Accessibility in Tech

If you work in tech, you've likely heard the term "accessibility." But you may not understand what accessibility is, get why it matters, and know how to make it a reality for your products. That's what I'll cover in this post.

What is an accessible product?
It's a product that people can access and understand regardless of disabilities.

Note: I'll be focusing on digital products (websites, games, apps, videos, podcasts, and even email) because that's where I have knowledge to share, but accessibility matters for physical products as well.

So how many people need accessible products?
All of them. Every single one of your users, customers and potential customers need to be able to access and understand your product, regardless of disabilities.

Ok, but how many people have impairments that we should be accounting for in our products?
I don't have perfect data, but what I do have should provide some perspective.

  • According to the World Health Organization (back in 2019), 2.2 billion people have vision impairment of some sort.

  • According to the US Census Bureau (back in 2010):

    • 7.6 million Americans have hearing impairment

    • 8.1 million Americans have vision impairment

    • 15.2 million Americans have cognitive, mental, or emotional impairment

You have potential customers in your target market who can't become customers because you haven't made your product accessible for them.

Building accessible products makes your product better for everyone.
A few quick examples of this:

  • Accessible contrast and font sizing makes your product readable for people with low vision and easier to read for everyone else.

  • As @deafgirly said in her viral tweet, "Subtitles aren't just for deaf people." The data in this UK government study corroborates her claim.

    • Note: I prefer Descript for creating transcripts & subtitles.

  • Working with great content strategists or using tools like Readable will make your product usable for people with cognitive impairments while ALSO improving usability for all your users.

There are TONS of incredible resources out there that will help you make your product more accessible.

  • Begin by following @steven_aquino, @shelly, and @JamesRath on Twitter. They have taught me so much.

  • Then poke around on a11yproject.com and mobilea11y.com. Both are full of incredible resources and guides and tools for better understanding accessibility and for digging deeper into making your specific product accessible.

  • If you're into podcasts, I'd recommend A11y Rules by Nicolas Steenhout. You could also take a look at the back catalog of my now retired podcast Accessible.

  • If you're interested in making your email accessible, check out the talk I gave at Really Good Email’s UNSPAM Conference.

Product Mangement, TechnologyTimothy Buck