Illustration by Paul O’Connor

The Accessibility Gold Mine

Why it’s smart business to design for accessibility.

Molly Burke is a blind YouTube celebrity. The 23-year-old uses the platform to describe how she accomplishes everyday tasks such as applying makeup or using different devices—with, which more than half a million views, is her most-watched video. Her anti-bullying and accessibility activism has led to speaking gigs and corporate support (she’s currently a Dove ambassador). Creating videos is her way of fighting against society’s ignorance, but it’s also made her something of a spokesperson for how technology can enable the disabled.

“If you hand me an iPhone, I am not disabled because every single iPhone has a voiceover program,” says Burke. This is a step forward from just a few years ago, she says, when she would’ve been completely unable to operate something like a BlackBerry without help.

Of course, designing digital products for people with visual, auditory, and cognitive disabilities is a show of respect for all people and their right to information and opportunities; it should be a human right. It means devoting the same concern for public accessibility that’s integral to physical design disciplines into digital experiences. Think about it: an architect would never design a high-rise hotel without an elevator, yet some of the most widely used websites can’t be navigated without a mouse.

But designing for disabled users is also what’s best for business. One reason is simply the scale of the consumer base; disabled people comprise an enormous demographic with significant purchasing power. Nearly 57 million people in the U.S. are living with a disability. They control $220 billion in discretionary spending — more than twice that of the cherished teen population. There’s another compelling reason: it leads to more innovation. The process of creating accessible digital products and services can result in more efficient, long-term product development, scalable design, and a competitive edge.

Saving costs in the long-run.

Companies can mitigate elongated product development cycles, not to mention costly legal issues, if they consider accessibility from the beginning of the design process. Cautionary tales abound. Consider Target, which paid $6 million in damages to settle a class action suit filed by the National Federation of the Blind. Or H&R Block, which paid more than $100,000 in damages to settle charges that its website and mobile applications were in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act. According to law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP, more than 240 businesses were sued in federal court over allegedly inaccessible websites between January 2015 and November 2016.

Developing an accessible site requires a larger scope and a higher cost, but it’s ultimately less expensive than trying to retrofit a site built incorrectly. “The cost to implement accessibility in an existing site that is considered legacy technology could be in the millions of dollars for a full site redesign,” says Robert Sfeir, director of engineering at Huge. To be sure, the return on investment for accessibility is very different depending on the type of business — a national retailer may have more to gain than a regional manufacturer, for instance. And only public sector entities must adhere to the Web Content Accessibility Guildelines (WCAG), a baseline technical standard for accessible design. But implementing basic accessibility solutions is a long-lasting investment in diversity and inclusion.

It’s also cost-effective to include people with disabilities in the UX development and user testing stages. Last year, Twitter launched an accessibility tool that allows users to add a description to every image they upload. Except, the non-mandatory feature is buried at the bottom of the settings menu and can’t easily be found by those who may need it the most. “The accessibility tab is the last in a long list, even though accessibility starts with the letter A,” says Peter Armstrong, manager of digital content for Accessible Media Inc. “My colleague who is legally blind and loves Twitter couldn’t get it to work using voice commands.”

That example illustrates a simple but critical rule of accessibility. “The biggest frustration is just when buttons aren’t labeled,” says Anthony Vasquez, an assistive technology specialist and the first blind American to study Mandarin at the college level at Stanford University. “Just add some alternative text to that button.” It also reveals the kind of gaps that can exist if those with disabilities are excluded from every part in the design process. “Thinking about accessibility on its own is not enough,” says Sfeir. “Thinking about the user experience from an accessibility point of view is also important.”

Driving innovation.

Developing the need-to-have features for users with disabilities can lead to remarkable innovations that enhance the experience for all users. The basics of accessible digital design—such audio captions or high-color contrast—are good for senior citizens with low vision, people who are not fluent with languages, people with ADHD or autism, people with brain injuries, rural residents with limited bandwidth and slow internet connections, and people with older technologies…the list goes on. And while a visually impaired person may need a larger font on their tablet, or a person who is hard of hearing may need their phone to flash when a SMS message comes in, those same UI or UX customizations are features that able-bodied users appreciate. “Think of having a slanted curb instead of a step. It’s great for someone in a wheelchair, but it’s also great for people with baby carriages or those with bikes,” says Burke. “They may be in place for people with accessibility needs, but people without the accessibility needs also use them and find them helpful.”

Plus, assistive technology is increasingly in demand, as more products become programmable and artificial intelligence becomes more advanced, unlocking additional ways of interacting like eye tracking or gesture recognition. Consumers of all abilities want to be able to relate to technology however it’s most convenient, whether that means talking to an digital assistant like Siri, ordering household staples through Amazon’s Echo, or sending SMS messages during a meeting. “All of these technologies come from the need of people with disabilities,” says Matt May, web accessibility specialist at Adobe. “We still get treated like we are holding things back but we are the ones bringing things forward.”

“Having an accessibility background gives you insight that competitors don’t have,” says says Rich Schwerdtfeger, the former CTO for accessibility at IBM. “Because you bring that to customers, you bring leadership, and leadership brings business.”

Establishing a foothold for the future.

The allure of emerging technologies is when it gets even more exciting. As technology like virtual reality or robotics becomes more mainstream and more affordable, there’s incredible potential for accessible design.

Companies see this as an opportunity to design the future. Microsoft has been experimenting with artificial intelligence to build an app for the blind. Google is applying machine learning to translate images or videos of the physical world into language. And, Barclays piloted the use of beacon technology to improve the experience of disabled customers in its branches.

It’s also a chance to redefine the standards of accessible design as they apply to these emerging platforms. “Our relationship to technology continues to evolve. There are things we did not think about when we made the [WCAG] standards,” says Sharron Rush, executive director of Knowbility, a nonprofit dedicated to making accessible technology more available. “The standards will continue to evolve as we understand human cognition and human machine interaction better. The potential is really exciting.”

We’re now at an inflection point. Technology has become so embedded in the everyday experience of nearly every person that it’s becoming increasingly important to ensure that people with disabilities aren’t left out. Without sharp and specific universal design standards, technology may emphasize disabilities rather than alleviate challenges, and continue to make people with disabilities second-class citizens of digital culture.

Smart brands should see this as an opportunity. Accessible design gives companies a competitive advantage, and enables them to help uncover innovations that will scale—while still being highly personalized and customizable.

“I wear a hearing aid in one ear, and it’s fully integrated with the iPhone because it was co-designed by Apple. Everything should be working that way,” says Sfeir. “Everything should be deeply integrated and well thought out so that — no matter what — people can lead their lives as best they can.”

Accessibility Resources:

1. Web Accessibility in Mind (AIM) Resources
2. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview
3. Deque
4. Accessibility According to Actual People with Disabilities
5. Inclusive Design Patterns, by Heydon Pickering, 2016
6. Structured Negotiations, a Winning Alternative to Lawsuits, by Lainey Feingold, 2016
7. My Blind Spot
8. Accessible Media Inc.
9. Accessibility Training
10. Accessibility Conferences

Thanks to Peter Armstrong, Molly Burke, Jack Gold, Lainey Feingold, Matt May, Sharron Rush, Richard Schwerdtfeger, Robert Sfeir, and Anthony Vasquez.