What links the 12-inch vinyl record, the computer keyboard, and even the text recognition software that laid the foundation for the modern database?
The answer: they were all initially brought to market for blind consumers. So it would seem everyone benefits if more people with disabilities are involved with making tools and systems—but it’s a message that just isn’t cutting through so far.
That’s the theme UKAAF members and supporters will probably pick up from some recent discussions on design and accessibility from developers themselves. For example, in a great discussion piece entitled Why getting more people with disabilities developing technology is good for everyone in The Conversation (a great online publication where academics write on topical issues), a point that needs to be made more often is well expressed—that poor accessibility almost always equals a poor overall user experience: “An app or website that causes problems for a screen reader is likely to be more difficult than an accessible app or website for anyone to use, because it will take more time or effort.”
The rise and rise of ‘eyes-free tech’
The piece (written by researchers focused on technology designed for people with all kinds of disabilities) also makes a second important point; that not enough people with sight impairment get to design stuff because, irritatingly, the tools are themselves only designed for the fully sighted! This is also something picked up on by a chap called Will Butler, who, writing in TechCrunch, paints a tantalising picture when he asks, What will tomorrow’s tech look like? Ask someone who can’t see.
Will, legally blind since age of 19, and who runs a support platform where more than 4 million people and companies use live video to support users in almost 200 languages called Be My Eyes, again reminds us that we all owe a lot to the community, especially what he dubs “sight tech”, i.e. voice assistants like Siri and Alexa.
“Sight tech—or more broadly, eyes-free tech—now touches every part of our lives and the devices that we depend on,” he reminds us. “And it’s not just blind and visually impaired people who are benefitting… coding your website for a blind person’s screen reader might seem like extra work, until you realise it optimises your SEO and makes your website more usable to about a billion other non-standard device users, as well.”
Just think of the possibilities
Where Will thinks this is all going: much, much better maps and navigational guides, next-gen interfaces (e.g., Augmented Reality) and reliable methods for what’s shaping up to be a big challenge to AI, taking the bias out. Sounds great, but what about smart clothing, too? Scientists have now developed shoes that can detect obstacles up to four metres away through ultrasonic sensors and warn visually impaired people, making their lives safer.
The Austrian firm behind the invention also wants to combine the information collected while wearing the shoe into a kind of ‘street view navigation map’ for visually impaired people. And yet again, just think of the possibilities here for all of us: could we all soon be wearing clothes that monitor our environments for safety hazards, say?
The possibilities of these and all the other amazing breakthroughs first developed for or by blind people are endless. Let’s see more coming through.
Carina Birt, UKAAF PRO and Board Member and foudner of Sarum PR
