Accessibility is a catch all phrase used in many industries playing lip service to disabled people. In America alone, there are 61 MILLIONS of people living with a disability, in other words, 1 in 4 Americans are disabled (1). You would be forgiven to think disability means though in a wheelchair or deaf/hard of hearing, or blind. Aside from these, there are many other types of disabilities out there from cognition to invisible disability such as chronic pain or on the autism spectrum to name some. There is no one exact model of disability, so why should accessibility be a one way thing?
Myself, I am deaf and I have Nager Syndrome, a super rare disability that affects my appearance. I’m not going to get in detail myself, but this is who I am. I also am an avid traveler, an animal lover, loves learning about new technologies, and being challenged. Disabilities does not define my life, however it impact a lot of things. I will go in depth why everyday products that are taken for granted are not accessible to someone like me and for others who are disabled. Some might not be a big deal for me, but is a major hurdle for people with other disabilities.
Accessibility should encompass multiple things and many options should be presented to the user. Those that are deaf/hard of hearing would not use something that’s audio based, but needs visual cues, and in the case of things online, presented in their country’s sign language along with subtitles. Blind and low vision needs audio cues and voice over to navigate things in everyday life. A touch screen that does not provide an audio option is useless to them. Nobody should have to deal with complicated jargon or impossible to navigate menus and options when dealing with technology.