On February 12th, Laura Visick, our Head of Innovation, was joined by Lew Isaacs, Vulnerable Customer Analyst at Monzo, and Eugine Stipp, Director of Innovation at Google UK, to explore the need for brands to prioritise accessibility and the business benefits which can be reaped when accessibility is front of mind. While there are 13.9 million people living in the UK with a disability, this huge group of consumers are commonly overlooked when businesses come to product design and when marketing and planning decisions are made. Thank you to all those who joined us. If you missed this event, have a read of the discussion's key takeouts below.
13.9 million brits live with a disability; a huge consumer audience:
There are 13.9 million people currently living with a disability in the UK, which means there are currently more clothes designed for dogs than there are for people with disabilities. Neglecting this group means alienating a huge number of people with a vast amount of spending power that could be engaging with your service or product.
Accessibility isn’t just about disability, we are all excluded from certain things at certain times
Accessibility doesn't just look at disability, it's important to consider other communities as well, those who have, for whatever reason, less access. Universal access is a better way of framing it, it's not hard to look around and see how we're all excluded from certain things at certain times, it should be a fundamental human right to have the same level of accessibility to technology as everybody else.
Any new product, feature or service should comply with the highest standards of accessibility
We should all be working to make accessibility a top priority, it should be the default, we must work it into the culture so that we are always thinking of accessibility, from the start, in everything that we do. Any product, service or feature built should comply with the highest standards of accessibility.
Putting yourself in your customer’s shoes is the most important part of the accessibility jigsaw
When we begin our research we must ensure that we have people with all kinds of ability and accessibility levels in the room. Getting to know the people you are selling to, understanding the particular barriers they are facing, walking in their shoes and taking them on the creative journey with you is an important piece of the whole accessibility jigsaw. It’s important to provide a platform, or mechanism for users to share their specific requirements and any issues they experience with the service
Improving a service for those who are less able improves the product for all (think the electric toothbrush)
When you start thinking about accessibility and improving the service or product for those who are less able you end up making the product better for everybody. By considering people with disability you can create a more frictionless and seamless experience and in turn a far superior product.
Having accessible products should be a point of pride!
Embedding accessibility into innovation is fundamental the success of the brand. It goes beyond CSR, to be able to say ‘we serve everyone and our technology is democratised in a way that everyone can benefit’ should be a point of pride for businesses.
Don’t disappear because you failed to move with the tide
Brands that can’t say that they build products for everybody will start disappearing, we will start to find that consumers reject a brand solely on the basis that other people can't access it.
A culture of accessibility starts by inviting insight internally
Brands should embrace a culture of accessibility internally. Ensuring that you have a diverse workforce and allowing them to share their different points of view is essential. We are all touched by cultural exclusions, mental health issues, physical health issues, many of us care for someone less able – these individual experiences allow us to further our insight – we must invite people to contribute.
Data accessibility = innovation in tech accessibility
Cross industry collaboration and open-sourcing can drive innovation and further accessibility. By making as much data available to the masses as possible innovation can begin to happen in the home, individuals will be able to build their own apps and adjust their own gadgets.
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