American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
Future Reflections Summer 2024 ADVOCACY AND ACCESSIBILITY
The Digital Divide: Investigating Access Barriers Encountered by Blind People in their Day-to-Day Lives
by Arielle Silverman
From the Editor: Arielle Silverman serves as Director of Research for the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). In this article she reports on a pair of studies conducted by AFB to determine the nature and scope of barriers encountered by blind people when they attempt to perform tasks using online platforms.
To be fully included in modern life, people need access to digital information and services. Blind people are no exception. From elementary through graduate school levels, blind students are often required to use Web-based or app-based digital tools to complete their coursework, even after schools returned to in-person learning following the pandemic. Blind parents must use websites or apps to support their children's participation at school. Blind jobseekers find and apply for jobs online, while blind employees use videoconferencing tools to communicate with their colleagues. Blind people use websites or apps to review their medical information, handle finances, order grocery delivery, find housing, make travel arrangements, access public benefits, and engage in online dating. Furthermore, many businesses are rolling out kiosks that customers must use to check in for appointments or pay for their purchases.
At the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) we conduct original research to drive change. We strive to create equal opportunities and expand possibilities for blind Americans. While studying the impact of the recent pandemic on blind children and adults, we repeatedly heard that digital systems people needed to use were often partially or totally inaccessible. In a prior issue of Future Reflections, I wrote about the prevalence of inaccessible digital learning tools that blind and low-vision children were required to use during the pandemic. (See "Lessons from the Pandemic: Research on the Experiences of Blind Students and Their Families," https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr42/4/fr420407.htm.
Over the past two years, AFB researchers conducted two studies specifically asking blind adults about times when they needed to use websites, mobile applications, or kiosks that posed access barriers. We wanted to know which types of digital tasks posed the most frequent barriers, what kinds of barriers people faced, how they coped with the barriers, and how these barriers to digital access affected their daily lives.
AFB's first study was a large survey, completed by 398 blind adults in November-December 2022. The survey asked whether the participants used websites or apps to perform some thirty-five different tasks. If they did, how often did they experience accessibility barriers? The survey also asked what kinds of accessibility barriers the participants encountered and how those issues affected them.
In November 2023 we followed up by having twenty blind adults fill out a daily diary for ten days. On each day they wrote down how many accessibility barriers they encountered. Then they chose up to three barriers from the day and described them in detail, explaining what happened and how they addressed the situation.
Through the first study we learned that most of the blind adults reported encountering access barriers at least occasionally with websites and mobile apps. The tasks that presented barriers to at least eighty percent of survey participants included taking online college classes, finding and applying for jobs, booking out-of-town trips, ordering food delivery, and online dating. Similarly, in the second study, the participants reported encountering an average of 1.77 barriers per day, or about twelve per week. Participants in both studies told us the most common sources of issues were unlabeled buttons, images without written descriptions, controls that did not work with screen readers, and small font or poor contrast for low-vision users. In the second study, some of the participants also reported difficulties using kiosks that feature flat touch-screen interfaces without large print or speech output. The participants said they had to find a sighted passerby or ask staff at a business to manipulate the kiosk for them.
The participants described using a myriad of strategies to overcome access barriers. In the first study, over half of the participants said they first tried switching from the Web version to the mobile app version (or vice versa), or switching browsers or screen readers. Often, though, these strategies did not resolve access barriers on their own. In the second study, while about half the barriers were resolved independently, another twenty-three percent required sighted assistance. In the remainder of cases, the participants ended up abandoning the task they were trying to accomplish.
Unsurprisingly, dealing with access barriers takes up valuable time. We documented this in the second study, where the participants told us how much time it took them to complete digital tasks that presented barriers. They estimated how much of that time was spent navigating each barrier. On average, the participants said they spent forty-five percent of task time resolving access barriers. Put another way, by the participants' estimation, digital tasks take almost twice as long when access barriers occur than they would take if there were no barriers. When we averaged the time spent resolving barriers, we found the participants reported spending about twenty minutes per barrier, or four hours a week. That time adds up!
In addition to lost time and productivity, digital access barriers made participants feel frustrated and left out. Participants in the first study linked digital access barriers with a loss of independence, privacy, and choice about which businesses to use for digital goods and services. In the second study, participants told compelling stories of how digital access barriers made life more difficult for them. A blind father took his daughter to the trampoline park, then almost had to leave because the mandatory digital waiver form was inaccessible. (Fortunately, a kind stranger assisted him.) Other participants reported needing to give their banking information or personal identifiers (such as date of birth) to strangers in order to use kiosks for payment or appointment check-ins. Still others struggled to book out-of-town travel to visit friends and loved ones.
Web, app, and kiosk access barriers not only have an impact on blind and low-vision users. These barriers create inconvenience and extra work for sighted family members, friends, and others who are called upon to assist, sometimes urgently. Businesses that use inaccessible digital systems also lose potential customers. In our first study, forty-one percent of website users and forty-four percent of mobile app users said they will take their business elsewhere after encountering an inaccessible digital system. In the second study, which was deliberately conducted over the Black Friday and CyberMonday shopping periods, in seventeen cases a participant abandoned an online purchase they had intended to make when they encountered digital access barriers. In addition to issues such as unlabeled buttons making it difficult or impossible for blind users to buy things online, some participants said they did not have enough information about products to make informed decisions, since shopping sites sometimes displayed images of products with little or no image description.
How do we solve this systemic issue? In our study reports we urge federal policymakers, business leaders, and computing educators to work together toward full digital inclusion. First, the federal government must enact and enforce laws and regulations requiring all digital systems to be accessible and set accessibility standards for kiosks. Second, all businesses and organizations with a digital presence should follow the most up-to-date accessibility standards. To do this, they should hire Web and software designers and managers who are knowledgeable about accessibility. Third, university computer science instructors should include accessibility lessons in their courses to help close the accessibility skills gap.
On April 24, 2024, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) published a final rule on web and software accessibility under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This rule requires entities under state and local governments to make their websites and apps accessible. The rule covers public schools and colleges, transit agencies, and public utility companies, among other entities. This rule will be instrumental in ensuring that blind children and young adults have full, timely access to their digital course materials.
The final Title II rule came after more than fourteen years of advocacy. The American Foundation for the Blind and the National Federation of the Blind worked together, along with the American Council of the Blind and the National Disability Rights Network, to advocate for the adoption of this final rule. In addition, more than two hundred disability organizations commented on a draft version of the rule that was released last year, urging the DOJ to remove harmful exceptions that would have allowed schools to use inaccessible learning management systems, among other things. Thanks to this collective advocacy, supported by the AFB's research on the impacts of inaccessible educational tools, the harmful exceptions were removed.
The Title II rule is just one step toward full digital inclusion for everyone. There is still much work ahead, but when digital inclusion is achieved, the benefits are many.
At the end of the second study, participants reported on websites and apps where they had a smooth, barrier-free experience. They celebrated the ability to do digital tasks independently, even those as mundane as reviewing their medical records or bank statements. The participants reported a profound sense of inclusion and pride when they could access a website or app on the same level as their sighted counterparts. One participant wrote about the app used by their children's school, "It is incredibly important for me as a parent to have access to information about my kids' schools. This app provides the kind of access I wish I had everywhere!"
To learn more, read the full "Barriers to Digital Inclusion" study reports at www.afb.org/bdis.
To learn about AFB's latest research studies, sign up for updates at www.afb.org/research.