How can we improve accessibility for all in enterprise IT?

Technology is more advanced than at any other point in history but it’s still not accessible to all, despite equality, diversity and inclusiveness being key issues in the workplace. Can we learn from past mistakes and improve accessibility? How can we open up what may be a closed-mind organization?

Accessibility matters. Especially when you read that disabled people are disproportionately unemployed in the UK. According to a 2024 UK Parliament research briefing, there were 5.53 million working-age disabled people in employment in Oct-Dec 2023. The employment rate for disabled people was 54.2% compared to 82.0% for non-disabled. Quite a difference. 

In March 2024, an article in IT Pro titled ‘Accessibility in tech still falls short – experts call for better understanding’ said “Efforts to improve accessibility in tech can mean adding functions to your back-end systems, or hiring more thoughtfully” and that “Accessibility in tech continues to be an area in dramatic need of improvement. Tens of thousands of disabled people are missing from tech jobs due to a lack of support and understanding.” An earlier article reported that almost 90,000 disabled people were “missing” from the tech industry due to a lack of support according to BCS, the chartered institute for IT. Why is this?

One problem, I think, is the persistent myth that it’s more expensive to accommodate workers with disabilities. In reality, most require no special accommodations, and the cost for those who do is far lower than many employers believe. And given the age we live in, technology can help. 

And yet… our industry still uses legacy interfaces, including purely text-based ‘Green Screen’ emulators, and legacy inputs such as the EBCDIC encoding format. Why don’t we harness modern tech to make our industry more accessible and more appealing? What examples can inspire us? Without risking incompatibility with the mainframe, what assistive technologies should we be willing to consider?

Learning from the past

Can we learn from the Siri digital assistant or the Xbox Kinect motion-sensing tech, both of which failed at launch? Apple’s Siri was criticised for a lack of flexibility, poor voice recognition, undeveloped service integrations, and general lack of innovation. At the same time, a market never really emerged for Kinect. Was it too early, or was no-one really interested? Worse still, users with darker skin tones found the camera struggled to recognise their movements in dimly lit areas. 

These are examples of tech giants who managed to fumble their investments, with these failings often attributed with a lack of diversity in Quality Assurance (QA) teams. Perhaps issues like Siri’s inability to understand Australian or Scottish accents, and Kinect’s struggle to identify darker skin tones, would have been spotted during testing if the team had been more diverse? If the pool of ‘testers’ was more diverse, they’d be more likely to spot such issues, and provide patches before release, leading to a fully-accessible product rather than idealistic concept.

1. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7540/
2. https://www.itpro.com/business/careers-and-training/accessibility-in-tech-fails-skilled-workers-experts-call-for- better-understanding
3. https://www.itpro.com/business/careers-and-training/thousands-of-disabled-people-missing-from-tech-workforce
4. https://vcurrtc.org/resources/viewContent.cfm/589
5. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/kinect-has-problems-recognizing-dark-skinned-users/1100-6283514/

Assistive technology

There are certainly devices and technologies already available that could help to open up our own industry. The USA’s Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATiA) defines assistive technology (AT) as products, equipment and systems that enhance learning, working, and daily living for people with disabilities. The concept of ‘accessible design’ is straightforward: to ensure both direct access (i.e. unassisted) and indirect access, meaning compatibility with a person’s own assistive technology. If you look around, solutions are out there: straightforward but sometimes forgotten tools such as automated door openers and wheelchair lifts, to integrated voice activated devices rather than standard input devices.

Screen readers enable blind and visually impaired people, and people with cognitive impairments, to read the contents of a screen aloud, or translate to braille for a braille display. Accessible softphones enable individuals who are vision or mobility impaired to make and receive calls on a computer. Real-time transcribers and auto capturing software can be used to capture and share conversations, meetings and discussions, making it easier for people to engage and play a full role in the workplace. Speech synthesis provides personalised digital voices, speech-enabling a wide range of installations, systems and devices. These approaches, and many more, break down barriers to equality and inclusion. 

Opening our minds?

There is another extremely important piece of the jigsaw; a related HR message for our industry, in terms of its hiring policies and onboarding practices. You can’t open up a workplace properly unless you have an open mind as well as the right systems, processes and products in place to help all your people be as productive and engaged as they need to be. The IT Pro article referenced earlier mentions the importance of ‘hiring more thoughtfully’ – which is more about the mindset we may have and need to change, putting aside preconceptions, understanding the art of the possible, and making sure that our own attitudes (and dare I say it, prejudices) are not another unnecessary barrier to hiring great people in the roles we need. 

I’m pleased that my employer, Vertali, is committed to promoting diversity and inclusion in the industry, not least through its involvement in groups and initiatives like GSE, SHARE and, more recently, the Mainframe Skills Council. We are all accountable for improving this side of the industry and in helping to make a difference - asking difficult questions, and checking we’re making progress in the right ways.

Niall Ashley

Niall Ashley is a security Consultant, IBM Champion and TechChannel 2023 Mainframe Rising Star.

Niall has rapidly established himself in the mainframe space. A frequent speaker at conferences, active member of GSE UK and STEM Ambassador, Niall is also a mental health advocate and a qualified Suicide First-Aid trainer. Connect with Niall on LinkedIn or MS Account for more insights and updates.