What does paying taxes, a 1993 Pontiac Bonneville, and penguins in Antarctica have in common? The answer is Ken Bigler, Head of Accessibility and Engineering at Intuit! Strap in for the recap of Episode 20 on the WCAT Podcast with Ellie Alvarado and Tanner Gers.
Key takeaways
- “AI is one of the biggest opportunities in accessibility.” - Ken Bigler.
- How do blind people go skydiving indoors?
- What’s the latest research and human trials on reversing aging and vision loss?
- What do baby penguins look like in real life?
- How does a publicly traded company use AI for digital accessibility?
Watch the full interview with Ken Bigler on YouTube
Who is Ken Bigler?
A serious gamer (think D&D), car enthusiast, Disney super fan, incredible world traveler, and fan of boats… But Ken Bigler is also Head of Accessibility and Engineering at Intuit, the publicly traded company behind TurboTax, QuickBooks, Credit Karma, and MailChimp.
Even cooler about Ken… He knows the value of performing testing by people with disabilities who are trained, certified, and native users of assistive technology.
It’s important to build, and go fast, but Ken communicates how making time for this type of inclusion creates greater outcomes for everyone, even if you don’t use a screen reader.
It’s hard to see those outcomes at scale if you’re not overseeing the accessibility of several enterprise products used by millions and millions, if not billions of people across the world, like Ken is.
Ken reports hiring Fable for this type of user testing. Fable is a Canadian company that connects users with disabilities and the companies who want to incorporate user testing by people with disabilities into their software development lifecycle.
One-off projects start around $5000, with annual engagements starting around $40,000 annually.
In full disclosure, AccessAbility Officer offers similar but different services to Fable regarding incorporating users with disabilities into your testing process or software development lifecycle. We only employ trained and certified testers with disabilities who hold at a minimum both their Department of Homeland Security Trusted Tester and Certified Accessibility Tester 2.2 AA certifications.
AccessAbility Officer’s moderated and unmoderated digital accessibility testing by people with disabilities starts at $800 for small one-off projects, with full-service annual engagements starting at $3330 per month.
- Test with assistive technology. Check that your apps and websites work with screen readers and keyboard-only testing, not just with a mouse.
- Involve people with disabilities. Include them in research and testing to improve outcomes for everyone.
- Design for inclusion from day one. Retrofitting digital accessibility is more expensive than incorporating it in from the design phase.
- Ask for feedback and act on it. Give users an easy way to report barriers, the way Intuit does with its accessibility feedback line.
Ready to find out where your organization stands? Request a free Accessibility Report.
Or get trained, certified people with disabilities testing your assets for as little as $800!
Did you miss Episode 19?
Scott Thornhill was going blind and couldn’t read the real estate textbook. He enrolled anyway, passed the state exam on the first try, and built an award-winning brokerage.
Watch There’s No “Right Way” to Be Blind | Scott Thornhill, Ep. 19 →
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