Google Increases Awareness of Digital Accessibility

Posted on Oct 24, 2009

Google is already synonymous with developing software builds to make the Web more searchable. According to the official Google blog, the company is now making a commitment to accessibility as well.

The company has launched a site intended to be the center for Google-related accessibility developments, located at http://www.google.com/accessibility/. The following is quoted from Google’s accessibility mission, a component of their core values:

We want to make information available to everyone, and that includes people with disabilities, such as blindness, visual impairment, color deficiency, deafness, hearing loss and limited dexterity. We’ve found that providing alternative access modes like keyboard shortcuts, captions, high-contrast views and text-to-speech technology helps everyone, not just people with disabilities.

Operating under the assumption that releasing products to market and then collecting feedback is essential to creating sustainable product, Google invites user feeback on all accessibility prototypes. Among Google’s accessibility prototypes already at launch are a talking RSS reader for Android mobile devices and a number of social networking applications.

Of most important value, perhaps, is the weight that a name such as Google’s provides to the field of online accessibility. With ten percent of the world’s population living with some form of disability and expected to live past the age of 70, the provision of universally barrier-free digital experiences should continue to increase in priority.

1 Comment

  1. James Coltham
    October 26, 2009

    Although Google’s efforts are commendable, I do have my concerns about whether they are enough. I blogged about this: Google and Accessibility – not there yet. The ‘launch early and iterate’ philosophy, in particular, potentially conflicts with the best practice approach to accessibility where you build it in at the start.

    Without a doubt Google is in the perfect position to have a profound effect on the understanding of, and global increase in, web accessibility. I just hope they do it justice.

Leave a Reply