Google Case Study

Accessibility sparks innovation at Google

The accessibility problems of today are the mainstream breakthroughs of tomorrow.

~ Eve Andersson, lead engineer at Google
A 2016 article in FastCompany online magazine highlights the ways in which Google’s investment in accessibility provides the company with an innovation edge in a broad array of products and services. Eve Andersson, the lead engineer featured in the article, says “I’m passionate about accessibility, not just because I believe in a level playing field, but because (it) makes life more livable for everyone.” Among the innovations cited as examples are these:

contrast minimums, required for people with low vision, improves legibility for anyone in bright light glare situations

auto-complete, initially provided for the disabled, is now widely used by all

voice control, implemented for blind users, has been more widely adopted as a great convenience by millions of others

artificial intelligence advances are based on research originally done to provide visual context to blind users

machine learning, initially developed for auto-captioning for the deaf, is now being turned to broader applications