Google opens Accessibility Discovery Centre

Initiative to show how people with disabilities use technology

Life

Declan Meenagh, Fighting Blindness; Christopher Patnoe, Google; and Rachel Rooney, Ringsend Community Services Forum

Google has opened a dedicated accessibility space where Google engineers, researchers and wider product teams will focus on driving new innovation in accessible technology to help to remove some of the barriers that people with disabilities face everyday.

The Accessibility Discovery Centre has been built in consultation with local partners including Spinal Injuries Ireland, ADHD Ireland, the National Disability Authority, Fighting Blindness and Google’s internal Disability Alliance employee resource group.

The centre will facilitate tours to increase awareness through a series of interactive and gaming zones that illustrate how people with disabilities use technology.

Christopher Patnoe, accessibility and disability inclusion, Google, said: “The Accessibility Discovery Centre isn’t just a place where we will build better products and services – it’s also a medium through which we can engage more effectively with different disability communities to better understand and address their needs. The new space can break down barriers and will ultimately change lives for the better.”

Among the first events to take place at the new space will be regular readouts with accessibility and disability communities. Developers will also be given the resources they need to integrate accessibility into products from the beginning of their processes.

TechCentral Reporters

Read More: Assistive Technology Google