My Blind Spot has made through the first round of Zero Project 2018 – Useability Testing Ensuring Universal Digital Accessibility Project.

Here is briefly some of MBS’s submission for the project.

THE PROBLEM

Given the unprecedented rise of the digital workplace and the extraordinary influence that digitized information and communication has on almost every aspect of our daily lives, the attainment of financial as well as personal independence in the 21st Century is dependent upon the availability of digital access. While digital technology has brought light, and hope to many people, for those who are blind and print disabled, the lack of digital accessibility casts a deep shadow on an already darkened world.

In an age of seemingly boundless possibilities and endless cyberspace it has actually become more challenging for members of the blind community to search for and obtain competitive employment, then ever before. Nearly 70 percent of working age individuals who also happen to be blind have remained jobless and largely disconnected from the new digital mainstream. Isolated by bias, neglect or error and victimized by a few missing or misconfigured lines of code, their attainment of real equality and economic independence seems little more than a distant aspiration.

OUR HISTORY

MBS eliminates barriers to accessibility and usability, providing website and mobile app developers with end-user-based, accessibility and usability testing services tailored to ensuring WCAG 2.0 AA standards and best practices are not just met, but exceeded, across all digital platforms, portals and offerings. In doing so, we are concurrently creating professional-level employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. The efficiencies embodied in these activities include making testing and feedback available during the initial development stage, rather than evaluating and then remediating inaccessibility after-the-fact. As a result, individuals with disabilities are better able to independently manage personal finances, make travel arrangements, shop online, pursue educational goals, achieve and retain employment, and stay connected with family and friends. The nominated Usability Testing practice imparts transferrable skills while profoundly effecting how organizations and public agencies develop and ensure inclusive digital platforms for people of all abilities. Currently employing over 60 highly capable blind and print disabled individuals, MBS is poised to hire PWD worldwide, and will create thousands of additional employment opportunities for professionals with a disability both at home and abroad.

OUR INNOVATION

Usability Testing provides a hands-on approach to assessing, remediating and ensuring that digital platforms conform with, and exceed, international best practices and standards for inclusive digital design. Collaborating with professionals with disabilities during the development and design phases, allows IT professionals to achieve WCAG AA standards in the implementation and development of all digital platforms. We have embraced the “Gig” economy, the Uber model that enables people to work remotely, at times that complement their lifestyles and personal needs while facilitating rapid turn-around times for service recipients. Our model and platforms can be adapted to projects of any scale.

Harnessing the innate abilities of PWD, MBS, working in collaboration with UsableNet and our pool of professionals with disabilities, has developed a unique process incorporating manual oversight and usability testing into a highly successful testing platform, AQA, designed by UsableNet. This collaboration has resulted in dynamic, comprehensive usability reports that marry the efficiency of an automated search engine, with human interaction, oversight and manual checking, performed by people proficient in assistive technologies who also just happen to have a disability.

THE IMPACT

MBS provides individuals with disabilities, whether from urban centers or isolated rural communities, a unique opportunity for flexible, professional employment easily adapted to meet their individual lifestyles. In doing so, we anticipate building the world’s largest network of trained and certified Usability Testers dedicated to ensuring that all digital platforms are fully accessible, enabling people who are blind and print disabled to garner essential information about employment, health care, education, mobility, benefits and entitlements, housing, recreation, and so much more that was previously unavailable to them.

Our digital model and platforms are adaptable to organizations of all sizes, including global giants like, American Airlines, Intuit, Morgan Stanley and Securian Financial. Focusing on true inclusion for people of all abilities, we have consistently demonstrated the importance of changing “disabling expectations” which have sharply limited opportunities, generationally, for this talented yet underutilized segment of our society. MBS has seen the value of relying on professionals, personally invested in the outcomes, for identifying unintentional digital barriers, finding solutions that maximize digital inclusion, ultimately fostering a global society that is universally accessible.

THE BENEFIT

The impact that the innovative practice has already had, currently has, or will have soon. (e.g. the number of organizations and persons who have accessed services to date, newly targeted organizations; number of testers trained and deployed and number of individuals gainfully employed because of the innovative practice in 2015, 2016, 2017 and forecast for the full year of 2017 and 2018).
Since 2014, our cadre of experienced, accessibility professionals have provided testing and customized support that continues to open doorways to employment, education, health care, travel, social and civic participation for individuals previously excluded from the mainstream of digital community living.

To date, we have provided accessible solutions for governmental agencies as well as a broad range of businesses including Intuit, Morgan Stanley, American Airlines, Securian Financial, Fresh Direct, Royal Jordanian, Fiji Airlines, and WestJet. We also entered strategically advantageous partnerships with UsableNet and retired IBM CAO, Frances West and are currently negotiating contracts with Canon USA, Toyota, Darden Industries, Source America and the Vermont State Legislature.

Usability Testing Staff & Volunteers: 2015 – 45; 2016 – 45; 2017 – 75; 2018 – 125 (projected)

Beneficiaries (PWD): 2015 – 870; 2016 – 3190; 2017 – 5800; 2018 – 11850 (projected)

Usability Testing Staff & Volunteers: 2015 – 45; 2016 – 45; 2017 – 75; 2018 – 125 (projected)

Beneficiaries (PWD): 2015 – 870; 2016 – 3190; 2017 – 5800; 2018 – 11850 (projected)

Stay tuned for future notices!