Nielsen needs to think again

Jakob Nielsen thinks that accessibility has failed.

I give this some thought as I make my lunch with ingredients I purchased from an online grocery store. I keep thinking about it as I return to my desk and respond to a few emails using my online mailbox. I check my online calendar for upcoming meetings (there are two, both to be held using one ubiquitous VOIP platform or another), and I keep thinking about it.

I jot down some of my thoughts in a text editor, using my laptop with an accessible OS and an integrated screen reader, then check the time on my accessible watch (that has a different integrated screen reader).

I think about some of the things I've done in recent days. I think about the pair of jeans I bought from an online retailer, the statements I reviewed for multiple online bank accounts, the invoices I sent to customers from a cloud-based accounting application, the contract I reviewed and signed using an online signature platform, the ideas I found whilst browsing for ways to celebrate my birthday, the code I maintained using an online version control platform, the posts I made on social media, the TV (with Audio Description) I watched from different online broadcasters, the articles I read from numerous online news outlets, the recipe I found for dinner the other night, the online calculator I used to work out the carbs in the recipe so I could take the correct dose of insulin, the app I used to check my glucose levels before I ate, and...

I stop thinking about it.

I don't know if Nielsen has a disability or not and I won't presume to speak about his experience in any case. I do have a disability and since Nielsen didn't afford disabled people the same courtesy, this is my experience.

Of course there were some things I found difficult, and a few that I couldn't do at all without sighted assistance.

But this is my life, my experience, and much of it happens online.

Nielsen thinks accessibility has failed.

Nielsen thinks that generative AI will make my experience better. Nielsen apparently doesn't realise that generative AI barely understands accessibility, never mind how to make accessible experiences for humans.

I think Nielsen needs to think again.

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