Change the World, Provide Digital Accessibility for All

How Can Product Companies Leverage Engineering Service Providers in Ensuring Digital Accessibility?

Technology is changing life, but is it changing life for all? What about people who are left behind by digital technology because of accessibility challenges? Many of today’s products and services were not designed with a disabled or aging population in mind. Digital accessibility can be defined as enabling all people (which includes individuals with disabilities and aging individuals) to use digital assets, including software and hardware on all kinds of devices.

Providing digital accessibility for all is not only corporate social responsibility (CSR) but also good business. Persons with disabilities (PWDs) and an aging population could represent a huge market.

Estimates by the World Bank suggest that disability affects more than 15 percent of the global population. This includes visual, auditory, cognitive, or mobility disabilities. This means more than one billion people worldwide do not have access to, among other things, technological products and services.

In addition, the aging population suffers from accessibility challenges. Estimates by the United Nations (UN) suggest that in 2017, there were about 962 million people aged 60 or older in the world, comprising 13 percent of the global population. The number of older persons in the world is projected to be 1.4 billion in 2030 and 2.1 billion in 2050, and could rise to 3.1 billion in 2100.