Web Accessibility: The trend behind all trends in 2020
Optometrists often use the term 20/20 to describe visual acuity. It indicates that someone can see a person or object, at 20 feet of distance. But according to the Vision Council of America, more than 61% of North Americans need glasses or contact lenses to see clearly at 20 feet. Meanwhile, there are about 300 million visually impaired people in the world, to whom glasses wouldn’t make a difference. They often rely on assistive technology to fully participate in the Digital Economy. But we create barriers to everyone when building apps and sites without Accessibility in mind. These barriers might range from words that overlap when zoomed in or out, to content that can’t be read aloud by screen readers.
As we approach the year 2020, everything indicates that Accessibility will be a continuous trend. But more than a trend, it promises to be the main driver behind every other digital trend. It is already possible to see this at 20 feet of distance. Worldwide legislation is catching up with Technology. Digital inclusion is reaching the next level and forcing new strategic approaches. With looming deadlines to make every Public Sector site accessible in the UK, we shall expect requirements, such as the knowledge of WCAG guidelines, to be present in almost every job description involving any aspect of online publishing, from development to content editing.
In 2020, Digital Accessibility will receive more investment from big players. They will be louder and bolder than ever. Unsurprisingly, people with disabilities represent a large proportion of the market. In the UK alone, they have an estimated spending power of more than £250 billion. The race to attract this market segmentation has already started. Accessibility will continue to become more native in major operating systems, including factory-installed speech output software and enhancements on text recognition.
Gone are the days when transcriptions and multimedia captions were considered as just a “nice to have”. From 2020, they will become the standard. The use of Audio Description, now conveniently shipped with some native media players and multimedia production software will grow. There will be no more excuses not to include transcripts and captions to your powerpoint presentations.
As always, more and more people will be taking advantage of innovations created for those with disabilities. Voice-activated gadgets, such as Google Home and Amazon Echo, are already star sellers. In 2018, they were sold out just a few days before Christmas. This trend indicates that in 2020, we can expect to see such gadgets branching up. Everyone will be able to control their home or office appliances with voice commands.
Neurodiversity will gain more space as the new decade arises. Thanks to advances in medical research, conditions previously identified as pathologies are starting to be recognised as differences to be embraced and celebrated. With more rigorous diagnoses identifying a growing number of neurodiverse people since the 1990s, the stigma towards conditions such as Dyslexia, ADHD and Autism has decreased. We shall see a more openly neurodiverse generation entering the workplace in 2020. We might even start to realise that is normal to be different.
While researching for the 2020 Accessibility trends, I reached out to specialists in the UK, Canada and the USA. They were all unanimous in pointing out AI and Machine Learning as a continuing trend. There will be greater recognition of the importance of bringing Ethics to this equation. Web Accessibility will again lead in this aspect. Ethics will be of utmost importance for creating better mechanisms to eliminate bias against people with disabilities. It will also be the cornerstone of every digital business willing to survive and thrive in 2020, while transparency will be the foundation. Without both, organisations will crumble.
Apps using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to collect and interpret biometric data, as well as image recognition, will be under growing scrutiny. While such apps enable people with disabilities to better perceive and participate in the world around them, they also come with privacy trade-offs. In this aspect, organisations will have to demonstrate their approach to Ethics and Transparency to win the trust of the public and clients. For this to happen, the quality factor will need to prevail over quantity and speed. Luckily 2020 is a leap year. There will be one extra day to excel at making the world more inclusive.
