Let’s Warm Up to the Growing Need for Digital Accessibility
Technology is very dynamic today. In the drive to extend technology to the global masses, accessibility has emerged as a prominent requirement in product development.
According to a joint report by WHO and the World Bank, more than 1 billion people globally have some kind of disability. This translates to an alarming number of about 15 percent of the world’s population. Of these 1 billion people, close to 200 million have significant difficulty in performing even day-to-day tasks. Given that products delivered in the market place need to account for these users, as well, it is becoming increasingly important to factor in accessibility-powered engineering.
For instance, online transactions around one’s regular activities, such as education, banking, and shopping, are on the rise. Additionally, the widespread adoption of smartphones and mobile computing have increased digital transactions by leaps and bounds in recent years. For these devices and applications to realize their full potential and market share, accessibility is an important factor mobile developers need to account for.
Accessibility for All
In layman terms: Web accessibility empowers all users to use applications comprehensively, without any barriers, whether or not through use of assistive tools and technologies.
The concept of web accessibility is not new. It was formulated in 1994, soon after the World Wide Web Consortium was formed. Since then, several standards, such as Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and Section 508 (Rehabilitation Act), have taken shape to promote global accessibility. While these standards are being increasingly mandated in product engineering, there is still a lot of gap in adopting them, especially given the constraints teams operate within.
Here are a few examples of how accessibility is being implemented:
- WCAG mandates comprehensive website access via screen readers and screen reading applications designed for people with visual impairment.
- Section 508 recommends all electronic gadgets, including mobile devices, should be accessible by disabled users.
- Google’s latest initiative Google TV is noteworthy in that it is designed such that even blind users can access it effectively. Google has been investing significantly in this space of accessibility on Android.
When we think accessibility, we must look not only at website and software accessibility but also at all areas of digital user interaction, for example, enabling a blind user to easily operate an elevator through a voice-enabled mechanism and maneuver ATMs and self-service kiosks through talking features—thereby increasing their overall independence.
Accessibility is not an isolated exercise; it starts very early in the product lifecycle and encompasses areas such as design, development, testing, user feedback, mandates, and compliance, with each playing its own significant role. The first step in all of this is sensitizing the digital world to the need for accessibility given our moral, legal, and corporate social responsibility in building products that are accessible by one and all.
