The digital world has grown according to the wishes of people and the possibilities of developing technology. It has somehow managed to become active in all aspects of our lives. Previously, we were surprised if a field was the subject of digital studies, but now we are surprised when technology does not dominate somewhere.
So how did this process happen? How did technology get into all areas of our lives?
Banking, food, health, etc. sectors competed with each other to bring services to people, and suddenly they found themselves in the digital world. This time, the sectors were looking for an answer to the question of how we can use technology better. Again, the process of competing with each other in sectors has come up. With today's technology, this competition is still going on.
How is society affected by this situation? How does a blind and visually impaired person adapt to this change in society?
Society is turning to wherever it gets the service well. This creates a competitive market. People are looking for comfort for themselves in systems that are developing every day. The blind and visually impaired people in society also want to take advantage of the best systems in this developing technology. However, since the industry is striving to develop rapidly and get ahead of its competitors, it does not do much about accessibility studies. As a result, blind and visually impaired people cannot use the developments of the digital world like other members of society. Of course, the blind and visually impaired people are happy with this development process, but they also want to get rid of thinking about how the developed technological infrastructure will lead to an accessibility problem. Since improving means solving problems.
We know that while the digital world was active at points such as finance before, as we mentioned above, it also started to play a lot of role in the food sector.
If we give an example,
Ordering applications, which are located at every point of our lives, have made everyone's life a lot easier. The blind and visually impaired also wanted to take advantage of this comfort. However, the accessibility problems that they experienced at a time when they never expected it, deprived them of these rights or forced them to use them. In this direction, the inability of the blind and visually impaired to benefit from the basic needs of society such as eating/drinking like everyone else due to the accessibility problem reveals that the digital world is not clearly inclusive.
In what other areas do the blind and visually impaired have access to the digital world?
Again, as we mentioned above, wherever technology is active, digital life is experiencing extensive changes there. A blind and visually impaired person who enters the mobile application for a normal banking transaction suddenly encounters an accessibility problem, and a normal transaction now turns into a problematic transaction. An individual who is stuck in an accessibility barrier is trying to implement his/her own solutions at that stage, but often the result is negative. Even if he/she has found a solution, these solutions become instant and temporary facilitators. Although it is said individually that “make this place accessible, this application is not available”, the visually impaired cannot make their voice heard to the relevant audience in this mess and are again left in the background in the digital world.
Once again, we understand that brands should be accessible to users. At this point, the arbiter platforms should play an active role.
It is at this point that BlindLook comes into play and works to remind them again of the accessibility work that those who have developed the digital world have forgotten. It allows blind and visually impaired people to use technology more efficiently. BlindLook is working to incorporate the audio-oriented world into the digital world that the industry has created. One day, when our audio-oriented world moves forward integrated with the digital world, blind and visually impaired people will be able to follow the developing technology like every other person.
Author: Kahir Ahıska / BlindLook Team
