Disabled Workers' Experiences of Remote Work Technology During the COVID-19 Lockdowns in Belgium and the United Kingdom

Abstract

The fundamental premise of this chapter is that technology-mediated remote work in and of itself is not necessarily a panacea for disability inclusion. This necessitates a focus on what technologies enables individuals to do (and not do). This chapter draws on a mixed-methods (a survey and qualitative interviews) study of disabled workers in Belgium and the United Kingdom guided by the overarching question of which affordances and constraints are experienced by disabled workers when interacting with remote work technology during the initial two lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic. The quantitative survey gathered general insights into working-from-home experiences of both disabled workers and nondisabled workers, indicating that the impact was significant for both but notably greater for disabled respondents. Further qualitative interviews helped to gain a deeper understanding of the