Accessible technology is a growing trend among businesses that are helping to change the lives of disabled people for the better. Whether adapting their premises with an evolved understanding of individual access requirements, to the adoption of inclusive policies, to greater diversity levels among the workforce, perhaps the most influential development arrives from the tech world. As both the quality and availability of hardware continues to develop at a rapid rate, the revolutionary availability of technology like adaptive keyboards, prosthetic limbs, and the Amazon Alexa has resulted in what was once a privilege among the wealthiest becoming readily available to the average disabled consumer.
One of the recently reported devices to receive widespread attention in the media for changing the lives of disabled people in this way is the Give Vision headset, a piece of tech that is helping its users with far-sightedness. Serving a similar function as a cochlear implant but for visual acuity instead of hearing, the device made the news recently for allowing a long-time Crystal Palace fan with deteriorated vision to watch football games from a distance by stimulating some of the photoreceptor cells in his eye’s retina (the device requires some use of vision to work, again, like a cochlear implant for hearing). The fan in question, Neale Ormston, said that without it, he would otherwise have to stay home and just listen to games on the radio.
Serving an example of how increasing accessibility can only yield positive notoriety and increased engagement, Crystal Palace’s marketing head Sharon Lacey explained to Sky News that clubs are “keen to make sports more accessible” for fans through the introduction of the headset, which they hope provides a similar experience to someone watching on television at home, but at the stadium with a ‘match day’ experience.
As a team of access consultants with a firm belief in the financial benefits that inclusion and accessibility can provide (beyond being overall the right thing to do), this story is reflective of the innovations that improved social attitudes and our evolving technology sector can achieve when in sync. Not only is the move by Crystal Palace creating loyalty among its fans, but it’s bringing the largest social minority group to the stadium, and engaging them in a way that previous generations could only dream of, due to both social discrimination and the lack of investment in accessibility at the time. Without a doubt, this venture will do a lot for Crystal Palace, not only in boosting their reputation and social standing, but also their bottom line in terms of capital.
And nobody should fault them for it. As of 2024, the NHS reports that approximately two million people in the UK are affected by sight loss, which equates to one in 34 individuals overall. Of this number, around 340,000 are officially registered as blind or partially sighted. Creating technologies that improve the quality of life for a population of this size, many of which are likely to be football fans, makes sense.
It is why when delivering accessibility audits for clients where appropriate, we encourage the use of innovative accessible technologies. While some of them can be expensive in the short term, such as VR headsets – many of the technological solutions to accessibility issues within built environments can be easily rectified. For instance, for our clients in the heritage sector – we recommend the use of audio-described tours for people with hearing impairments, Large Print and Braille information leaflets, 3D printed models, and gallery scopes for those with visual impairments. When carrying out audits for offices or education environments, we might recommend the ability for visitors to control lighting levels, the implementation of quiet or sensory rooms, or sensory-operated WC equipment such as taps and hand dryers.
Practically all of these individual recommendations and technologies benefit not just disabled people strictly, but offer something beneficial for everybody. Aside from the fact that many of us are likely to become disabled as we grow older, some people simply have hearing which is less sensitive, or have a harder time reading small text, or have a difficult time in crowded environments. With this knowledge in mind, Crystal Palace is beginning to reap the benefits that inclusion can only bring and is no doubt experiencing increased satisfaction amongst their specific audience, beyond the media coverage.
