Accessibility = providing different ways to interact.
The clarity and opportunity in this framing have had it echoing in my head ever since Path’s visit to Google’s Accessibility Discovery Centre (ADC) a couple of weeks ago. We have Praneeth Reddy Chada to thank for voicing it as he guided us through Google’s approach to inclusive design, how accessibility is shaping the future and Google’s latest work in making their tech accessible and inclusive.
For Google, providing different ways to interact includes:
- Android phones helping users with low vision or blindness to get a good selfie using spoken – rather than visual – guidance for angling the camera
- Gemini Live scanning the world around the user and answering free-flowing, verbal questions like “which bin can I put my banana peel in?” or “where is the nearest exit?”
- Action Blocks turning a phone into an AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) device or triggering complex commands with one tap, supporting users with disabilities affecting communication, dexterity or motor skills
- NotebookLM reformatting information into presentations, flashcards or even podcasts, allowing users to consume it in a format which best suits them
- SignGemma (now in quality testing) translating between spoken and sign languages
Personally, I’m an avid user of dark mode (I’m Gen Z, what can I say!), tend to adjust the system text size on my devices and will sometimes use text-to-speech tools to listen back to my work. I like to go into the accessibility settings and see my options. Not everyone does.
There were audible gasps of amazement and “that’s so helpful!” as Praneeth opened a news site in Chrome’s built-in Reading Mode and all the ads disappeared, and again when he pressed audio playback and it began to speak the page content aloud. Neither of these technologies are particularly new (JAWS screen reader for Windows was released as far back as 1995). There’s a reminder here not to only focus on implementation of accessibility features – we also have to ensure people know that they exist!
Designing for specific needs is inherently necessary and valuable.
In addition to Google’s own examples, the ‘ADC Arcade’ demonstrated video games playable using adaptive controllers, including Tobii eye-tracking devices which use eye movement to play and Microsoft’s customisable Xbox Adaptive Controller into which a wide variety of buttons, switches, joysticks and more can be plugged to meet an individual gamer’s specific needs. Here, designing for different ways to interact means that the focus isn’t on the format of interaction, but the experience of gameplay itself. Not pressing a button but steering a virtual car, for example. The game must be compatible with a range of devices, and the devices must each be viable options for users to select or customise to work best for them.
At Path, we also know the Xbox Adaptive Controller for its packaging, which has been designed with input from the disabled community to easy opening principles. The Google ADC had on display a similar example from Tilt Beauty, whose refillable makeup utensils are easy to hold and control and whose packaging is also designed for accessible opening. Tilt succeeds in providing users like its founder, Aerin, who has psoriatic arthritis, beautifully designed ways to interact with makeup.
Microsoft and Tilt Beauty are trailblazers in accessibility because they design accessibility into all steps of their user experience and embed inclusive design principles – including lived experience voices – throughout the design process.
Designing for accessibility needs can catalyse innovation that moves an industry forward.
Typewriters and touchscreens began life as accessibility aids but evolved into tech most of us use daily. Praneeth was quick to highlight that closed captions have been similarly popularised. The original use case was making television and film accessible to d/Deaf individuals, but now they’re also popular among hearing people watching videos on mute, in noisy environments or learning a language.
“Design for the edges and you get the middle for free.”
This has become an often-quoted phrase at Path lately. Innovation for one group can create wide-reaching benefits far beyond the initial target user or scenario. When tackling design challenges where knowledge is lacking, needs are diverse or complex, voices aren’t being heard, or current norms are restrictive, groundbreaking innovation becomes necessary.
In accessibility, I see immense potential for both commercial and human impact.
I find myself coming back to Praneeth’s framing: Accessibility = providing different ways to interact.
Redefining interaction opens the doors wide to design possibilities and to new, better user experiences. Framed like this, accessibility is a strategic catalyst for growth. First-mover advantage could be enormous.
Here I’ll repeat what I said over on LinkedIn:
Accessibility is usability. Accessibility is innovation. Accessibility is good design. It’s competitive advantage. It’s growth. Accessibility is a human right. Accessibility is necessary.
Google knows this. So does Path.
Accessibility is opportunity.