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Working in Partnership with the RNIB to Deliver Accessible Self-Service Solutions.

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imageHOLDERS work with the RNIB to produce fully accessible digital solutions.

Author

Freya Storey

Published

12/21/23

imageHOLDERS works in Partnership with the RNIB.

“Imagine you are at a small station late at night and nobody is there. The service desk is closed and the only way to get a ticket is from a self-service kiosk. The kiosk has no speech and the text is small and with poor colour contrast.

What do you do then?

This is what it is like for blind and partially sighted people.

Having an inaccessible kiosk would not be acceptable for sighted people, you would never see a kiosk without a list of station names or no text on buttons. Why is this acceptable for blind and partially sighted people? It shouldn’t be.

Testing with people with a variety of needs including those who have to rely on assistive technology, (e.g. speech output) will make sure that not only everybody has access to products and services but the experience is easier and improved for all”.

Dr Lori Di Bon Conyers, Senior User Experience Consultant, User Experience Team RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People)

Digital exclusion is still a very real issue, isolating members of the community and creating barriers to digital accessibility.

As technology continues to evolve at an exponential pace, those working within IoT have a responsibility to ensure they create law-abiding digital solutions that are not just accessible but empower the user experience, cementing trust and loyalty from the customer. imageHOLDERS is committed to ensuring our kiosks are at the forefront of accessibility.

We have been working closely with the RNIB to educate ourselves on UX issues, so we can be fully informed to provide the very best, accessible kiosk designs.

Common user issues include:

  • Kiosks being inaccessible to wheelchair users.
  • Often the only available interfaces are visual. Public kiosks seldom offer standard accessibility features found in consumer products, such as magnification, colour changing, screen reading, or tactile controls.
  • Unreadable with text that is too small and with no thought of colour contrast.
  • Inaccessible to users with visual or print disabilities to reliably navigate and operate user interface elements. I.e. does not include an accessibility layer for exploring and navigating content and controls shown on screen.

Such oversight has seen over 75% of disabled people walk away from a business due to poor customer service and accessibility issues. This equates to an average £2bn of revenue a month being lost by ignoring disabled customer needs.

With 1 in 5 people having a disability, those claiming to offer self-service solutions must ensure they meet every user’s needs. At imageHOLDERS, we ensure our kiosks comply to ADA and DDA requirements, as well as being able to tailor solutions with further adaptations, if required.

We are currently working with RNIB on a pilot model for a self-service visitor management solution at their head office. Our collaborative approach means that we will be communicating closely with them to ensure we create a kiosk that is at the forefront of accessibility.

For more information on our fully inclusive solutions, please email: [email protected] 

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