Imagine you are visually impaired and are filling out an online job application using screen reader software.
You go through half the form and then come to a question with drop-down menus that the screen reader can't access because the online form doesn't meet accessibility standards. You're stuck. You cannot submit the application and your time is wasted.
Assistive technologies such as screen readers can go a long way in closing the gap between people who are blind or visually impaired and their sighted peers. But the technologies often encounter obstacles because the information they are designed to deliver - documents, websites and software programs - does not work, leaving the information inaccessible.
There are 8 million people with blindness or low vision in the US. More than 4.23 million of them are of working age, but only about half of that working-age population is employed. The employment rate of people with blindness or low vision has historically been much lower than that of the general population.
An overwhelming majority of jobs across all sectors require digital skills. Assistive technologies such as screen readers, screen magnifiers and Braille notes give people who are blind or visually impaired an opportunity to succeed in school and the workplace.
Assistive technology has improved and new technologies are constantly being developed for people with blindness or low vision. Today's technology being developed by major tech companies for the general population often includes built-in accessibility features such as VoiceOver on the iPhone and Narrator in Windows, both text-to-speech features. These advances in assistive technology have increased employment opportunities, and the percentage of people who are blind or visually impaired in the workforce has increased over the past decade.
Out of sight, out of mind for sighted people
But despite the abundance of assistive technology, people who don't rely on it are typically unaware of how it is used at work and the challenges users experience with it. My colleagues and I are conducting a five-year longitudinal study to advance knowledge in this area. We hope this can help prepare unemployed people who are blind or visually impaired for the labor market. The study is expected to continue through 2025, with the final study beginning in late 2024.
The story continues
While most people surveyed reported being satisfied with the assistive technology they use at work, almost all also reported problems with it. The main challenges in assistive technology focused on the inaccessible digital environment: documents, software, websites, images and photos.
Digital content is sometimes technically accessible, but unusable for people using assistive technology. For example, online application systems often pose challenges in terms of accessibility and usability. Inaccessible and unusable business software means that people who are blind or visually impaired are often left unable to do work they could easily do simply because the employer's software does not work with screen readers.
People who are blind or visually impaired have a harder time finding jobs than people with other types of disabilities because of inaccessible business software, says Ross Barchacky, vice president of business development and strategic partnerships at Inclusively. The organization supports companies that want to employ people with disabilities, including matching them with qualified job seekers with disabilities.
Digital accessibility
Although the Americans with Disabilities Act does not explicitly mention the digital environment, the Department of Justice has taken the position that Title III of the ADA, which covers public accommodations for people with disabilities, applies to websites and mobile apps. Thousands of digital accessibility lawsuits are filed under the ADA each year, and the number has increased significantly over the past five years.
Digital standard setters have started paying attention. The World Wide Web Consortium has developed standards for accessible web content: the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, just revised in version 2.2. The guidelines provide free guidance to help developers make their digital content accessible. Two related standards are the US government's Section 508 and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute's EN 301 549. Global Accessibility Awareness Day was created in 2012 to encourage people to learn and think about digital inclusion for people with disabilities.
e.g.: In the following diagram, homepages and websites should be one word. Also, we generally use 1 million instead of 1,000,000.
Despite laws requiring an accessible digital environment and supporting guidelines, much, if not most, digital content is still not fully accessible. In its latest annual review of the accessibility of the top 1 million websites, the nonprofit WebAIM found an average of 50 accessibility errors per page. Even worse, almost all home pages (96.3%) had errors in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.
What can be done
Accessibility is easier to build in from the beginning than to retrofit later.
To build accessibility in from the ground up, accessibility should be part of the curriculum for digital developers, but that is usually not the case.
Companies could require developers to create accessible software and refuse to buy software that is not accessible. Individuals can help by producing their own accessible digital documents - inaccessible digital documents were the most common challenge at work. Microsoft has been working to make producing accessible digital documents easier with the Accessibility Checker and now the new Accessibility Assistant.
An accessible digital environment is possible and would result in greater employment opportunities for people who are blind or visually impaired.
This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit organization providing facts and analysis to help you understand our complex world.It was written by: Michele McDonnall, Mississippi State University.
Read more: Michele McDonnall receives funding from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. Grant number 90RTEM0007 provided funding for the research discussed in this story.