The Need for Accessibility Excellence

The world of technology is in a constant state of flux, with new and exciting innovations emerging every day. However, for people with disabilities, the excitement of a new product or feature is often tempered by a crucial question: “Will it be accessible?” This question is at the heart of a growing movement, a call for what we might term “Accessibility Excellence.” While advocates like Jonathan Mosen have been championing this cause for years through podcasts and advocacy, a recent example of a major company’s failure in this area has brought the issue into sharp focus once again.

Google’s release of its AI Edge Gallery app, a tool that allows users to leverage AI models for tasks like image description and audio transcription directly on their devices, was met with excitement. However, for blind and visually impaired users, that excitement quickly turned to disappointment. The app, as detailed in a GitHub bug report, was released with no accessibility features, rendering it completely unusable for those who rely on screen readers. This incident is not an isolated one; rather, it’s a symptom of a larger, more systemic issue of inaccessibility within a company that, ironically, often promotes its commitment to accessibility.

This isn’t about pointing fingers or assigning blame. It’s about recognizing a pattern of inconsistency and demanding a higher standard. How can we expect small companies or indie developers to make their apps accessible, when we can’t get Google to listen to us and take us seriously? It’s a valid question, and one that deserves a thoughtful answer. This blog post will explore some of the specific areas where Google’s accessibility efforts are falling short, not as a list of grievances, but as a starting point for a conversation about what Accessibility Excellence should look like.

Gemini: A Tale of Two Platforms

Gemini is Google’s AI assistant. The app has several methods to input information into it. We can talk to the assistant, type to it, send it pictures, show it our screen, or show it our camera. We can even ask it about Google Drive files.

The two main ways to ask it anything, though, is to talk to it, or send it a text message. For blind people who enjoy talking or who can speak well, talking to the assistant is an obviously good method. It’s natural, and easy. But what about blind people who stutter, or who like typing instead of speaking to the assistant?

On iOS, when you type to Gemini and press the Send button, you wait a moment, and then the app tells VoiceOver to announce “Gemini replied.” This is nice. This means you can touch the screen and hear what Gemini said. It would be even better if the app sent Gemini’s reply to VoiceOver instead, but in Google land, we can’t have everything.

On Android, however, it’s sadly different. On Google’s own operating system, on Google’s own screen reader, on Google’s own app, when you type to Gemini and press Send, TalkBack is given nothing. There is no reply. If you’re in the app, and lucky or crafty enough, you can set focus to the Stop Generating Response button, and wait until it flips back to Microphone button, but we shouldn’t have to do that. We don’t even have to do that on iOS? So, why should blind people be using Android again, Google?

TalkBack: Falling Behind

TalkBack has been given a lot of love these days. TalkBack can now describe images using gemini, connect to Braille display, show announcement history in Braille, and so on. But it doesn’t have a pronunciation dictionary, for telling the screen reader how to pronounce words it doesn’t say right. It doesn’t have the ability to turn on and off sounds it uses, or even a sound for when accessibility actions are available.

Another issue is the delay when swiping through items. When you swipe, TalkBack has to make sure you’re not going to also swipe down, or up, or in the opposite direction to perform another command, then it has to move focus and speak the new thing. When it has to scroll, though, that’s where it really gets sluggish. It scrolls up, slowly, then sets focus to the next thing and speaks it.

For people that use explore by touch and manual scrolling, that’s fine. But for people who swipe, or use an external keyboard, or a Braille display, it can make things less responsive than it needs to be. There are rumors that Google will be bringing Android to PC

If that is true, Google has a long, long way to go to make TalkBack a desktop-class screen reader, and everyone who has been trying to use Android as their main computer was right to do so and stretch TalkBack to its limits.

Google Play Books, a pain to read

When sighted people read an eBook, they use their eyes. Usually, when blind people read an eBook, they use their screen readers. On Google Play books, blind people are expected to have the book read to them by its own text-to-speech service. This is nice for people who don’t need to easily change the speech rate, or learn how words are pronounced, or who don’t really want the particular TalkBack version of Google TTS.

But what about Braille users? What about people who want to read with their screen reader. Google Play Books has actually come a long way. In the past several months, one could not swipe to get to the book contents. That means that no Braille user could read a book in Google’s own book reading app, using Google’s own screen reader, on Google’s own operating system. In the past few weeks, Play Books and TalkBack were updated, and now we can at least read a page of our book. But when we get to the end of the page, we have to turn it manually. Scrolling forward does not move focus to the next page as it does in nearly all other accessible reading platforms, like Kindle for Android. Apple’s Books app works with Braille just fine. So, why should Braille users use Android, again?

Gmail on Android: Navigating Conversations

Email is one of the most important basic features of a phone. We get confirmations, communications, password change links, and so on through email. We can also participate in long threads of emails between lots of people. This happens at work a lot.

So, reading threaded emails is important. It’s so important that on iOS’ Mail app, VoiceOver has a Messages rotor where you can jump between each message in a conversation. With TalkBack on Android and the Gmail app that comes with Pixels and other phones, you have to read each message before you can go to the next one. This is tedious and time-consuming, and means I never use the Gmail app. There are alternatives like Aquamail, where you can set the preview lines in the inbox to a good 5 lines and hope that’s enough to where TalkBack reads the whole email, but we shouldn’t have to do this. If the Mail app built into iOS is good enough, the Gmail app should be too. Why should professionals use Android, again?

Gaming on Android: An Unnecessary Hurdle

Gaming has gone from consoles, to computers, to phones, and mobile gaming is its own genre now. Accessible games have reached the phone as well. We have card games, dice games, a few adventures, and emulators.

Most of these games require the use of the touch screen and their own built-in Unity screen reader, like Dawncaster. However, TalkBack is controlling the screen, as its an accessibility service. So, what is the developer to do? Tell their users to turn off TalkBack, because that’s all they can do.

On iOS, in the old days, games had to do the same. Triple click the home button to turn off VoiceOver. The only app that could get around this was GarageBand for iOS. In that app, blind people could play the keyboard even with VoiceOver on. Then, Apple allowed, and updated ways for, developers to . This meant that any music making app with playable instruments, games, and apps for signing your name, now work even without turning VoiceOver off. The Mortal Kombat app, although now fully accessible, showed an app could even use VoiceOver for selecting a character, in then bypass VoiceOver for battles, all in the same app.

TalkBack cannot do this. If an app needs direct touch access, you have to turn TalkBack off. There’s just no getting around it other than having a game controller and hoping the game supports it. This is fine for emulators, as those support game controllers. If the emulator has an accessible element that TalkBack can grab onto, you can even have the game screen described. That’s why I use the Classic Boy Pro Emulator. So, besides emulators, why should gamers use Android?

The Forgotten Promise of Accessibility Tags

Finding apps we can use is important as blind people. In 2022, Google Play gained Accessibility tags. This year, Apple got Accessibility nutrition labels on their App Store. Google Play tags are seemingly managed by the Google Play team. These tags have evidently not been updated in a while, since A Blind Legend appears to be no longer on the Play Store, and the Visual Assistance tag hasn’t gotten new apps like PiccyBot and Seeing AI.

Meanwhile, Apple’s Accessibility labels are self-reported by developers and if they’re wrong, a blind person has to notify Apple and hope something is done. But at least it’ll be more up to date that Google’s tags. Both platforms don’t do a great job here, and that just emphasizes the need for sites like Accessible Android.

Conclusion

The issues outlined above are not just minor inconveniences. They are significant barriers that prevent people with disabilities from fully participating in the digital world. While it’s true that Google has made some positive strides in accessibility, as showcased in articles about Pixel’s accessibility features, the “duct tape” approach to accessibility is simply not enough. We shouldn’t have to celebrate the addition of basic features that should have been there from the start.

The path to Accessibility Excellence is not an easy one, but it’s a necessary one. It requires a commitment from tech companies to prioritize accessibility from the very beginning of the design process, not as an afterthought. It requires a willingness to listen to the disabled community and to take their concerns seriously. And it requires us, as a community, to hold these companies accountable and to demand better. Because when it comes to accessibility, “good enough” is simply not good enough. The time for sluggish, aimless ambling is over. It’s time for a real competition, a race to the top, where the ultimate winner is not a single company, but every user who benefits from a truly accessible digital world.