As many in the accessibility community will tell you, inclusive design is not a one-and-done effort. It is an ongoing and ongoing effort to ensure that as new products and services are created, people with different needs or disabilities are not left out. Over the past three years, Engadget has put together a report, in addition to our regular coverage, looking at developments in the tech industry that impact the accessibility community, focusing on the biggest companies like Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta. . . Of course, there are plenty of other big companies to consider, like Uber, Airbnb, Netflix, and more. But the six that we have selected have a great impact and influence in the industry.
Last year, we saw significant developments that could pave the way for more accessible designs in the future, like the opening of Microsoft’s Inclusive Tech Lab. In October, the University of Illinois (UIUC) partnered with Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft on a Speech Accessibility Project to improve speech recognition for those with atypical speech patterns rarely seen by AI algorithms. . But there were also major setbacks, such as Elon Musk dismantles the accessibility team at Twitterin the midst of everything else that happened in that hell.
Across the industry, we saw news showing a greater general interest in accessible products and design. According to LinkedIn Vice President of Engineering Erran Berger, there has been a 33 percent increase in the past year in “people sharing knowledge, ideas, and problem solving related to accessibility.” Berger said this corresponded with a “significant increase in the annual total number of job postings in the US with the word ‘accessibility’ in the job title.” LinkedIn data shows these posts have “increased 171 [percent] since September 2019.”
This heightened interest permeated all technology. Comcast introduced its Xfinity Big Button Voice Remote last year, for example, while the popular chat app Discord updated its Windows app to support high contrast mode as well as enable alt text for image on iOS. There have also been many smaller startups and device manufacturers creating products like wearables and hearing aids to help people with disabilities better interact with the world.
As we continue to call for a more inclusive design process that follows the accessibility community’s mantra of “nothing about us without us,” it’s worth taking the time to look at which companies have done well and which have not. account for people with different needs.
Amazon
Amazon
Like most of the companies on this list, Amazon updated several of its products in various categories to offer better accessibility. For example, it added gesture support to Echo Shows, allowing users to dismiss timers by waving or raising their palm, so those who don’t want or can’t use their voice to silence alarms can do so without touching the phone. device. . It also added support for streaming audio for headphones to its Fire TV platform, and brought the Tap To Speech (or Tap To Alexa) feature from your Fire tablets to Echo Show displays.
Amazon has also partnered with a selection of organizations to bring their products to communities that could benefit from them. Donate products like Echos, Ring home security devices and more to Home For Our Troops and the Gary Sinise Foundation, which help reach veterans. The company also works with the National Association of the Blind of India by providing Echo devices to local school districts so that they can be used as teaching aids for visually impaired children.
Many new Alexa features also have accessibility benefits. He People and Package Ads, for example, alerting you via the Alexa mobile app, Echo Show, Fire TV or Fire Tablet when your Ring camera or compatible video doorbell detects a… you guessed it, a person or a package. In this way, you can choose to be alerted by visual or audio signals. On the latest Echo Dot, a built-in accelerometer lets you tap the top of the speaker to pause and resume media playback, snooze alarms, or end timers and calls. This offers people with speech impairments an alternative means of interacting with the device.
It’s also worth noting that Amazon’s remote caregiving service, Alexa Together, also received updates that allow users to add more family members to care for their elderly loved ones, and allowed primary caregivers to remotely set up routines for their wards.
In October, the company launched a new campaign that featured videos featuring an Amazon employee and people with disabilities using accessibility features on Alexa, Fire TV, and more. It also redesigned its accessibility home page to make its tools easier to discover. And, as we mentioned in previous editions of this report, the company’s venture capital arm, Alexa Fund, invests in startups, some of which are working on products to improve accessibility.
Apple
As an established leader in making affordable products, Apple continued to do well last year despite not doing much. On World Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) on May 19, Announced a new door detection feature for iPhones that would help people who are blind or have low vision by identifying doorways and reading any signs or words on them.
At the same time, the company introduced Apple Watch Mirroring, which allows people with motor and physical disabilities to control their smartwatch using the iPhone’s assistive features. These include voice control, button control, head tracking, sound actions, and Made For iPhone external inputs.
Apple also brought Live Captions to iPhone, iPad, and Mac, which would transcribe all content played through the device, as well as people’s speech in the real world. Those who use Live Captions for calls on Mac can also type a response and have it spoken out loud to callers. It also added 20 new languages to its VoiceOver screen reader, as well as voices and locales.
Apple
Other features include Buddy Controller, which allows users to ask another person to co-control a game character with them, and Siri Pause Time to adjust how long the assistant waits before responding. The company also updated Sound Recognition so that it now identifies custom noises like a unique ring or alarm, and added new themes, fonts, and line customizations to the Apple Books app to improve readability. A number of other small updates to GAAD were also announced, which would be too much to detail exhaustively here, but one the complete list can be found on the company website.
On December 3, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Apple released a short film showcasing its assistive features. The video was well received and not only helped highlight the ways that people with disabilities can use their i-devices to live their lives, but also introduced some lesser-known features to a broader audience.
Google is basically the internet, so its contribution to accessibility is of special importance. Because its product portfolio is so diverse, spanning smartphones, speakers, displays, browsers, apps, email, search, and more, the company’s reach is immense. That also means that Google typically has many more updates than any other name on this list. On Android, Pixel, Chrome, Search, and more, the company has made improvements to its screen readers, subtitle support, and alt text, among others. Much of their work in 2022 was focused on expanding existing features to cover more platforms and languages. For example, in December, the company announced its Project Relate the non-standard voice recognition pilot would be expanded to include Hindi.
On Global Accessibility Awareness Day in May, Google also said it was creating out-of-the-box support for braille displays in Android Talkback screen reader, eliminating the need to install a separate app. That also announced new updates related to education like support for alt text in gmail and tweaks to the Docs experience for those who use Braille readers. Chrome OS has also gotten a bit easier to use, with improved voice control and dictation, while Meet now allows users to flag multiple people on their calls, allowing those who use ASL to see their voice interpreters. sign language and other speakers at the same time. hour. The company even looked make fonts easier to read.
Notably, Google also introduced Guided Frames, a tool to help users who are blind or have low vision take selfies, when it launched the Pixel 7. Instead of being relegated to a day apart or buried in a press release, it was nice. see that function. Share the stage with other standouts during a flagship phone reveal.
Google continues to engage with the disability community and appears to be reaching out through your Accessibility account on Twitter. As of August, she was looking to work with students with dyslexia for a research study on the Chrome browser. In December he opened his first Accessibility Discovery Center in the UK. With this pattern of disclosure and engagement, Google appears to have a significant approach to accessibility that adheres to the principle of “nothing about us without us.”
