Older Culturally Diverse Australians & COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgent need to improve the digital literacy of older CALD Australians.

Doctors from the University of Melbourne and Deakin University have called for a more sophisticated approach to integrating technology into older people’s lives.

The Chinese Australians featured in this article didn’t hold the necessary skills to maintain social connections online. We can often fall into a trap of thinking that using technology is easy for everyone, and case studies like these provide a sobering reminder that we are falling behind and failing older Australians.

As a community, we need to devote more resources, training and support, so that everyone can have the same technological advantages.