Accessibility Awareness

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be not able to see the world? Or hear the world?

There are around 1b people with accessibility disorders globally. In India alone, there are 28m. 

Imagine doing one of your daily activities for instance walking from your bed to kitchen with eyes closed.  You get an idea of how much we take our senses for granted.

Global accessibility awareness day gave a glimpse of what members with physical challenges go through in their life.

They fight through most/all of these challenges

1. Mobility
2. Assistance
3. Guidance
4. Communication
5. Social stigma

We can collectively do a bit from our end to make their life better and make a small spark in their life.

Here are some ways which improve the inclusivity in things we do

1. Making the products we create/design/build, more expressive.  For eg., if you are building a pavement, slanting the edges so that a person travelling on wheel chair can descend. Making ATM kiosks, shops, apps, banks, ticket counters and other places include appropriate assitance technologies.
2. Having a member with physical limitation use/test/certify the things we use and understand how they would use it. For eg., engravings on keyboards, markings on pavements and so on.
3. Having explicit media extensions for those with disabilities. If we are building some web pages, making sure we support keyboard navigation or screen reader utility.
4. Having a political and social representation from the physically challenged group so we take into account the challenges they face in planning and administration.