The Impact of Digital Accessibility Innovations on Users’ Experience

Abstract

The survey provides unique insights on the actual usage and usefulness of multiple digital accessibility features and assistive technologies that have become widely available to persons with disabilities. It also identifies the main barriers experienced by users with disabilities to access essential digital contents and web services due to their lack of conformance with accessiblity standards and usability good practices.

The report covers what areas and types of innovation respondents are involved with, their roles, how they assess the utility of those innovations, and what they perceive to be opportunities for further innovation in digital accessibility.

The survey identifies:
• Accessibility innovations that have had over the past few years the most positive impact on users with disabilities and for which types of applications.
• The type of virtual/remote customer services most appreciated by persons with disabilities with examples.
• New digital products, services and contents that create the most accessibility challenges for users with disabilities and why.
• Specific organizations/companies perceived as most effective at implementing accessibility policies, products and services from a user’s perspective.
• The degree to which accessibility features of mainstream products are used by persons with disabilities and the reasons why they may not use them.
• Identification of most desired functionalities to be further developed by industry to improve the experience of users with disabilities.

Keywords: Digital accessibility, Digital innovations