Show Notes
Welcome to another episode of the Inform & Connect Podcast, a production of the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB). In this episode, AFB’s Melody Goodspeed and Tony Stephens catch up with Spectrum’s Petr Kucheryavyy, who provides a breakdown of what’s new with SpectrumAccess and exciting news on the horizon for consumers of audio described content.
As the weather moves us more indoors, what better way to meet the changing seasons than curled up on the couch streaming the latest and greatest flics, or heading out to enjoy the rush of films that move into theaters during the final months of 2023. There’s lots on the horizon around making media more accessible, and Petr shares what’s in store for not just Spectrum subscribers, but anyone who enjoys accessing inclusive media through the SpectrumAccess app. So, before you press pause to cue up your own favorite streaming playlist, be sure to like and subscribe to the Inform & Connect podcast.
For questions about this podcast, email communications@afb.org.
You can access the podcast transcript below.
Inform & Connect Podcast Transcript
Tony: You are listening to the Inform and Connect podcast, a production of the American Foundation for the Blind. To learn more about AFB, visit our website at www.afb.org. And now your host, Melody Goodspeed.
Melody: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another fun filled day of the Inform and Connect podcast. I am here with Tony. Hi, Tony.
Tony: Hello, Melody.
Melody: It is so much fun to see you today. How's it going?
Tony: It is going wonderful. I'm so excited that fall is finally here.
Melody: I know, me too. And I got to tell you something funny. My daughter was like, "Mommy, can we get into a leaf... We need to get a pile of leaves right now, and jump in them." And I'm like, "Yes, we definitely do." The problem is we only have pine needles and I don't feel like that's a good jumping experience. Thoughts on that?
Tony: I live in downtown Baltimore, so we don't have much trees and if there's any leaves, they're very suspect in what's underneath them.
Melody: Well, this is true, too. There'll be no leaf jumping with you, I guess, either.
Tony: Don't play those reindeer games in big city.
Melody: Yeah, we don't. The disappointment, when her voice, was so real. And honestly, mine too, so I feel like I need to go find some.
Tony: I should say, we don't play those Great Pumpkin games.
Melody: Yes. Go find somebody who's got trustworthy leaves, I guess. I don't know. We'll call it that.
Speaking of kids, our guest today is also, we can bring him in here. Is going to be a father again, a second time, and I'm super excited about that. We are so happy to have Petr with us from Spectrum. And Petr, I'm so glad to have you here. And I am not going to say your last name, because you know, I butcher it every time. And when you say it's so beautiful. So Petr, welcome.
Petr Kucheryavyy: Thank you so much.
Melody: Can you give us your last name, buddy? Because you know it Just roll right off your tongue.
Petr Kucheryavyy: I sure can.
Melody: I can't do it.
Petr Kucheryavyy: Kucheryavyy.
Melody: Do y'all now see why I can't?
Tony: It doesn't fit well, Ukrainian and Southern dialect, nary the two will meet.
Melody: Yes.
Petr Kucheryavyy: I think they flow very well together. The majority of my immediate family actually lives in the Atlanta, Georgia area. That's where we moved when we came to the States, and so it's actually really beautiful to see how the Southern dialect and the Ukrainian accent merge. [inaudible 00:02:40] I?
Melody: Oh my gosh, I'm going to have to practice, dude. Now game on, for Melody. Well Petr, we're so excited to have you. I mean, we've been together before. It's been a minute, the last time we've done a podcast. But you're with Spectrum, also known as Charter Communication and have the amazing Spectrum Access app, which I use constantly. Thank you guys so much for creating that. So I would love to dive into everything that's been going on. I know we only have a short amount of time so we can get some of it, but number one, congratulations on being a dad again.
Petr Kucheryavyy: Thank you so much. Very exciting.
Melody: That is very exciting.
Tony: This will be your second kid.
Petr Kucheryavyy: That's right. I have a boy, and this is a girl on the way, so it's very exciting.
Tony: The big question is for the older kid, who's going to be the big brother, because he's also probably finally getting to the age for Halloween. Are you guys good-
Melody: Oh, yeah.
Tony: ... [inaudible 00:03:37] Halloween?
Petr Kucheryavyy: Oh, yeah. The Halloween's very exciting now, this year. He's not big on sweets, like his father, so that's probably a good thing for his wellbeing. But the one thing that I'm really curious about is he's learning, not learning, but he's starting to be spooked by things. And I know that from a pumpkin patch fair we went to over the weekend, and there was a skeleton that jumped out, and boy was he ever scared. So I'm really curious to see how he does with all of the Halloween antics this year.
Melody: What's he going to be for Halloween? What's he dressing up as?
Petr Kucheryavyy: I'm going to be a sheriff, a Western old world sheriff, and he's going to be a little cowboy.
Melody: Oh, I love it. I love it. What about you, Tony?
Tony: I am going to be handing out candy, and not dressing up. I'm just sad, and not original.
Petr Kucheryavyy: Hey, that's a very important role.
Melody: Yes, it is very.
Petr Kucheryavyy: A very important role.
Tony: They don't care what I dress up as, as long as I give them candy, so it doesn't really matter.
Melody: Yes. My daughter is going to be Spider Girl. She's pretty jazzed about that.
Petr Kucheryavyy: Nice.
Melody: Yes, I'm going to do my rendition of Black Widow, because I feel like that is going to be fun. So I'm pretty jazzed about that.
Tony: I've got an anime, and a Gru from, what is it? The Minions movies? Was it the [inaudible 00:05:11].
Melody: That is amazing. That's what your boys are dressing up as?
Tony: Yeah, and Oliver is, he's not going to totally shave his head. But he's been growing his hair out since the start of the pandemic, and he's finally going to cut his hair. He looks like David Lee Roth right now. His hair is like halfway down his back, and he's going to get it cut this weekend. So he can look-
Melody: Nice.
Tony: ... so he can wear one of those ball caps.
Melody: That is awesome.
Tony: Yeah. But what does that have to do with accessibility, and the digital [inaudible 00:05:39]?
Melody: I mean, I think it has everything to do with it. I think it's because we're really cool blind parents that are rocking the Halloween, this year.
Petr Kucheryavyy: Well, I'll give us a bridge back to the audio description world.
Tony: Any good [inaudible 00:05:51]-
Melody: Thanks, Petr. Thanks, Petr-
Petr Kucheryavyy: ... [inaudible 00:05:52] a lot of people-
Melody: ... for keeping us on track.
Petr Kucheryavyy: ... have been asking-
Tony: Spectrum Access [inaudible 00:05:56]-
Petr Kucheryavyy: ... think I'll ever dress up as Daredevil. And so-
Melody: Oh, well, of course.
Petr Kucheryavyy: That was one of the first long shows that I watched with audio descriptions, so one of these years, I'm going to have to satisfy people's requests and do the Daredevil thing.
Melody: I mean we all have superheroes, Petr, as blind individuals. So that sounds amazing.
Tony: That was one of my favorites, as a kid. Hands down, [inaudible 00:06:18].
Petr Kucheryavyy: There you go.
Melody: Well, Petr, tell us all about Spectrum and audio description, and all the things. What's new with you guys?
Petr Kucheryavyy: Yeah, I mean I guess since we're talking about audio description, it seems appropriate to segue into the Spectrum Access app. We talked about this the last time I was on, Melody-
Melody: Yes.
Petr Kucheryavyy: ... and I remember, it was a pretty fresh product for us. It was really exciting to get it to market, but it was in its infancy stage. I will say that there's not anything really dramatic that's happened since then, we're still very much focused on delivering audio description in the same sort of format. But a couple of things have been added to the app, that I think are noteworthy, that I'd like to share.
One big thing that we focused on this year is ease of access. Giving people the ability to maneuver the app a little bit more easily in a way that makes more sense for where their skill level is to, which for some people means being able to use their voice to search the app. And so we added what we call the voice navigation feature, but really what it is, is the ability for you to search content in the Spectrum Access app with your voice, to see if that content's available. You can just say Siri or Google or whatever it is that you're using on your phone... I don't want to say it now, or else I'll probably wake my own device up. And then you say Search Spectrum Access.
And what you'll hear come back is, "What feature do you want to search for?" And then you say the name, and you can see whether or not it's available in the app, simply by using your voice. And at some point here, in the very near future, we're going to add the ability to submit a request. So if the feature that you were looking for, the title that you spoke was not available, it will give you the ability to submit that title into a bank of requests that we can then take back to our content partners, and demonstrate the desire for users of the app to see their content.
This is something that I think users has been asking for a while, "Can we submit requests?" And I said, "Well, you certainly can," but they sort of go nowhere. They just come to me, and I don't have control over whether or not the content owners create audio description or share it with us, we're sort of at the mercy of those partnerships. But this gives us a little bit of leverage to demonstrate, and good data to demonstrate, the desirability of certain titles by the users of the app. So I'm going to heavily promote that feature when it launches, because I know it's going to be useful. But in the meantime that ease of access, just to ask your device whether or not that title's there, I think is already a big step forward.
And for our deaf-blind users, the ability to search the app, or sorry to enjoy closed captioning via a braille display device, was another request that came in. And I'm really proud of this one, because we were able to turn this one around rather quickly. I mean it was probably about a month from the time that I had a conversation with my now friend Mark Saffman, who's a customer of Spectrum's, and he's deaf-blind and does a lot of advocacy work. But he said it would be nice for a deaf-blind user to be able to consume the captions. He's got a little bit of usable vision, but he's deaf.
And he said, "I have a hard time keeping up with the captions. So there's two requests, being able to read them with a braille display device, and being able to scroll backward through the captions, because once the block of text is gone, then if you didn't read it in time, you have to pause the whole thing, rewind it, and it's a whole ordeal. And so we also implemented the scroll-able captions, so you can scroll backward, you can magnify them, jump back to the current place.
And I think that, would it be helpful if we took a pause here, and just explained what the Spectrum Access app is for those who did not listen to the last episode?
Tony: Yeah, because it is-
Melody: Yes.
Tony: ... pretty revolutionary, and so much so, that you and your team were recognized as this past year's Helen Keller Achievement Awards recipient, so Charter Communications and Spectrum, and-
Petr Kucheryavyy: Oh, we're so, so proud of that.
Melody: Yes.
Tony: And we're proud, we're so excited we had you all in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, for that. Because it was really cool, when you were showing it off at the conference, and at the Helen Keller Achievement Awards. I mean, it's just such a neat, it's one of these things that's like, for those that have ever anguished, going to the movie theaters, and getting those headsets that never work, giving them your ID, hoping you get it back. To some college or high school student that you question.
And then, or when you're at home, and you just... My kids always bug me when the audio description's on, and the narration, and all that stuff. And they're like, "Dad, can we turn this off?" Describe it, because it is a brilliant thing that's, and so glad it's [inaudible 00:11:56].
Melody: Yes.
Petr Kucheryavyy: Absolutely. So for somebody who hasn't used the app, or isn't familiar with the concept, it can be a little bit foreign at first. But the idea here is that you have the audio description tracks in this Spectrum Access app that you combine with the experience in the room, or in the movie theater where you're watching that movie or show. It's a combined effort, here. So you'll turn the movie or show on as you typically would, in your home, let's say.
I actually had a customer that just sent me a funny clip about Top Gun, because I was using Top Gun as an example of a movie that I watched with a Spectrum Access app after it was released from theaters, at home. Because the audio description didn't follow it to the rented section of the device I was using. I won't give out any names here, but that audio description was available in theaters. But then when it got to my in-home platform, and I clicked on rent, it wasn't there. And so of course, I pulled up Spectrum Access, it was available. And I used that combination.
So what you do is, you pull up the track on your device, on your phone let's say. I have an iPhone. I go into the Spectrum Access app, I pull up Top Gun, and I download the track to make sure that I have it available. And then when the movie's playing, I just hit sync on my device, and it'll synchronize with where you are in that movie. And so, in effect, what happens is the audio description track has this thing called a fingerprint file, that identifies where you are in that particular movie that's in your living room, that's playing out loud. It's using the microphone of your device to identify that. Once it does, it pinpoints you to that specific location, and drops you into that point in the audio description track.
Now, you've got the movie playing on your TV, and you've got the audio description playing on your phone. And you've got a few options here. One is, well, to begin. Sometimes you might see two different audio description tracks. One is just the audio description, and the second one is audio description with the full audio. So it'll include the soundtrack of the movie itself, as well. What's really helpful about that is, if you're like me, you might not want to be in your living room, and you don't care about what's happening on the screen. So you'll do the sync process, turn off your TV, pour yourself a tall glass of wine and head into the backyard and finish watching it, just by listening on your phone.
Or if you have Bluetooth hearing aids, and you want to adjust the sound quality, tonality, and all of that that you typically would for your Bluetooth hearing aids, you don't want to adjust that just for the audio description, and then have the movie playing at a different setting in a room, especially if you're watching the movie with somebody. You want to adjust the sound of both, and so that track is really helpful there.
Now for the audio description only, obviously the thing that's really helpful here is, you can just pop an earbud in your ear and be the only one in the room that hears the audio description, in the event that you have kids like Tony does, who might not want to be bothered by it, or they find it distracting. And I find that kids sort of fall into two camps. Some are sort of easily distracted by it, whereas others, especially if they have learning disabilities, or they're not as attentive, it sort of helps to reinforce for them what's happening in the movie, and they really like it. But either way, you have that option. You can let it play out loud, or you can isolate it for yourself.
Melody: Yeah, that's-
Tony: Yeah, when we, American Council of the Blind, we did a survey on audio description. And was impressed with the number of people too, that were not just people who are blind or low vision that were using it, but too, children within the autistic community with autism. And then family members and people like that would just leverage it as well, and I interrupted you Melanie, what were you going to say?
Melody: I was going to say, my son definitely uses it. I mean, he says it keeps his attention focused. So, yes. He has [inaudible 00:16:33].
Petr Kucheryavyy: I am on a campaign to demonstrate the value of audio description to non-blind audience, because I feel like it's got that reputation, "Oh, this is for blind people," so it just doesn't catch as much attention. But when we think about closed captioning, which the app also supports by the way, the users for closed captioning... I asked in a room just a couple of weeks ago, I was giving a presentation and I asked my audience to say aye, if they use captions on their TV. I think there may have been two people in the room that didn't say aye, and I think they were blind. Everybody else said aye, which tells me that the statistic that 80% of people who use closed captioning are not even deaf or hard of hearing. That's a lot a of people that have caught onto a technology that was intended for a certain audience, but really demonstrated its value beyond that particular demographic.
And I think the case can, not only can be made here, but we continue to see this from our blind friends and colleagues who say, "Oh, my family members who are sighted, or my friend." As a matter of fact, I had not even had familiarity with audio description until a sighted person told me about this years ago, and said that she really enjoyed the artistry of it. And so we watched the first episode of Breaking Bad together, just with audio description. There was no screen, nothing playing, and it was really life-changing for me, in terms of the way that I enjoyed entertainment, because I'd sort of steered away from entertainment. Finding that I didn't have the same level of equality, and I just couldn't stay connected, and I always had to have somebody describing it to me. And here I was, enjoying something with a sighted friend of mine, and neither one of us were looking at a TV, but we were both capturing everything.
And so, after that, I started to hear other sighted friends of mine who were Uber driving on their spare time and binge-watching Orange is the New Black, or cooking dinner and binge-watching Hunger Games. Whatever it was, the audio description was starting to give them a way to either enjoy their content in a different way, or to continue to consume it when their eyes were distracted.
Melody: I am going to join you on that campaign, my friend, because I think it's so true. I think it's so good for educational purposes. When my son, for example, was really getting into it. It was a time where reading was a little bit difficult for him. And I think just getting that attention focus, and also with captioning, too. I think that we get so caught up in just using one sense. I think when we incorporate as many as we have, that it gives us a whole new level of an experience.
Tony: Well, people are so distracted now, too. Like you mentioned about keeping focus, and if you're cooking in the kitchen, but too, you can go to a movie theater and a third of the audience is looking at their phone. A movie where it's... It's just another one of those things, that you can engage people and communicate with them, with the story.
Petr Kucheryavyy: Well, and since you said movie theater, Tony, one of the things that I would like to see is a deepening relationship with some of our content partners, which is already in flux, to really collect not just the audio description that aids your experience in your home, but also in that movie theater. I know, Melody, you've already mentioned that you've had this experience in the theater with Spectrum Access. And in certain cases there are movies available in the app that you can find in the theater, but I'm talking about new releases, just hit theaters. You show up, you don't have to rely on the in-house service that they have there. It's great that they have it, but as you pointed out, Tony, it's not always optimal.
Melody: Yes.
Petr Kucheryavyy: And I like to give this example, because I was moving during the pandemic and found this inch and a half deep stack of movie theater tickets that I had collected for all of the experiences that didn't go well with that box that they have. And so, I'd love to rejoin you on this podcast one day when that project is really soaring, but it's an appeal to our content partners and studios to support us in this mission to bring audio description in a more flexible, independent way to people in the movie theater, on their own device, where they can have that control. And not just audio description, but closed captioning, as well. I mean, if they're going to be looking at their phone, they might as well be looking at some closed captioning to support the experience that they're having.
But the audio description for sure, we just know what that experience is like. I'd love to have the app be a pivoting point in that experience, but I know in some cases, that's already true and possible. I heard a person say when I first started in the telecom industry that, "Oh, well, we're a cable company. We're not changing lives, here." The interesting thing about working in accessibility is, no matter which industry you're in, you actually really are changing a lot of people's lives and experiences, because it opens up doors of opportunities and experiences with their friends and families that they didn't otherwise have. And that's the thing that I think we're after the most, with products like Spectrum Access.
Tony: You mentioned, Petr, when we were talking earlier, folks that you've come encounter with, like Peter Korn with Amazon, the name came up. What I love about as advocates or as those of us on the indie nonprofit side, right in working with you and working with folks like Peter Korn, or if it's Sarah at Apple, Jenny Lay Flurrie at Microsoft. I mean, there's such an effort of non-competitiveness within the corporate sector when it comes to digital inclusion in this space, like with what you all are doing with audio description.
For a couple of years, I worked with the audio description projects, Audio Description Awards, and we would have CBS and NBC and all the networks, really Disney and everybody, just really sort of coming together and saying, "Yeah, let's work together to elevate..." Because we all win when media is inclusive, right? Because I mean, consumers consume across all distributions, in a sense. I mean, there's brand loyalty in terms of where your cable is set up, like Spectrum, versus I'm Xfinity. I don't have Spectrum here, unfortunately, in Baltimore.
But when it comes to the content side, making that content accessible, the more we get people to experience that, the better. And so it's just wonderful seeing how you have, I know in some situations worked with other folks in other industry partner, like Mines-Télécom or other companies. It's always nice. It seems like, too, it kind of encourages innovation, right? Because this is, Disney now, there was an app years ago that was an infancy to what Spectrum Access has become, I feel like. Where y'all took something and just made it usable, and smart, and it's been evolving, and it's fantastic to see where it's going to be going.
Petr Kucheryavyy: Yeah, I would say, and my sound might change a little bit. I had to switch rooms here at the office, to avoid sound distraction.
But my favorite thing about accessibility is what you mentioned, which is that there's not competition, at least not in an unhealthy way, between teams and industries. We all come together at conferences like M-Enabling or CSUN or other notable ones, where we share tactics, techniques, development strategies, design approaches. And all kinds of things that actually help us lift all accessibility boats, so to speak, and all experiences so that we can elevate the customer journey, customer experience, to one that's equal to that of their sighted or non-disabled peers.
And that's really the goal, here. It's not to compete one against the other, but to make sure that we're sharing information that eventually comes back around and actually helps us out, as well. Because as another team grows and sharpens their tools to innovate in new ways, that pushes the world of accessibility forward, and we all get to benefit from that.
Tony: I'm glad you brought up M-Enabling, because I know you and your team were there very recently. That's a conference in Washington DC that really focuses on, heavy in the telecom space, the smartphone, the technology space, for digital accessibility. But the main subject area this year, in a lot of ways, was artificial intelligence. And there's so much transformation and evolution that's happening at an enormous rate that it's exciting to think, what you're doing now, versus what you were doing five years ago? I mean, compare that art to compare to what it could be like in five years, now.
Petr Kucheryavyy: Right.
Tony: Steeper arc, towards the getting us into the clouds of inclusion. So.
Petr Kucheryavyy: One of the-
Melody: And Petr, can-
Tony: Go ahead, Melody.
Melody: I was going to say, can you tell us a little bit about that? Because I know you've got a lot of fun stuff to say, what you guys are doing in that space, too.
Petr Kucheryavyy: Yeah, the world of artificial intelligence, it was a really interesting conference, by the way. And rich conversations about both sides, both on the risk and benefit side of artificial intelligence. And there are both. The risk of the rapid iteration that artificial intelligence offers us, that risk can be enormous. We can move too fast for what we can support or monitor, and the risk for people with disabilities means that it could be weeding people with disabilities out of the employment channel, simply by way of identifying something with regard to their disability, maybe some access point that they don't have. And it'll just say, "Well, this can, just not qualified."
All of these things need to be considered with regard to AI, but then the benefits of AI, and you mentioned Jenny Lay-Flurrie from Microsoft. She did a keynote presentation on the future of AI and its impact on people with disabilities, and mostly focused on the positive nature of that, with tools like Be My AI and the Be My Eyes app, which is really unique. I started using it in airport settings, and found it to be really incredible the amount of description that it provides. These kinds of tools open, like I said earlier, they open those new doors of opportunity for people with disabilities on the access front, and it can be really incredible and helpful.
I mean, even tools like Voice Search, to be able to search for things with your voice, something has to be processing all that information, searching against a database, and sharpening its ability to do that faster, better, more accurately, more efficiently. And the thing that's going to power that is going to be AI, and in many cases, already is.
So I mentioned voice search for the Spectrum Access app, but we've got a new product out in the marketplace that just launched this month called Xumo, X-U-M-O. And it's available to customers now, and it's essentially... I mean, think of any other IP box that you connect to your TV that gives you access to a variety of apps, that you would watch. All of your favorite streaming apps, including the Spectrum TV app. You might have that experience covered with a set top box, and you feel like that's good, that covers all your bases and you're good with that. Well, there's some people who don't have a set top box, or have cut the cords, so to speak. Well, for those experiences, to have anything like a set top box experience, it's not likely. You're going to have a streaming experience for the most part.
But what if we could combine the streaming experience with the set top box sort of guide experience, if you will, into one place? And that's what we did with Xumo. It's a joint venture project between Spectrum and Xfinity, or Charter and Comcast is the parent companies. And it's been a really interesting development, because it gives our customers the ability to voice search, and it's a really sophisticated system that processes that voice search, to give you the most relevant search results possible.
Meaning if you're a Spectrum customer, and you do a voice search for say, Tom Cruise. What you want to pop up at the top of your list is content that you have access to, that you've already paid for, subscribe to. You don't want to get complicated search results that you then have to click on, find out how much you have to pay for, and so on and so forth. And so that's what this experience does, it processes those search results and gives you really meaningful results that you can actually do something with. Watch, or enjoy. And then you can search for a movie title, you can search for an actor name, you can search for a channel.
And in fact, the Xumo box, unlike other IP boxes, actually comes with a numeric keypad, sort of like a set top box remote. So you can actually enter in those channel numbers if that's what you're used to. So these are the kinds of technologies I'm slipping in here, a new product launch as we talk about AI, and how are some of these tools. But for those customers, Spectrum customers who've been asking for voice input for a long time, I think that this fills that gap.
Tony: And I'm sure it has the accessible menu controls, and things like that?
Petr Kucheryavyy: That's right, yeah. So at launch, one of the most important experiences for us to hone in was the Spectrum TV app, and that entire Spectrum experience that you have with that box and with that remote. And so that's come to launch very accessibly, and hoping to learn more, and focus more on other app experiences and how they come into play with the accessibility settings of that box. So I think that as any product launch happens, there's always some things that are going to work really, really well, and some things that we might need to iron out.
We've actually been really surprised at how good things have gone with the launch, that's really great. But yeah, the accessibility features, all of that. There are some shortcuts in the remote, and we're building out some learning tools that customers, some self-support learning tools, that customers can access on spectrum.net/accessibility. All that's going to be there. Our customer support team for customers with disabilities is going to have a lot more training around the product as well, so they can support customers who call in. So yeah, there's going to be a whole body of accessibility knowledge and access that exists with the Xumo box. And by the way, I think it's a really important that I mention this, because for those who are used to guide narration being the name of the text to speech engine on our set top box, the name of this particular text to speech engine on Xumo is called Voice Guidance. So there's just a little distinction, there.
Tony: Good to know though. It's a good thing to convey. Fantastic, man. So you haven't really done anything then, since last year. Just...
Petr Kucheryavyy: Not at all.
Melody: No.
Petr Kucheryavyy: Just feet up in the air watching how things go. No, the really cool thing is, our team is about 52% people with disabilities, our accessibility team. And so, you can imagine that not only do we have that sort of sense of purpose in the work that we do, but it's also really personal. So there's just a ton of passion that we're constantly trying to both harness that passion, and also sort of moderate it, because we get really excited and we want to do absolutely everything in the world. Because we know what experiences we're looking for, for ourselves, but also the relationships that we build in the community with organizations like the American Foundation for the Blind. Other disability groups, as well.
I mean, these relationships are crucial to us. The conferences that we attend, the people that we meet, the input that we get, our disability community has become an extension of our team, because that input flows directly to our product teams and we find ways to solve for existing problems. We're not out to, I mean, look, this is a cliche statement. But we're not out to meet some compliance standard here, but to actually create real, enjoyable experiences. And that is a journey. It's never a point where you stop and kick your feet up and you say, "Well, we're done. Now we get to just watch the fruit of our labor." There's always more to do.
Melody: And I love how you put that, because as we've put here, I mean, we're able to open doors for not just disabilities. That whole testing of wanting to see, really, how other people are enjoying things. The more we create, the more we bring to everyone in society. And I think that's so incredibly important.
Petr Kucheryavyy: That's right. And I mean, I want to tie what you just said to a comment from earlier, which is when we say everyone, when we create accessible products, we really... Oftentimes, our focus is the disability community. That's who we're working for. We're trying to create equal experiences for people with disabilities. But the unintended consequence of that, which is becoming a more intended consequence, is that other people catch onto the benefits of those tools, features, or products, and it starts to bleed into the non-disabled world as well.
And that really is an everyone thing. We end up benefiting everyone. I mean, we sharpen our tools for the disability community to start with, but then it becomes a message of, "Hey, you like voice access, don't you? You like the idea of that. Maybe you could use it, too." And before you know it, half of America has a smart device in their home that they can speak to, or their kids can play Baby Shark on, or whatever it is. And annoy the rest of the family.
Melody: Yeah.
Petr Kucheryavyy: Everybody's using it.
Melody: I know, I kind of twitched a little when you said Baby Shark, sorry.
Petr Kucheryavyy: That's right. That's right. Parents know.
Melody: Yes.
Petr Kucheryavyy: That's the thing, is that it eventually becomes an adoption by mass society. And I wish we did a better job of marketing that, because a lot of people who ask somebody who works in the space of accessibility, "Well, how many customers do we have that are blind? How many people does this really impact?" It's so difficult to communicate that yes, that's who we're trying to level the playing field for, but you have no idea how many products you use, from voice activated devices to elevators, to a whole variety of daily gadgets that you interact with that had their start in the world of access for people with disabilities, and became a mass adoption tool, product, or option that they have available to them. And so, probably as people with disabilities, that's a marketing area of opportunity for us to really demonstrate the work that we're doing is actually really for all of our customers. It's for everybody, it's not just people with disabilities. But boy, does it help level the playing field for those folks, first.
Melody: I couldn't agree more with that statement. It's so incredibly true. When you're working on something, I think anything in life is like that, if you have your intentions that it's going to have a connection to something else. And I think, when I was talking, giving a speech about something a couple of months ago, and someone brought up, raised their hand and was like, "Well, that's great if we make it accessible for someone who has a disability. But I mean, would there only be one or two people we'd have to spend all that money for?" And that mindset has got to shift.
Petr Kucheryavyy: That's exactly right.
Melody: It's just got to shift. And when you're the one with the microphone being asked that question, there's so many things you want to say that you just can't, at that point. But I mean, it's a mindset that definitely needs to be shifting into more of a curiosity mode, of how that could impact business, overall. So thanks for bringing that up, and I would definitely support that effort, too.
Petr Kucheryavyy: Well, and there are companies like Accenture and others who have done deep dive. And the AFB has a team of researchers as well, so there's a lot of great research that's coming out of your organization to really show what accessibility, the ultimate consequences of creating accessible products and tools, really is. Which is at least on the business side, which of course, working in the corporate space, we're not a nonprofit. So maintaining a healthy profit margin, and sticking around, is really important.
Well, we've got so much research now that points to the fact that when you include just 1% more of people with disabilities into the marketplace. As employees, for instance, you generate tons of money into the economy. And that's just, each 1% generates millions and billions of dollars more, because it means that people are making healthy salaries, they're spending that money, and people with disabilities now have ways to spend their money, because they have a lot more points. And it's sort of this cycle that continues, and generates more and more profit.
We saw that with the introduction of civil rights in the '60s, when a whole marginalized group of people in the United States were all of a sudden gaining access to the American economy. Both as earners and as spenders, and what that was able to do, not only for Black Americans, but for the American economy too. Both things can coexist. You can generate profits and positively impact people's lives. And I say this to marketers who say, "Well, we don't want to market people with disabilities. That seems like we're trying to market to people with disabilities, that can't be seen as a good thing, right?" And I said, "Absolutely wrong. It's a very good thing. If you're marketing to me, that means you respect me as a customer. You respect me as an equal member of society, as somebody who has capital to spend, and that means that you see me as an equal. So of course, I want you to market to me, and be as specific as you want to be. I don't mind, because I also want to know, what do you have that can benefit my life?"
So I think that this topic of sort of separating people with disabilities, and helping people with disabilities, separating that out from profits and conversations about money, is probably not the best way to go about it. Because that's how you maintain a model of pity and charity for people with disabilities, rather than integration, which is what we ultimately want.
Tony: We're consumers. Everybody wants to be included.
Melody: Yes.
Tony: That's right.
Melody: I agree. Yes. Well, I just, Petr, I love all of this. I want to tell everybody here, a little shout-out. The Spectrum Access app is free, to all. I encourage everyone who's listening to this to download the app to your iPhone, or your Android, or any smartphone, right, Petr? It's every smartphone in the world?
Petr Kucheryavyy: Every smartphone in the United States. That's right.
Melody: To go ahead and try it out, because it's free, and it's fantastic. And Petr's fabulous, and in his team. And Petr, if we want to keep up with everything that you're doing, where can people go?
Petr Kucheryavyy: So if you want to learn more about Spectrum Access, or you have input, feedback, questions, spectrumaccess@charter.com is the inbox that I manage for that specific product, so you can find me there.
Spectrum.net/accessibility. Spectrum.net is our customer self-support portal, where our customers can go. So if you're a Spectrum customer, spectrum.net/accessibility is where you'll find all of our accessibility self-support tools, knowledge, information, videos, all kinds of helpful information about what we offer in the world of accessibility.
And again, if you're a Spectrum customer, and maybe your ears perked when I said, "customer service for people with disabilities," we do have a team that's dedicated to people with disabilities out of El Paso, Texas. And we have a dedicated phone number for that team that I would encourage people to use, so that you don't get the runaround, you get directly to a team that knows what you're talking about. That phone number is 1- 844-762-1301.
Tony: Awesome. Thank you, Petr.
Melody: Yes, Tony, did you-
Petr Kucheryavyy: Thank you for having me on.
Melody: Yeah. I mean, Tony, did you have anything else before we... I mean, this is great. I'm excited.
Tony: No, we've got to let Petr go. He's got-
Melody: Yeah.
Tony: ... [inaudible 00:45:38] accessible, but thank you.
Melody: I don't ever like to let Petr go. He's always so entertaining.
Petr Kucheryavyy: Well, there are more podcasts to come, and hopefully at some point, we can do this again and I'll have more updates to share. Spectrum Access, at the very least, is just such an important innovation product for us that will hopefully spin off it to multiple innovation efforts. But there's a ton coming for that project, there.
If you use Spectrum Access, and you've noticed that the last several months, there hasn't been any new content. We're doing a massive overhaul of the backend of the app, to the way that we process files and get them ingested into the application. And all of that is really to help speed up the way that we, what we call ingest files, into the Spectrum Access app. So that we can be able to take in more files at any given point, and have a more automated way to do that. So hopefully, by the time this year ends, we will have completed that and dropped a bunch of new content into the app. So stay tuned for that.
And we do have a notification option now for Spectrum Access users. When there is new content, it'll send you a notification alert, letting you know that there's more content in there so you don't have to wonder. So keep a lookout for that.
Tony: Binge on our day off, on New Year's Day.
Melody: Yes.
Petr Kucheryavyy: That's right.
Tony: Yes. I'm in a cold wintry room, and just watch movies all day. Awesome.
Melody: Thanks. Well, Petr, thank you so much for joining us. And guys, thank you for listening, and if you have any questions or want to learn anything about what we're doing here at AFB, just visit afb.org and we will keep you posted on all things coming up for the end of the year, and for next year too because we have a lot of good stuff coming up. Thanks guys, for joining us. Have a good one. See you.
Tony: You're listening to the Inform and Connect podcast, a production of the American Foundation For the Blind. Questions or comments on this episode, email communications@afb.org. Feel free to visit our website as well, where you can make a donation to help support the work of AFB by going to afb.org/donate. AFB, creating a world of No Limits.
