MG18 - Inclusive & Accessible Digital World

Text messages, over 23B sent every day today [source: techjury.net], were originally designed for the deaf. Curb ramps that we use for strollers, carts, or suitcases, were legislated by through ADA [Americans with Disability Act of 1990] for the people with mobility challenge, access public buildings. Do we, the 7B+ people without disabilities, think about equitable access. Shouldn’t we??

I think so. It’s time we boost our efforts to foster an inclusive and accessible digital world. I also think it would be justified to rephrase Sustainability Development Goal [SDG11] or Global Goal 11 of UN charter, to state “Make digitization, automation and AI inclusive, safe, resilient, and accessible”.??Let me take liberty to create a new Goal for UN. I will call this Manav’s Goal 18 or MG18 – Inclusive & Accessible Digital World. [Trademarking it today].

MG18 has 10[ten] targets: 7[seven] outcome targets and 3[three] implementation targets, tracked through 1[one] indicator for a measurable impact to our digital world.?

The seven outcome targets include - accessible design, affordable and safe packaged digital accessibility solutions, affordable and inclusive digital scanning technology, equitable legislation, contractual protection for inclusivity, protecting accessibility for customers and employees, and compliance for DEI (diversity-Equity-Inclusion) protection for digital assets, products, and services.

The three implementation targets include – prioritizing WCAG 2.1 Level 2 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1) mapping and alignment with digital business goals, strong software development planning for legislative and enforcement requirements of digital accessibility, interdisciplinary engagement between DEI, technology and business team(s) to support, advocacy, and talent for digital accessibility and inclusion.

15% of world population-over 1B of world population- has some degree of disability. [source WHO]. In US, 35% of population-with-disability is in working range (16-65), have purchasing power of $490B and discretionary income of over $21B. [source: American Institutes for Research]. This is a serious untapped and underserved consumer set, hungry to challenge the questioning for ROI on accessibility and building a bigger outreach plus brand loyalty.??

Target MG18.1: accessible design

The full title of Target MG18.1 is “Ensure access to inclusive digital products for a full 360 usability experience”.

Target MG18.2: affordable and safe packaged digital accessibility solutions

The full title of Target MG18.2 is “Enforce digital accessibility vendors to provide packaged solutions and combinations, with WCAG Level 2 prioritized approach to the digital accessibility process, compliance and customer support”.

Target MG18.3: affordable and inclusive digital scanning technology

The full title of Target MG18.3 is “Enhance the performance of accessibility scanning tools, reducing the accessibility issues”.

Target MG18.4: global equitable legislation

The full title of Target MG18.4 is “Establish equitable legislative policies globally, boosting innovation in digital accessibility solutions”.

Target MG18.5: contractual protection for inclusivity

The full title of Target MG18.5 is “creating the demand and opportunity to adopt accessibility through contractual requirements”.

Target MG18.6: protecting accessibility for customers and employees

The full title of Target MG18.6 is “Ensure employers engage with communities to expand, and shape actions that fuel the cause of digital accessibility for both customers and employees”.

Target MG18.7: compliance for DEI (diversity-Equity-Inclusion) protection for digital assets, products, and services

The full title of Target MG18.7 is “Elevating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) compliance to include the cause of digital accessibility for digital assets, products, and services”.

Target MG18.a: prioritizing WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) mapping and alignment with digital business goals

The full text of Target MG18.a is formulated as “Prioritize capabilities based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) and alignment with business goals to assess and compare against specific business requirements”.

Target MG18.b: strong software development planning for legislative and enforcement requirements of digital accessibility

The full text of Target MG18.b is formulated as “Legislative and compliance enforcement should strengthen requirements for digital accessibility to include - mandatory compliance to WCAG 2.1 Level AA, reject overlays as a solution, standardize compliance with agile practices, equitable access to digital assets, products, and services, elevating DEI to include digital accessibility and severe consequences to violations”.

Target MG18.c: interdisciplinary engagement between DEI, technology and business team(s) to support, advocacy, and talent for digital accessibility and inclusion

The full text of Target MG18.c is formulated as” Engage and invest in DEI initiatives to cross over the chasm of customer experience into digital workplace employee experience to boost awareness and adoption that accelerates reskilling the digital talent”.

Indicator MG18.1.1

These 10 targets have one indicator: Indicator MG18.1.1 is the “Number of legal lawsuits year-on-year for digital products assets, products and services”.

As reported by Seyfarth Shaw LLP, plaintiffs in 2022 filed 3,255 website accessibility lawsuits in federal court alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) — a 12% increase from the previous record of 2,895 lawsuits set in 2021.?

- Manav Ahuja

MG18 – Inclusive & Accessible Digital World