August 2008

Accessibility Makes Good Business Sense

By Pooja Nahata, Strategic Account Manager, BarrierBreak Technologies

600 million people with disabilities in the world, 60 million in India alone.

"The Untapped Market"

Innovation and advancement in technology is enabling people with disabilities to realize their potential. Today, a visually impaired person can work with computers using a screen reader! Isn't that wonderful? But many of us are unaware about this fact. The reason being 'lack of awareness' about the needs of people with disabilities and how can technology be helpful in meeting those needs.

'Accessibility' is the only way to tap and explore this market. Accessibility is a practice to understand the needs of people with disabilities and create products, services, infrastructure, education and employment opportunities with optimum utilization of technology. In doing so, accessibility not only benefits people with disabilities but also people without disabilities especially the aging population, people with low literacy rate, and low bandwidth users.

Why should we bother about accessibility? The answer is simple, 'Accessibility makes good business sense.' Social, technical, commercial, legal and policy factors stimulate the need to implement accessibility.

Social

Accessibility is a social issue. Providing access and equal opportunity to everyone including people with disabilities is essential. People with disabilities must have access to information, education, training, and employment opportunities. Catering to the social factors of accessibility will help organizations and government bodies to fulfill their social responsibility and bridge the digital divide.