Why Accessible Product Design Makes Business Sense

According to the World Health Organization, 1.3 billion people globally experience significant disability. The CDC reports that up to 27% of adults in the U.S. have some type of disability, among them cognitive and emotional as well as physical.

In the work environment, inaccessibility — including inaccessible technology — can limit opportunities for people with disabilities to excel in their positions or even to get hired in the first place. According to the CDC, in the U.S., 1 in 4 adults with disabilities doesn’t have a usual medical care provider and 1 in 5 hasn’t had a routine check-up in the last year. But WHO has calculated an almost $10 return for every U.S. dollar spent on implementing disability-inclusive prevention and care.

So, doesn’t it make business sense to ensure people’s employability?

The Technology Business Association at Anderson (AnderTech) is introducing the subject of universal design as a topic within Anderson’s Embracing Diversity series of events — which, at students’ requests, have recently included a cross-club panel on diversity and inclusion in outdoor exploration. I wanted to gather a panel of industry experts on accessible technology product design to create a space for discussing the importance of requiring accessibility when it comes to developing digital experiences.

My personal experience as a consumer didn’t include awareness of accessibility in product design because I encountered no impediments to my use. I first discovered the need for accessible product design when I was working at a large Australian bank on a team that was developing prototypes to integrate banking services and experiences with emerging customer-facing technologies. We’d look at what big mobile hardware providers like Apple and Samsung were releasing to the market and see how they could be leveraged to deliver banking in a new way. Banking is a necessity for people across different age demographics and abilities. My team would engage with internal advocacy groups to design and develop these new experiences.

Technology users might have permanent or temporary visual, motor, auditory or cognitive disabilities. Products that are designed and built with accessibility requirements in mind benefit a much larger group of users and maximize the usability of products, regardless of ability, context or situation. In other words, they leave no one out. Designing for accessibility doesn’t reduce usability for people with perfect vision or hearing or cognition.

The UC system imposes standards for usability and accessibility. UCLA and Anderson work to comply, with the support of the campus Disabilities and Computing Program at the Office of Advanced Research Computing. Anderson’s director of web design and development Joseph Maddela has led a team to scrub Anderson’s website for non-compliant screen contrast, keyboard navigability, voice control, language edits and alt text. This has involved both manual and automated scans to benchmark the site’s thousands of pages for mobile and desktop and to accommodate assisted devices. As Maddela points out, though, if we design and build our technology for universal use from the outset, we have no need for awkward overlays and workarounds — the kinds of apps that might retrofit existing technology for access but in the process require the user to openly declare a disability.

Across the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, disability inclusion is critical. Goal 8 promotes “full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for persons with disabilities.” Goal 11 addresses the need for resilient human settlements and “calls for providing universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible green and public spaces, particularly for persons with disabilities.”

Today, technology can drive our progress toward equal and equitable access in the workplace. AnderTech members may become future technology leaders. Our members believe that having some exposure to and awareness of universal design and to the experts leading the field would acquaint us with the breadth of users accessible product design may serve.

We have invited product and experience designers from major tech companies and startups to engage the Anderson community in a conversation about accessibility in the workplace — and all the obvious and not-so-obvious forms that takes. Oliver Luo from Broadcom’s Tanzu/Pivotal Labs, Tomás Moreno from VMware/Broadcom’s newly formed Marine Corps Software Factory, Kevin Grogg in EY’s assistive technologies, and cybersecurity leader Malia Mason (’23), who co-chairs the Tech For Good Committee at AnitaB.org, will introduce us to the most promising areas of innovation in accessible technology. We will ask them to describe what effective leadership requires — of individuals and organizations. We will hear their stories of advocacy for workplace accessibility and their advice for MBAs Launching careers in tech.

Our experts will participate via Zoom but the in-person event will enable real-time discussion with the campus audience. Join the conversation on Thursday, January 25!

The Embracing Diversity series is spearheaded by UCLA Anderson’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Accessibility in Product Design was co-organized with the Technology Business Association at Anderson. Lexie Leung (’24) is VP of equity, diversity and inclusion for AnderTech.