Summary
Accessibility is about people with disabilities being able to fully participate as producers, contributors, and consumers of the digital world. And so of course that includes participating in the AI innovation boom. Fable’s Accessibility Strategist Amber Knabl will cover the recent innovations and opportunities we’re seeing that improve digital accessibility, and offer insight on how product teams can do better.
Key Insights
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Accessibility benefits extend far beyond people with permanent disabilities, impacting situational and temporary limitations.
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Features originally designed for accessibility, like captions or voice-to-text, are now widely used by billions of mainstream users.
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Only 19% of surveyed users with disabilities trust existing AI, showing a pressing need for more trustworthy AI systems.
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AI applications, such as image description and data interpretation, offer promising accessibility improvements but come with notable risks.
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Bias in AI datasets often excludes people with disabilities, resulting in inaccurate or harmful outputs like misrepresented hearing aids in AI-generated images.
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Inclusive product development requires engaging people with disabilities early and throughout, including in design, research, and testing phases.
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Addressing accessibility issues during the design phase is more cost-effective than fixing them after development or launch.
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Leading companies like Apple and Amazon are increasingly emphasizing accessibility to demonstrate brand values and foster creativity.
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Fable’s accessibility usability scale (OZ) modifies traditional system usability scales to better reflect assistive technology users’ experiences.
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AI should be viewed as a tool to augment accessibility efforts, not a standalone solution, necessitating ongoing human involvement and ethical considerations.
Notable Quotes
"If implemented correctly, AI could have impressively positive impacts on inclusion and accessibility."
"AI could be the difference between being able to contribute in society and not being able to contribute."
"When you design like this, you're bound to capture audiences you might not have expected."
"I found myself sitting in the street as the traffic light turned green, blocked by a non sentient being incapable of understanding the consequences of its actions."
"Not everyone who uses a hearing aid is over the age of 50, yet AI-generated images often reflect outdated stereotypes."
"Only 7% of respondents believe there is adequate representation of people with disabilities in AI development."
"You don't have to wait until an idea is fully baked to get feedback from users with disabilities."
"Addressing accessibility issues during design is way more cost effective than remediation after shipping."
"The only way to build truly inclusive products, AI tools or otherwise, is to incorporate the voices of people with disabilities along the way."
"AI is automating and amplifying a lot of the human bias that exists in society to date."
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