In spite of all of the developments we’ve seen in tech, the trade as an entire has persistently uncared for folks with disabilities. There have been some enhancements, together with video name apps like FaceTime, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts and extra including higher assist for signal language interpreters and closed captioning. And, this yr, Instagram and TikTok lastly added stickers that allow automated captioning for speech in movies, too. But main organizations continued to make choices that exclude folks with disabilities. The organizer of E3 2021, for instance, failed its deaf and onerous of listening to viewers throughout its reside streamed present.
There are too many particular person transgressions and enhancements to exhaustively element right here. Due to their sheer dimension, although, tech’s largest firms wield the best affect over what the remainder of the trade does. By holding them accountable, we have now a greater probability of seeing widespread change in the best way tech thinks about inclusive design. Here’s how Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta (previously Facebook) and extra did to enhance the accessibility of their services in 2021.