Internet accessibility has to be adapted to address barriers for those who are visually impaired, and autistic and dyslexic persons

By NUR HAZIQAH A MALEK / pic credit: Digi

THE improved accessibility of digital touchpoints can provide persons with disabilities (OKUs) the independence and ability to perform in this digital era.

As the Internet is becoming more prevalent, the accessibility has to be adapted to address barriers for those who are visually impaired such as colour blindness, low vision and blindness, as well as autistic and dyslexic persons.

Make it Right Movement (MIRM) CEO Brian Lariche said inclusive digital touchpoints can give OKUs the tools to perform simple every- day tasks that the rest of the world takes for granted.

“Moving forward, we need to continue to exercise empathy and patience in incorporating OKUs into the workforce and create more job

opportunities which are friendly towards them, thus allowing them to play their role in contributing to growth in the economic sector.

“I can say that MIRM OKU community advocate Amanda Kong herself is pretty tech-savvy and with her using screen reader as a tool, I’ve become used to her doing tasks using her phone as she is visually challenged,” he said at DiGi.com Bhd’s inclusive digital touchpoints launch yesterday.

Dialogue in the Dark founder Stevens Chan said accessibility is a societal responsibility.

“It creates a platform for them to receive equal access and opportunities like the rest of Malaysians do.

“As a community, we should adopt a more empathetic approach because it is through understanding that we can truly make a difference,” he said.

In conjunction with the International Day of Persons with Disability 2020, mobile service provider Digi has launched inclusive design and features to serve the visually impaired on its website and the MyDigi app.

Digi sustainability head Philip Ling said the world runs on the Internet, which has become more predominant during the pandemic.

“This season has similarly highlighted the disparity between those who have and are less likely to have easy access to online experiences.

“We strongly believe that inclusion is a basic human right and are therefore taking action to lower the barriers of access to our digital touchpoints,” he said.

Digi sustainability associate Dr Sharifah Sarah said the project walkthrough addresses all types of visual impairments.

“First we started by receiving feedback from stakeholders, finding that the screen reader would not allow them to use the edit box, or that buttons are labelled incorrectly and making it difficult to make transactions,” she said.

She said the telecommunications company has made it a mission to address various types of impairments, including blindness, colour blindness, dyslexia and low vision.

During the project walkthrough, screens were also shown to simulate how each websites can be perceived by the visually challenged, showing the differences between their perception and challenges faced by them and how a normal person would navigate the website.

Digi also released a book titled “Inclusive Digital Touchpoints Playbook” in collaboration with the Dialogue in the Dark and MIRM.

The playbook shares insights from Digi’s research and direct feedback from the OKU community on considerations for building accessible digital touchpoints.

Some of these practical inputs include how to assess current web- site friendliness for disabled users, tools to validate if implemented feature upgrades are effective and examples of international best practices for accessible websites and apps.