One day in November 2023, a father took his young daughter to the local trampoline park for an afternoon of fun. Like all other guests, he was required to sign a digital waiver form before his daughter could use the equipment. Unlike most of the guests, though, this father was blind. He was unable to access the digital waiver form using the screen reader on his smartphone, and when he asked the park employees for help, he was told they were too busy to assist him.
“I sat down with my daughter and explain[ed] to her that we’re not gonna be able to play at the trampoline park because I can’t fill out the waiver form,” the father wrote in a diary entry for the second phase of the Barriers to Digital Inclusion Study.
This study builds on the findings of our earlier Phase 1 survey of 398 blind, deafblind, and low vision participants. In that 2022 survey, 80% or more of the participants reported facing at least occasional barriers when using websites or mobile applications for important activities like shopping, online education, job-seeking, and travel booking. Phase 2 used a daily diary methodology to capture experiences with digital information and services in real time. This method produces more accurate estimates of how often barriers are encountered, how much time is lost when facing barriers, and the ways barriers are resolved. The diary participants also provided richly detailed accounts of how both digital barriers and accessible digital experiences impact their daily lives.
The participants explained how barriers not only impacted them personally but also impacted those around them and their interactions with providers of goods and services.
Download the Complete BDIS 2 Study
If you have any questions, please get in touch with our Public Policy and Research Institute at research@afb.org.
