For years I've heard familiar talking points. Accessibility is "just the right thing to do." "The disability market represents hundreds of billions of dollars of disposable income that companies miss out on." Deque even breaks this down by talking point. On the higher end, the W3C estimates that the global market of people with disabilities is worth over $6 trillion.
While I encourage everyone to read the articles referenced above and use any available resources to push accessibility, we're missing an elevator pitch.
Implementing accessibility requires significant policy modification, executive-level buy-in, and talent in multiple disciplines (among many other things). Just getting accessibility on the agenda in the first place is often an accomplishment.
At the end of the day, executives want to know − where is the money, and how can we readily demonstrate the value of accessibility to our stakeholders?
The case for innovation
In 1964 MIT professor Joseph Weizenbaum developed the first natural language processing program, Eliza, to demonstrate how superficial communication between human beings and machines can be. To his surprise, many who tested the software showed genuine emotion in their communications, which ultimately led researchers to believe that man-to-machine interaction could even positively influence persons who were experiencing psychological issues.
Eliza was featured in numerous video games and television programs, but its true legacy is its influence on the future of voice assistants.
Apple pre-SIRI
In 2007, Apple's new iPhone changed the world. Shoppers lined up at brick-and-mortar locations year-round to get the latest iteration of Apple's magical phone that merged portability with practicality.
From January 9, 2007, to February 1, 2011, Apple's market value skyrocketed from approximately $41 billion to nearly $177 billion, increasing fourfold. The company was unstoppable thanks to the 3G-powered iPod (excuse me, iPhone). There were other smartphones in the market, but most were viewed as novelties − until 2011.
On February 13th, 2011, Samsung announced the Galaxy S2, a powerhouse of the time boasting an AMOLED Plus display, dual-core 1GHz processor, running Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It was a beast.
I enjoyed the technology so much that I spent my weekends teaching classes on both operating systems (weekend work that paid better than my full-time job in accessibility at the time). Customers would debate over which OS and piece of hardware they preferred. You were either Android or Apple − Hatfield or McCoy.
By June 2011, Samsung announced that it had already sold over three million Samsung S2 devices. From February to June 2011, Apple's stock lost 15% of its value.
Many in the industry believed that Apple had finally met its match − and perhaps they would have, had it not been for innovation.
Hi, I'm 100 billion dollars
In October 2011, Apple announced that the iPhone 4s would be shipped with SIRI's natural language user interface. Very little was known about SIRI at the time. Initially released in 2010 and developed by SRI International, the idea of a virtual assistant was foreign to some customers − a novelty to most.
But the numbers spoke for themselves.
Apple stock from early 2011 to mid-2012
From October 2011 to March 2012 (the holiday shopping season), Apple's market value increased by approximately 115 billion dollars (nearly twice the value from its low in October). In 6 months.
In its first weekend alone, over 4 million iPhone 4s devices were sold − a million more than the Galaxy S2 in six months of sales.
The rest, of course, is history. Smartphones aren't relevant today without a virtual assistant. Companies that dream of entering the smartphone market now wouldn't get a nickel from investors if they pitched a device that didn't provide one (or many accessibility features for that matter).
If you don't believe me, try the old "Hi, Blackberry, what are virtual assistants?"
The value of innovation
SIRI was initially developed to be a "do engine" that provided a communication medium for people to talk to the internet. The founders believed that SIRI would pave the way for the future of communication and possibly the third generation of the internet.
While it does not solve the kind of problems Elon Musk is attempting with Nueralink, one of those being data transfer rates (the rate at which we communicate the things we think to the internet), SIRI has changed the lives of millions of people with disabilities.
Voice assistants have removed barriers to independent living that almost no one could have imagined just 20 years ago. From ordering food, controlling medical equipment, managing medication, providing alternative forms of communication, and much more, virtual assistants are innovations born out of a desire for relevance, revenue, and convenience, yet fundamentally changed how so many live their lives today.
This is the case for accessibility. It is more than compliance; it is innovation.
In a 2020 study, IDC Asia Pacific found that "fostering an environment where continuous innovation can thrive is the key to long-term resilience and success."
Turns out, it's the key to a profit too.
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