Accenture Whitepaper Accessibility Advantage

• Accessibility awareness and inclusivity not only support workplace equality but are often correlated with growth and profitability.
• Paper recommends four key steps for accessibility and inclusive design implementation: employ, enable, engage, empower.
• Businesses that will thrive in the economy of tomorrow recognize that meeting the needs of diverse populations is key to their business model today. But an often under-recognized group is those with disabilities. In fact, providing increased access to technologies that meet the needs of persons with disabilities lays the foundation for inclusive work cultures that enable these employees to thrive—presenting a tremendous opportunity.
• In the first half of 2018 there were more lawsuits in the U.S. related to the Americans with Disabilities Act and website accessibility than there were in all of 2017.5
• untapped talent pool of more than 10.7 million persons with disabilities in the US alone.6 Findings from Accenture Research reveal that companies
  that have improved their inclusion of persons with disabilities over time were also four times more likely than others to have total shareholder returns that outperformed those of their peer group.7 Estimates suggest that the United States GDP could get a boost up to US$25 billion if just 1 percent more of persons with disabilities joined the US labor force.8
• Microsoft accessibility checks in Office 365 tools can help individuals expedite the process of making documents more accessible to colleagues who are using assistive technologies.9
• Microsoft also announced an accessible and modular Xbox controller to expand the audience able to use its entertainment system.10
• Microsoft is also partnering with external organizations, including the Rochester Institute of Technology, to bring accessible AI solutions into the classroom. One result
  of this partnership is a speech-recognition model the company built to provide deaf and hard-of-hearing students with real-time closed captioning in lectures.11
• Microsoft was able to bring accessible technologies to the masses by establishing a training program to help technology teams use inclusive design processes.
• The company also recognized they could enhance their reputation as a leader in this space by releasing their inclusive design methodologies for other businesses to learn from and use.12
• Toyota prototyped a new kind of vehicle, the Concept-i RIDE.13 While this car lacks a steering wheel and engine controls, it offers more space for passengers, including individuals with wheelchairs. Exploring autonomous vehicles through an inclusive lens enhances Toyota’s reputation as a company attentive to driver and passenger needs.
• It also positions Toyota to participate in discussions about ways of using streams of data from vehicles to improve roadway design.
• Treating accessibility features as aspects of a business’s personalization strategy shifts accessibility from a liability to an opportunity.
• Expanding market share while also improving technology requires businesses to reach out and learn from members of these new audiences— including persons with disabilities.
• Beyond gleaning inclusive insights from user testing and collaboration, some organizations are using immersive training techniques to nurture empathy within their employees. Fjord’s Makeshop has developed a virtual-reality (VR) experience to simulate navigating an urban environment in a wheelchair.16 While initially designed to help first-time wheelchair users adjust to a new sense of mobility, this same training could be used to help researchers—whether or not they have a disability themselves—gain a better understanding of these perspectives.
• Dropbox has set up a program to help engineers learn about assistive technologies on which their users rely to interact with Dropbox’s product.17
• In the design community at large, regular updates are made to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which originally published in 2001. WCAG standards provide guidance to help developers make products more accessible for people with mobility, vision, hearing and cognitive disabilities.18 These standards exist to help businesses make the web a more usable place for all.
• As companies increasingly work with governments to provide citizen services, it is critical that smart city initiatives prioritize accessibility. Groups like the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies, and World Enabled, have taken steps to fill these gaps by publishing accessibility guidelines for groups developing smart city applications.23Using frameworks like this can point R&D groups and others in the right direction for exploring accessible and inclusive technologies in the physical world.
• Organizations that lead inclusive innovation inside of their own environments will set the tone for workplaces and cities of the future. If organizations can capitalize on developing smart workplaces— and eventually smart cities—they are better positioned to have their technology and platforms emerge as industry standards.
• 1 https://www.air.org/system/files/downloads/report/Hidden-Market-Spending-Power-of-People-with- Disabilities-April-2018.pdf
• 2 https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2638315
• 3 International Monetary Fund, 2017 ranking
• 4 https://www.accenture.com/us-en/company-persons-with-disabilities
• 5 https://www.adatitleiii.com/2018/07/website-access-and-other-ada-title-iii-lawsuits-hit-record-numbers/
• 6 https://www.accenture.com/us-en/company-persons-with-disabilities
• 7 https://www.accenture.com/us-en/company-persons-with-disabilities
• 8 https://www.accenture.com/us-en/company-persons-with-disabilities
• 9 https://www.techradar.com/news/microsoft-wants-to-make-ofice-365-more-accessible-to-everyone
• 10 https://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/accessibility
• 11 https://blogs.microsoft.com/ai/ai-powered-captioning/
• 12 https://www.microsoft.com/design/inclusive/
• 13 https://www.caranddriver.com/news/toyota-concept-i-ride-and-walk-photos-and-info-news
• 14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAzkrXTGEOM
• 15 https://www.google.com/accessibility/blog/post/morse-code-gboard.html
• 16 https://www.fjordnet.com/conversations/fjord-makeshop-combining-empathy-and-virtual-reality-for- wheelchair-users/
• 17 https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2017/04/creating-a-culture-of-accessibility/
• 18 https://www.deque.com/blog/wcag-2-1-what-is-next-for-accessibility-guidelines/, https://www.w3.org/TR/ WCAG21/
• 19 https://askjan.org/topics/costs.cfm
• 20 https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/aws/launch-announcing-alexa-for-business-using-amazon-alexas-voice- enabled-devices-for-workplaces/
• 21 https://sidewalktoronto.ca/
• 22 https://www.abilitynet.org.uk/news-blogs/making-sure-smart-cities-mean-inclusive-cities-worlds-one-billion- disabled-people
• 23 http://smartcities4all.org/
  24 Disability Employment and Inclusion: Your Guide to Success — Business Case, Workplace Initiative, 2017, 25 Break down disability barriers to spur growth and innovation, Financial Times, September 2017

Links

• https://www.accenture.com/sg-en/insights/communications-media/accessibility-advantage?fbclid=IwAR3mwm0iXGlSeSMJVbJkLcLCf4oqYNi27YPT5NJJ45ABgSC1imQRbf3ZmQM

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