Mobile Accessibility Will Transform Expectations

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Digital products and services available via smartphone, and mobile devices like smartwatches, are continuously changing how people manage their daily lives – everything from accessing and sharing information, tracking health metrics, to sending money. And mobile accessibility, with its many baked-in accessible design features, is giving people with disabilities the same useful and effective mobile user experience.
Apple is leading by example with built-in assistive technologies such as those pioneered in its iOS, and “for this reason, the accessibility features on iOS are widely regarded as the best in the industry,” according to Steven Aquino of TechCrunch. And, its Apple Watch comes with accessible design. Things like Siri, a handy feature that benefits every Apple consumer and especially those with disabilities. Take two minutes and check out this video of Andrea D, a nursing student with a disability who uses her watch to stay fit.
Built-in accessible design features are common in Android phones, too. TalkBack (spoken feedback like Siri) captioning is handy for loud environments or for the hearing impaired, and Switch Access offers an alternate way to use the touch screen, if, for example, your hands are literally “tied up” or you have a motor impairment. Google’s product manager Patrick Clary sees accessible design, “taking advantage of the technology…helping 1 in 5 users…a staggering number.” And in “What’s new in Android Accessibility,” Clary shares the latest with Google’s 2017 plans.
Mobile is paving the way with more user-friendly interfaces. The reductionist design of mobile apps makes technology easier to understand and use by people with disabilities via their modular design and simplicity And, mobile-first thinking also encourages user experience (UX) designers to start with a mobile mindset, which in turn requires them to think in more simple terms. And simple helps accessibility.