Today from vaccination appointments to online groceries to watching movies, it is a digital first economy! But the question that needs to be asked is, how is this digital first economy including people with disabilities.

-But before answering that question, would like to delve on some data:

•1 billion+ people with disabilities globally.

•15% of the world population will have a lived experience of disability as per WHO.

•Indian Census 2011, states that 2.68 crores that is 2.21 percent of our population comprises people with disabilities.

And yet, accessibility is NOT at the top of recall when we build websites or mobile apps in India. One wonders why! When it gets you access to a customer base which is untapped!
Even during the pandemic, people with disabilities in India had challenges accessing Covid-19 Information. BarrierBreak organized a Covid Accessibility Bug Bounty programme and in just 24 hours we crowdsourced 547 accessibility issues on 120 websites providing covid information.
If you watch movies using captions, listen to driving directions on your favourite maps tool, pinch and zoom on your phone, then you are already using accessible technology!
Today every android and iOS phone has support for people with disabilities! But yet, our disabled friends have to struggle to access online banking, online shopping, government services or even the railways website seamlessly. So the digital first economy needs to pay attention to accessibility!

•Government Initiatives – Let’s think Inclusion!

On the one side we have these amazing initiatives like Make in India and Digital India and on the other side we have the Accessible India Campaign. It is time to think holistically and build accessibility into every government initiative!
These are the initiatives wherein we need to bake accessibility into every website, product or service. Accessibility doesn’t have to be an add-on!
Does India need a Chief Accessibility Officer? I’m sure you would be smiling at this! But I think it is important to someone who promotes accessibility in all things government!

Read more- https://www.financialexpress.com/lifestyle/international-day-of-persons-with-disabilities-state-of-digital-accessibility-in-india/2381236/