Pushing for Accessibility — will Artificial Intelligence and co. be a Game Changer?

What are your thoughts when facing a project where web accessibility has to be ensured? Are you getting excited and looking forward to tackling the issues at hand? Or is web accessibility a necessary burden that you should consider but still dismiss? For many, it is probably the latter, or why else are people with disabilities confronted with inaccessible websites and applications daily? There are solid reasons for implementing accessibility right from the beginning of all (digital) projects. Yet, accessibility checkers found the web is still 96.3% inaccessible (WebAIM 2023). As shocking as this number already is, even more issues will be unveiled by testing manually. So, how can accessibility be fostered and achieved? Some have started to use new technology like Artificial intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR)/ Augmented Reality (AR), and the Internet of Things (IoT) in their exciting projects. These technologies have changed how we live, learn and work. Could they also be the game changer for accessibility?

Photo by RDNE Stock project.

Why look into accessibility now?

It is essential to understand why we should give accessibility the recognition it needs and deserves and to answer the question of this article. Maybe you have noticed an increasing number of talks, reports and projects on accessibility. Among others, the following reasons might be the cause for that:

1. Legal Requirements: Many countries have implemented or strengthened laws and regulations related to accessibility to ensure accessibility which heightened the legal landscape and reinforced the importance of accessibility. For example, in 2022, the EU passed the European Accessibility Act (Directive 2019/882). It requires everyday services and products to be accessible for persons with disabilities (European Commission). In Switzerland, the Federal Council recently decided (March 2023) to better protect people with disabilities against discrimination in working life and access to services (Admin 2023). At the same time, web accessibility lawsuits are rising — especially in the USA. Reasons are -among others — the ambiguous existing accessibility laws in America. As social awareness grows, customers increasingly hold brands accountable with class action lawsuits (Level Access 2022). With stricter rules, the need for accessible redesigns will rise immensely.
2. Technological Advancements: The rapid advancement of technology has transformed how we interact with the world. Technology is deeply integrated into our daily lives, from smartphones and digital platforms to virtual reality and artificial intelligence. Ensuring accessibility in these digital spaces is crucial to prevent the creation of new barriers and to enable equal participation for all.
3. Ageing Population: The world’s population is ageing (WHO 2022), and older adults often face physical, sensory, or cognitive impairments that can impact their ability to navigate physical spaces or use technology (W3C 2010). By ensuring accessibility in various environments and products, we cater to the needs of this growing demographic and support active and independent ageing.
4. Social Awareness and Advocacy: There is increasing social awareness and advocacy around disability rights and accessibility (European Commission 2023). People recognise the importance of inclusivity and push for change in various sectors, such as architecture, transportation, technology, and entertainment. This momentum emphasises the need for accessibility and encourages organisations to prioritise it.
5. Everyone can benefit from accessibility: People may experience temporary disabilities due to accidents, injuries, or medical conditions. Accessibility features such as captions, voice input, and alternative input devices can assist individuals during their recovery or rehabilitation. Furthermore, people might experience situational limitations. For example, video captions benefit individuals in noisy environments or those who prefer to watch content without sound. Voice assistants and hands-free controls can be beneficial while driving or when your hands are occupied with other tasks. Also, accessibility features can support individuals with different learning styles. For instance, captioning and transcripts can help people who prefer visual or textual information, while audio descriptions benefit individuals who are blind or have low vision. And lastly, by considering diverse user needs and designing inclusive experiences, new technologies can push the boundaries of what is possible, benefiting all users with improved functionality and usability.

Harness new technologies for accessibility

In recent years, new technologies such as AI, VR, AR and IoT have been the topic of many scientific studies in UX Design. Many of those technologies have found their way into our daily lives, such as ChatGTP and Dall-E 2. Yet, the potential of AI, VR/AR and IoT seems endless. New tools, ideas and research pop up every day. Some projects address the health aspect of accessibility, but some tools can make our lives as UX & Accessibility Designers easier.

Artificial Intelligence

Lately, AI has been the talk of the town everywhere. Especially since ChatGPT’s rise, new AI tools, programmes and plugins are launched every day. Some offer automated language captions and translations, image recognition, facial recognition, and text summaries, which can improve accessibility. Others hold great potential for UX and design for people with disabilities.

Image Recognition and Description

Since screen readers cannot interpret images, you need to provide an alt-text to ensure web accessibility for people using a screen reader. However, people using a screen reader often face images missing alt-texts. Tools and plugins like “Get Image Descriptions” by Google can generate descriptions in such cases. Although manually provided alt-texts are still the better choice, tools like the above could support disabled people and increase their understanding of the web.

Accessibility audits using AI

An accessibility audit is a crucial part of the design process. Tools like applitools and accessFlow allow automated accessibility audits using AI. AccessFlow even mimics user behaviour to test websites. Using such a tool might be beneficial in an agency or consulting company as it speeds up the process of audits. Although it probably will never fully replace manual audits, it can give a first overview of accessibility issues. Also, with increased accessibility projects, accessibility audits might become a standard request. Therefore, getting acquainted with progressive and innovative technology will undoubtedly be an advantage soon.

Leveraging ChatGTP

ChatGPT is the tool people think about when AI is mentioned. Yet, many might be oblivious to ChatGPT’s potential to make life easier for people with disabilities. Be it as part of a chatbot to deliver information to hearing-impaired people or as a detector of subtle and unconscious biases in job advertisements. Also, its natural language processing technology can be incorporated into other tools like Flowy to help developers to produce accessible websites and web-based products (accessibility.com). Therefore, ChatGTP is both a tool to support designers and assistive technology.

Large-Scale Visual Speech Recognition

Moving away from tools supporting designers to assistive technology. One of Google and DeepMind’s projects is to produce a scalable solution for open-vocabulary visual speech recognition. More specifically, this research aims to use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve accessibility for speech-impaired people and transform lip movements into word sequences.

Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality

AR/VR is another newish technology that can significantly contribute to equity and inclusion. While it can combat subconscious biases, increase access to opportunities, and open up new channels of communication, community, and collaboration across distances (Information Technology & Innovation Foundation 2021), it currently seems not to be used in UX tools to ensure accessibility. However, keeping accessibility and usability in mind when designing AV/ AR products and services is essential to ensure equity. The following two examples show how VR/ AR might benefit people with disabilities.

Physical Rehabilitation with VR

Projects like Corpus VR might be the future of physical treatment and rehabilitation. VR lets the patient train independently from their location. Also, the treatment becomes more attractive, and the commitment increases. Lastly, even thinking about a movement stimulates the motor cortex in the brain.

Treating phobias and anxiety with VR

For people (in this study for people on the spectrum) suffering from phobias and anxiety, real-life situations might be too anxiety-provoking for treatment. VR, combined with cognitive behavioural therapy, might provide a safe space for treatment.

Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a relatively new concept that refers to a massive network of technologies and objects that may communicate and exchange data through the Internet. A project for accessibility is, for example Seeing AI by Microsoft, where IoT and AI are combined to analyse the visual environment and turn it into an audible experience. Smart home devices are another example of IoT, which can benefit people with physical disabilities. But more should be done when creating IoT products. Firstly, it is crucial to keep in mind the many different disabilities as the needs might change drastically between them. Also, interconnectivity between the various products and services must be ensured to make it easier for assistive technology to work (Bureau of Internet Accessibility 2018).

Game changer potential of AI and co.

Providing equal opportunities for people with diverse needs in education, employment, social interaction, and independent living and empowering people to participate fully in society is the primary goal of the web and general accessibility. The list with examples above showed the potential of AI, VR/AR and IoT for accessibility. Many more tools, plugins and initiatives to make the world and the web more accessible exist. And every day, new opportunities are added to that list.

New technologies like AI, VR/ AR and IoT might be or become a game changer for people with disabilities and the UX Research and Design community as they have the potential to break down barriers. Thanks to technology, people with disabilities can communicate quicker and effortlessly, access the web, and receive better health treatment. However, the used technology needs to be designed with accessibility in mind.

AI might have the most significant game-changer potential for accessibility. Already today, it powers a remarkable number of tools, plugins and tools. Apart from helping disabled people to interact with society, they can also make designing for (web) accessibility easier and quicker, which positively influences the price of accessible design. Moreover, they might lower the barriers to entry accessibility. We seem to be a mouse click away from solving all accessibility issues. But are we? A Deque Study (Deque.com 2021) showed that automated tools detect 57% of all accessibility issues. So, at least for designers, manual testing will still be required. But with AI improving every day, the accuracy will grow accordingly. Therefore, these tools and plugins can offer great support to UX designers. For disabled people, some of those tools and projects presented above could be a considerable relief, e.g. when interacting with society.

So, are AI and co. a game changer for accessibility? Yes, for specific accessibility issues, they might be. It can make design work more straightforward and quicker, the design itself more accessible and lower barriers for disabled people in their daily lives. However, there are areas like accessibility testing where manual work still is required because the tools will not catch all problems. Therefore, accessibility must still be considered in every design — digital or analogue — and permanently and customarily implemented early in all design processes.

Conclusion

Disabled people face countless challenges in daily life, education, work and online life. In recent years, solid reasons for implementing accessibility have emerged, like legal requirements, technological advancements, the ageing population, and social awareness and advocacy. Yet, the most crucial reason would be that everyone benefits from ensuring accessibility.

New technologies like AI, VR/AR and IoT can drastically improve (web) accessibility and improve the lives of people with special needs. The examples above are just a small selection of them. However, it allows a glimpse into what might come soon. As many new technologies are improving and being researched, numerous initiatives can be expected to follow. They are mighty in breaking down barriers and providing equal opportunities for people with diverse needs in education, employment, social interaction, and independent living, empowering people to participate fully in society. But all those tools do not mean anything if they are not promoted, supported and implemented. On that note, it is high time to follow through and do everything within our power to comply with accessibility standards.