Op-Ed
AI could be a game changer for people with disabilities
There are plenty of reasons to be wary of AI, but let’s not dismiss the possibilities it offers for improving accessibility.
By
August 23, 2024
Sarah Rogers/MITTR | Photos Getty
As a lifelong disabled person who constantly copes with multiple conditions, I have a natural tendency to view emerging technologies with skepticism. Most new things are built for the majority of people—in this case, people without disabilities—and the truth of the matter is there’s no guarantee I’ll have access to them.
There are certainly exceptions to the rule. A prime example is the iPhone. Although discrete accessibility software did not appear until the device’s third-generation model, in 2009, earlier generations were still revolutionary for me. After I’d spent years using flip phones with postage-stamp-size screens and hard-to-press buttons, the fact that the original iPhone had a relatively large screen and a touch-based UI was accessibility unto itself.
AI could make these kinds of jumps in accessibility more common across a wide range of technologies. But you probably haven’t heard much about that possibility. While the New York Times sues OpenAI over ChatGPT’s scraping of its content and everyone ruminates over [...]