Recently, we have spent some time figuring out how important Internet access is during the pandemic. But even if you have access to the Internet, many parts are not yet accessible. The Americans with Disabilities Act turns 30 this summer. Much of the generation that makes things less difficult can make a difference for other people with disabilities, such as screen readers who help other visually impaired people read Internet sites or software that allows us to write with our voices.
But despite these advances, Nicolas Steenhout, an Internet accessibility representative and trainer, said some products were saying things were made worse. Here’s a revised transcript of our interview.
Nicolas Steenhout: There is no doubt in my mind that we must include people with disabilities at every stage of any project. An example here: There’s a solution for web accessibility that has been pushed really hard lately, and those are overlays. So you pay for a service, they inject one line of code in your site and they claim that it makes the site accessible. When in fact, it reduces accessibility. It is not reliable. It conflicts with user-assistive technologies, and we have a solution that is really appealing to people that don’t have a disability. They’re appealing to people who think they can get a quick fix, but in fact, it’s breaking things.
Kimberly Adams: So when you advise companies, what features do you tell them to include on your Internet sites to make those sites more accessible?
Steenhout: Well, there are a few things to focus on: check that you can use the site only with the keyboard. You must ensure that the color contrasts are sufficient. The gray text on the grey background is very fashionable. It’s very difficult for visually impaired people to read and, by the way, if you’re looking to read it on your cell phone outdoors in full sun, you probably won’t be able to read it either. That’s where I say accessibility is smart for everyone.
Adams: Those are really good tips for companies designing their websites. But what can we do to make, say, our social media posts more accessible?
Steenhout: Twitter now provides the ability to upload descriptions, or text of choice, to symbols, and I urge everyone to take a moment and describe the symbol they post. Be careful not to use too many emojis. Screen reader users will have difficulties. Always think, how will this message be perceived? And how can I make sure more people can get the message?
Adams: What kind of technological inventions do you like in the community of people with disabilities?
Steenhout: A lot of things are happening. When we take a look at the generation, much of the excitement around that right now revolves around synthetic intelligence. And there’s a lot of that that can be leveraged for accessibility. For example, you might have heard about using AI to interpret what a photo is and be able to give a description of that photo to screen reader users. Or use AI to automate transcription, for screens like the one we have now. Then there are many promises in this area. At the same time, I think we want to be aware that there is a promise, but it is not in a position to be a prime time. Much of the automatic transcription or auto-subtitles you can see on YouTube, for example, aren’t 100 percent accurate, especially if other people have a small accessory or use tech jargon. Accuracy is not perfect. As a result, other people who rely on subtitles or transcripts won’t get all the information. Then you can get 80 or 85%. And those missing by 10 or 15% can be crucial. There are things that move, help, and yet they won’t help now because we can’t count on it. And I think it’s probably a trap that we have to make sure we don’t fall: as long as the generation is there, the generation isn’t perfect yet, so we can’t depend on it. We can’t decide, well, I don’t want to worry about describing my photographs when I post on social media, because synthetic intelligence can do it. Well, we haven’t reached that point yet. Therefore, we will have to be careful not to get carried away by the excitement of the new and bright and to be sure that we exercise due diligence to be sure that human beings are responsible for accessibility.
The New York Times has an article about disabled people who do things for themselves and who innovate all sorts of answers to make the Internet, and the rest of the world, better for them.
And if you ever have trouble knowing which language to use in relation to disability problems, the National Center for Disability and Journalism has a taste consultant that I find very useful.
We’re spending more time this week talking about accessibility and technology. Send us your thoughts and questions: [email protected].
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