Breaking Barriers With Accessible Technology: Empowering Lives, Promoting Inclusion
In a world increasingly shaped by digital advancements, technology holds the promise of bridging gaps and fostering inclusion. However, for the 1.3 billion people worldwide living with disabilities, the digital age often presents unique challenges that limit their full participation in society. Ensuring that technology is accessible to everyone is not just a convenience but a fundamental human right that promotes inclusion, independence, and equal opportunity.
In this exclusive piece, Ms. Sarah-Jane Littleford, the Head of Responsible Business and Culture at Fujitsu Global Delivery, addresses this crucial issue. Leading the development of global strategies aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Sarah-Jane is a seasoned corporate social responsibility (CSR) professional known for driving meaningful, transformative change.
In this article, Sarah-Jane explores the importance of accessible technology, highlighting its role in breaking barriers and empowering individuals with diverse abilities. She discusses the challenges in achieving digital inclusion, the need for proactive and inclusive design approaches, and the transformative potential of innovations like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). By advocating for accessibility as both a moral and practical imperative, Sarah-Jane underscores how inclusive technology can benefit not only individuals with disabilities but society at large, fostering education, employment opportunities, and social engagement.
Read the full article below:
Breaking Barriers With Accessible Technology: Empowering Lives, Promoting Inclusion
Technology can bridge gaps and foster inclusion in a world shaped by digital advancements in terms of how we live, work, and connect to our surroundings. Yet, for the 1.3 billion people around the globe living with disabilities, this transformation to the digital age often poses its own set of challenges. Inaccessible designs, lack of awareness among the masses, and resource constraints can limit their ability to participate fully in society. Therefore, ensuring accessibility to technology is not just a matter of convenience, it is a basic human right that promotes inclusion, independence, and equal opportunity.
The Importance of Accessibility in Technology
The rise of accessible technology is quickly changing the narrative to break barriers and empower individuals with diverse abilities. Accessible technology is designing digital tools, platforms, and services suited to the diverse needs of individuals, including physical, sensory, cognitive, or neurodiversity conditions. The Public Sector Accessibility Regulations (2018) bring this principle into action, mandating that digital services must be usable by individuals with diverse abilities.
For example, features such as screen readers and braille displays make it possible for visually impaired individuals to navigate websites and interact with digital content easily. However, accessibility goes beyond uploading content online, it ensures services are intuitive and supportive of tools like voice commands, and alternative navigation devices, among other things.
Beyond compliance, accessibility is a moral imperative that promotes equity. This is because technology inclusion is going to bring together people’s diverse perspectives and contributions for the benefit of society.
Challenges in Achieving Digital Inclusion
Despite all the technological advances, many barriers prevent people with disabilities from fully interacting with digital platforms. A poorly coded website may become incompatible with assistive technology and fail to convey information effectively. The complexity of touch interfaces might be quite challenging to work with for users with motor impairments, and the unclear structures of navigation, along with inconsistent designs, can overwhelm users with cognitive impairments.
Second, the lack of captions, transcripts, or alternative formats excludes many who are prevented from accessing necessary information. These disadvantages and lack of access result in social and economic exclusion, depriving individuals of education, employment, and community engagement opportunities.
Creating Accessible Technology
Accessible technology design needs a proactive, inclusive approach. Here are key practices for ensuring accessibility:
– User-centred design: People with disabilities should be part of the design and development process in identifying pain points and validating solutions.
– Standards compliance: Follow guidelines, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), to ensure that content is perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.
– Multiple interaction methods: Provide keyboard shortcuts, voice commands, and gesture-based navigation for greater flexibility.
– Clear and consistent design: Logical layouts, consistent labels, and high contrast enhance usability for all users.
– Alternative content formats: Offer transcripts of audio and video, accessible PDFs, and alternative input mechanisms.
– Continuous improvement: Testing, updating, and refining digital tools regularly, based on user feedback and evolving accessibility standards.
How Technology is Changing Accessibility
Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) innovations are filling accessibility gaps in ways never before imagined. From real-time captioning and speech recognition to navigation tools for the visually impaired, these innovations empower people with disabilities.
Now people with visual or mobility-related disorders can use AI-based accessible assistive virtual assistants like Siri via Apple, Amazon Alexa, or Google Assistant to navigate an environment through voice commands alone. Smart devices with accessibility features now come equipped with text-to-speech tools, adjustable display settings, and even facial recognition adapted for individuals with diverse needs, breaking down sensory and linguistic barriers.
Other types of smart prosthetics and adaptive devices increase mobility and independence. These are excellent examples of how technology can empower independence, for instance, to help visually impaired people effectively navigate their surroundings.
The remaining challenges are to ensure AI systems take into account different needs and contexts. Continuity in innovation and accessibility testing during development is crucial in overcoming such challenges.
The Broader Impact of Accessibility
Inclusive technology benefits not only individuals with disabilities but society at large. It fosters education and employment opportunities, as well as social engagement through accessible platforms. Innovation and equity are also promoted by designing for the margins, where businesses and developers often create solutions that benefit all users. This also resonates with a greater social imperative toward equity, removing barriers and nurturing a digital landscape that is inclusive, allowing all people to flourish. In short, as we move into this future, defined by rapid technological advancements, accessibility must remain at the core. From AI-driven solutions to intuitive design practices, technology has the potential to empower individuals with disabilities and create a more inclusive society. Collaboration across sectors and prioritisation of accessibility can bridge gaps, unlock potential, and ensure that digital transformation benefits everyone.