Close your eyes and pick up your phone then try to do something simple like open your messages and very quickly you will come a cropper as you stab aimlessly on the screen and, if you do actually find the app you want, you probably won’t know because there won’t be any audible cues.

Now, I’m not saying that the advent of smart phones is a bad thing, quite the contrary, there are so many apps that have been developed to help people with visual impairments access the digital world. In actual fact, the issue of access was identified early on in the development programme and the inclusion of accessibility options was available as early as the iPhone 3GS in 2009 and Android devices followed on a few years later in 2011. These functions were transformative for visually impaired people because they gave us access to something that was previously only for those who could see. They completely changed the way a user interacted with a device and, rather than falling into the trap that many developers do when adapting something to be accessible, and essentially overlaying the accessibility functions to the existing operation, they adapted the way a user interacts with their device  to work for a visually impaired person, not trying to make the user adapt to the device. They have developed a method of using different gestures and multi-finger actions to navigate and, of course, a voice assistant.

The built-in technology makes most mobile applications navigable, even when you can’t see, giving us equal access to the connected world. But, just because the in-built functionality does most of the heavy-lifting doesn’t let the app developers off the hook. It is important to consider navigation when building anything and understand how the information flows across the screen.

In web design there is a standard called WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) which provides developers with pointers how to build the site as inclusively as possible. Unfortunately there aren’t the same guidelines for building mobile apps. W3C (the World Wide Web Consortium) is developing mobile-specific browser guidelines under WCAG but there are no such standards for apps. Having an accessible app is just as important as a well-designed website and if it is included right from the very start then it makes the process exponentially easier.

As a Product Owner for a set of systems, some of which were originally commissioned when the Millenium Bug was a huge cause for concern and the Equality Act wasn’t even a twinkle in the eye of ministers, ensuring the application was accessible for all users, no matter our individual needs wasn’t even a consideration. Having to retro-fit accessibility into a 20+ year-old application is no mean feat and the only way to do it is one small change at a time. Thankfully, the team I am working with are totally on board with the need to bring these old carthorses up to 21^st Century standards and I am confident that, over time, we will be much closer to having a suite of applications that are truly accessible for all.

In 2018, the UK Government introduced The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations but these are only applicable to local and national government, NHS organisations, charities and schools. Most private sector organisations such as banks and retail have no such regulations other than a single line in the Equality Act that states that organisations must make “Reasonable adjustments”. The problem is that Reasonable Adjustments is such a subjective term meaning what I, as a visually impaired user, would consider reasonable is not necessarily what a company such as a bank would. Just recently, I have had so many difficulties with my bank’s recently updated app that I ended up giving up on it altogether and getting my wife to do all the banking for me. You could go so far as to say this change in design (which I’m sure is highly effective for a sighted user) has caused me to be discriminated against and, as a vulnerable user, I have been effectively excluded from managing my own finances.

As we move to a more centralised and online world with banks and building societies closing many of their local branches, preferring to have larger central banks in towns and cities or pushing customers online or to telephone banking, the need for tighter control to ensure disabled users are not robbed of our independence is more important than ever. For those newer organisations that have chosen not to have a physical branch at all and have restricted most of their telephone offering so much that customers can only bank using an app, having robust accessibility options has to be fundamental. However, these are often the ones that have foregone accessibility entirely, effectively excluding a whole demographic.

So you see, in the connected world we find ourselves in, an inclusive app design is just as important as an accessible website and a well-designed store. These principles of inclusivity are fundamental to ensuring we all remain independent, no matter our individual needs and disabilities.

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To find out more about resources and campaigns for accessible design, you can visit Scope’s UK Law and digital accessibility page or Royal National Institute of Blind People’s digital accessibility resource.

If you are interested in exploring further any of the points raised in this post, then you can contact me by email at chris@blindmanwithabackpack.uk or you can check me out on Facebook and Instagram at @BlindManWithABackpack