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AI generated persona Claudia, an elderly woman with glasses.

Accessibility explained by those impacted

A11y-AI generates empathy by making accessibility understandable, and relatable. It translates technical accessibility reports into tangible and personal reviews.
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Example Result (PDF)

Anticipating the Story behind the Spec

With A11y-AI, we're letting generative AI do what it does best where it does good: using its storytelling capabilities to bring technical accessibility reports to life in a personal and tangible way. Thus creating empathy and inspiring action among those in charge of a more inclusive web: developers, designers and other stakeholders.

Problem

Nowadays, digital access is a right, not a privilege. Yet one in six people worldwide has a significant disability - an estimated 1.3 billion people (WHO, 2023). But only 4% of the world's top one million websites provide a fully accessible experience (Web AIM, 2024).

Insight

Accessibility is usually dealt with in guidelines, reports, white papers and so on. These have one thing in common: they are full of abstract and technical terms. Many people - even developers - sometimes find it pretty hard to get excited about these abstract, technical specifications. But many things become more tangible when empathy comes into play, when you can see the people behind the specifications and thus better understand the concrete effects that limited accessibility brings with it.

Solution

A11y-AI uses advanced AI technologies to make the potential impact of accessibility issues on people's lives tangible. In other words, we turn abstract and technical accessibility reports into more personal, relatable and empathetic experiences, creating 'aha' moments for the people who design, develop and operate today's web.
Translation from a technical accessibility error (contrast ratio fail) to an understandable quote from a user perspective: 
”I can no longer explore my favourite recipe blog because of the poor choice of colours. It's like trying to decipher hieroglyphics.”Translation from a technical accessibility error (contrast ratio fail) to an understandable quote from a user perspective: 
”I can no longer explore my favourite recipe blog because of the poor choice of colours. It's like trying to decipher hieroglyphics.”

Implementation

With A11y-AI, the accessibility of any website can be checked from the perspective of our first pair of synthetic users to understand in seconds what the barriers are - and how they affect the individual.
Input field in which the URL www.bahn.de is typed and the search is started
While 'Claudia' is designed to identify problems associated with declining eyesight, 'Cosmo' checks websites for compatibility with the voice control software he relies on. Together, they already cover some of the statistically most common web accessibility issues. However, additional perspectives are going to be implemented in the coming months to expand the range of barriers the tool can cover.
Homepage of the tool A11y-AI.
A11y-AI allows you to check any website for accessibility barriers...
Input field that shows bahn.de is being tested. It shows a progress bar that indicates that a persona perspective is being generated.
...and brings the impact of these barriers to life by generating the perspective of those who face them.
A11y-AI result page. Showing an empathy report from the perspective that’s mostly inpacted on the scanned website.
The result can be explored on the personal, empathy building impact level...
Collage of persona Claudia with information about her background story and an example quote on how she experiences accessibility errors on the bahn.de website
... explaining the impact of accessibility in a way that is understandable, and relatable...
A11y-AI technical report page, showing an overview of all accessibility errors found on the website.
...and optionally switch to the more investigative technical layer.
Cosmo introducing himself and explaining he’s working in customer service.
The synthetic users bring in a spectrum of personalities...
Cosmo shown in his electric wheelchair from the back overlooking a park.
... their different needs and various assistive technologies...
Collage of persona Cosmo with information about his background story.
...and their personal background story to ground their expectations and experiences in.
Quotes from Cosmo and Claudia about how they experience a website.
This allows them to explain the website’s accessibility issues from the perspective of a user with a disability...
Wheelchair standing in front of a stair without a ramp, with the text ‘my typical online experience?’
...and get a first idea of the personal stories behind the technical specs.