"We are sorry for your experience;our team is looking at improving"

Those of my readers/ followers who have been keeping watch on my space on LinkedIN and elsewhere; are well aware that I am a person with a print disability; in plain English I am blind.

If you are shocked with the above statement; and wondering how I managed to post this blog; read on and I will quickly segue into the main subject of this article/ post.

I use an assistive technology called a screen reader to help me use my digital devices; by which I mean the computer and my smart phone. These assistive technologies come built in with your OS; in my case Windows 10 and IOS; read about it on the internet (time to quickly segue )

"We are sorry for your experience;our team is looking at improving" is the standard response by most of the digital companies when I reach out to them and their support team via various social channels like Twitter, Facebook and their support option on their app. which itself is a challenge to use.

My concern; is not addressed. My challenge not understood and the application and service still remains inaccessible. It's not just the frustration that one has to go through in getting your message across to the right team; but the time and mental fatigue one has to deal with managing. It's like having too many things on the burner to cook and you have to keep check on each one ensuring that you don't end up burning your creation.

I am sure this frustration has a end; perhaps when I am 60 and have given up all hope in expecting equal access and accessibility on these services and applications. Perhaps a stringent law will soon be in place which will penalize those companies that do not respect or follow guidelines on accessibility, digitally discriminating against users of assistive technology.

Often I ask myself these questions:

1. Is it lack of awareness?

2. Is it just pure ignorance?

3. Is it that they dont wish to be accessible?

4. Do they think that there is no significant impact on their ROI if they were accessible?

5. Is accessibility going to always be an after thought for these companies and developers?