What is accessibility?

In short, something accessible is easy to operate or access. Something truly accessible should not take much effort to use. For a lot of people, accessibility isn’t a problem. Almost all services or experiences are easy to access for most people. So why does it matter?

Imagine this: a blockbuster movie just released and everyone is talking about it. You hear about it from your friends, family, even your co-workers! It sounds amazing, so naturally, you decide to check it out. You hop into your car, make a short drive to the theatre, and give it a watch. And you loved it! The process was quick and simple, and now you have something to talk to your friends about.

Now take this same situation. You want to go see a movie everyone seems to be talking about. There’s just one difference: now you’re blind. Big change, right? How does this affect your experience? For one, everything seems much more complicated. Driving is out of the question, and walking can be dangerous without assistance. Can you even get to the theatre? Will you be able to enjoy the movie once you get there? What about getting home? It’s almost as if the world is working against you. Do you see why accessibility is important? Fortunately, society is much more accessible to people with visual impairments than it used to be. Seeing-eye dogs and canes assist with mobility, and braille signs are common in many places. And with the arrival of the digital age comes many new tools for navigating day-to-day life.

Interpreter apps such as Aira or Be My Eyes can be used to help the visually impaired navigate streets, grocery stores, or just around the house. Optical Character Recognition systems (OCR) can translate text from signs, labels, and written material. Even things like rideshare and voice assistants, common services which many of us use on a daily basis, are incredible at helping low vision individuals independently navigate the outside world!
None of these things could exist without the internet. It is by far the most powerful tool created in the past century; It allows for almost endless connectivity, and it represents the pinnacle of human achievement. However, using the internet is an almost exclusively visual experience. Would that mean it’s off limits for people with visual impairments?

Sure, most content becomes inaccessible should you have a visual impairment, but technology and accessibility have come a long way from what they were. The internet brings with it many tools to help people with low vision or blindness navigate both itself and the outside world.
For example: if a person with blindness wanted to use social media, they could use anything from screen readers, to audio transcripts, or even braille displays to read content.

Features such as Alt Text, audio descriptions, and (more recently) computer generated descriptions all enable them to enjoy pictures or videos posted to the internet. Jasmine Seabron, a member of the blind community and employee of Vocal Point, has seen the progress of accessibility throughout the digital age. Her Amazon Echo devices have useful features like Show and Tell, which can be used to identify things in her house. She can also use the Echo’s voice assistant to play music or listen to news on the radio. Ms. Seabron’s tools of choice for browsing the web are VoiceOver and JAWS (Job Access With Speech), screen readers for her iPhone and laptop, respectively. To read physical material, she has OrCam glasses, which can take pictures of any kind of text and read it to her. And with every year comes software improvements, additional features, and new technology to live more freely.

Today, blind or low vision individuals have more independence than ever before. People are able to work, they’re able to travel, they’re able to live! Regardless of whether they can see or not. “I wouldn’t be able to do my job like I do now…I’m grateful,” Ms. Seabron says. Giving people the freedom to live how they want: that is why accessibility is important.

At Vocal Point, our mission is to empower and enrich the lives of individuals with print-related disabilities through engaging audio content. We strive for equal access to information. We strive to build connection, community, and independence. We strive to help people live a full and better life. At Vocal Point, we strive for accessibility.