Access Inability
Why you should care about Digital Accessibility
Imagine having to complete an online bank transaction on your desktop computer. Only now, you can’t see your screen nor can you use your mouse to navigate. How now? With digitisation, electronic devices have grown to become part of our daily routine. We are often reliant on them to help access various services on the web and mobile applications. However, this freedom to enjoy technology is a very different reality for those who may not use them the way we all do.
This brings me to my point on Digital Accessibility. Digital Accessibility refers to the ability of a website, mobile application or electronic document to be easily navigated and understood by a wide range of users, including users who have visual, auditory, motor or cognitive disabilities.
Unfortunately, a lack of awareness and implementation of this has resulted in poor user experience faced by persons with disabilities (PWDs) daily. While assistive technologies such as screen readers help balance the field by providing this community access to the web or mobile devices, when digital products or web pages are not built or designed with Digital Accessibility in mind, large parts of the web, and by extension mobile applications are rendered inaccessible and become extremely difficult to use. During an interview with a User who was visually impaired, he shared with me how the OTP sites for certain banks actually has their “submit” and “cancel” buttons both labelled as “submit”, which has caused quite a bit of confusion when doing his bank transactions online.
Beyond Usability
Digital Accessibility is not just simply a usability issue for PWDs. The lack of awareness and implementation of Digital Accessibility can create structural barriers in the workplace, preventing PWDs to take on particular roles and contributing to the high unemployment rate in the Visually Impaired community (they form only 0.1% of the private sector workforce in Singapore!). This also perpetuates negative attitudes towards PWDs as they are seen as incapable and dependent on others resulting in social exclusion and stigma. A study done by the National Council of Social Service in Singapore found that over 62% of PWDs do not feel included or given opportunities to contribute or reach their potential by society.
What’s Been Done?
The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) created the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines which serves as a standard used by organisations as a systematic way of ensuring digital services are accessible. This set of guidelines also serves as the basis of legislation for accessibility for several countries overseas.
Locally, in Singapore while there is no proper legislation to enforce Digital Accessibility, efforts such as the 3rd Enabling Masterplan that was jointly crafted across various agencies to promote an inclusive society, however this plan does not provide any form or grounds for enforcement (we’ll circle back to this again), and the master plan outlines broad strokes and principles on the topic that may not address the deeper needs felt closer to the ground such as digital accessibility.
The largest voice on Accessibility often comes from the big technology giants at Silicon Valley such as Apple and Microsoft, often baking Accessibility features such as VoiceOver on IOS and within their software to enrich user experience. The big question here is if Digital Accessibility is important in the space of digital products, why isn’t more done in this area locally, in Singapore? There may not be a simple singular answer to this, but many product designers and advocates for Digital Accessibility that I have interviewed highlighted the lack of legislation to be a challenge.
“If it’s not a requirement, why bother?”
The lack of support and understanding on these issues can also often result in it being difficult to make a case to implement Accessibility within a product, as that could take up precious time and resources. So what else can we do about it?
New Perspectives
Whether you’re working on a digital product or not, this affects you too! A key issue with Digital Accessibility is that the problems faced by PWDs may not be easily understood by the common man. There is an invisible bubble built around ourselves and our own experiences that we can forget the needs and troubles others face. In her book “Mismatch”, Kat Holmes who was the Principal Director of Inclusive Design at Microsoft outlines the concept of a persona spectrum where there is a spectrum of permanent, temporary and situational mismatches that people can experience based on their abilities and disabilities.
Credit: Microsoft Inclusive Design Toolkit
Through the use of this personal spectrum, we can see how solutions for a singular group of individuals might also benefit multiple different demographics. One example being the invention of Emails which originated as an assistive device that allowed the deaf to receive messages accurately. It was conceived by Vince Cerf, the ‘father of the internet’ to communicate with his wife, who is deaf.
Thus, by broadening our bubble, to recognise points of exclusion others might face, we might actually be benefitting ourselves in the process!
Conclusion
Technology is said to be the great equaliser where regardless of your background or circumstance, you would still be able to access information and harness its power to improve your life. However as technology progresses, it can be easy to lose sight of those who might be left behind but as you read this article, either on your phone, tablet or desktop, take a moment and think about this group of users who may not have the same kind of access or experience you have. How might we, as a collective community play our part in this?
