Clubhouse and its clones have an accessibility problem
0Reported today on The Verge
For the full article visit: https://www.theverge.com/22519705/clubhouse-social-audio-accessibility
Reported today in The Verge.
Clubhouse and its clones have an accessibility problem
Clubhouse took off last year and spurred competitors to add their own voice chat rooms that can host hundreds if not thousands of people. But the hit app has had a serious problem from the beginning, consistently pointed out by accessibility advocates: it excludes disabled people, with the most obvious issue being that the audio-based app doesn't have built-in captions. This makes it unusable for deaf people and difficult to use for people who are hard of hearing or struggle with audio processing.
Companies will often mention that their products are still in development or beta testing when discussing accessibility options, but the ideal development process involves working with disabled people from the earliest design stages. Tech accessibility has improved in major ways over the years, but it's still frequently tacked on well after products are launched. The reality is that disabled people often have to use products and services that don't have even the bare minimum of features that suit their needs.
Clubhouse "excludes millions of people around the world who are Deaf and hard of hearing," says Adam Pottle, a Deaf author. "We cannot access these conversations, and it's especially dispiriting because many of the conversations taking place on this platform are fascinating and cultural and timely, yet we can't take part in them." Pottle notes that a January Clubhouse blog was titled "Welcoming More Voices," but made no mention of transcription, sign language interpretation, or captioning.
Now, with a number of competitors working on social audio functions that are similar to Clubhouse, it's a prime chance to step back and look at how each one approaches accessibility. Some companies, lik