of damage to the welfare delivery system, including the mass infection and death of persons with mentally retarded at the Daenam Hospital in Chungdo, and the lack of support for PwD in self-isolation.

On 16 March, leaders of DPOs gathered at the Disability Leaders Forum to try to figure out the effective ways to overcome the covid-19 with the urgency of the subject matter and the welcome of long-time face-to-face meetings.

In this forum, CEO Kyungmin Kim, who specializes in corporate consulting based on the value, talent, and knowledge management, has presented probable solutions for DPOs to overcome covid-19 as follows;

Focus on the essence

"Don't ask what will change in 10 years, ask what will not change in 10 years."

When we introduced Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder and one of the world's richest people, there was a lot of resilience and applause.

If you focus on the essence, redefine it, and reflect the trends, it's an opportunity to overcome the crisis. Trends are not right, wrong, or judgmental, but are subject to understanding and adapting.

Also she stressed th​at judging right and wrong is the role of DPos and civil society. Whether or not persons with disabilities have been marginalized or excluded from the covid-19 crisis, policy makers should have a voice to understand the phenomenon and reflect it in policy.

Let's be a leader in the digital age

When you search for people with disabilities on Google, most of them are still the subject stouss of benefits, welfare, and policies.

In the 4th industrial revolution, should PwD be leaders, not followers or recepients.

In order to do this, digital competencies are considered to be the core competencies that PwD must have. Developing products and services for PwD with the opportunity to improve the accessibility of digital devices and to avoid being alienated from digital information is a different perspective than ever before. Many startups are developing Apps for PwD, and they'll need to build digital muscle to connect to digital-based jobs for themselves.

To do something, once you've started by getting together in one space, you're going to have to look for activities that are network-centric, connected. It is a new challenge for DPOs to find out how to connect and network people and resources without having to gather physically.

Finally, we need to find new breakthroughs by connecting and collaborating with other areas and institutions. It will be a response to rapid change by collaborating with non-disabled organizations and companies to find new turning points.

The leaders who attended had a great time in covid-19 crisis said "I felt like I was making a difference, but i felt clear because I was able to sort it out" and "it was a great help to give me the points that I apply to my new work."

In the future, the Disability Leaders Forum will continue to meet to understand any changing in this very challenging time and to explore ways to respond to the disability community.