Google’s Latest Update Focuses On Inclusivity For People With Visual, Speech, And Hearing Disabilities

Google has introduced an array of new updates whose main focus is inclusivity for people with specific disabilities like hearing, speech, and visual impairments.

The company has recently been caught up in previewing all sorts of new accessibility functionalities over a number of different products. And it’s just in time for a month that celebrates Global Accessibility Awareness.

In addition to putting forward a number of tags to Android apps in the Play Store, Google is also working hard towards the launch of innovative features for apps such as Gmail and Google Meet that enhance the way users with special needs gain access to the web and make use of their smartphones.

Just recently, we saw the tech giant shed light upon how it planned on bringing features like alt-to-text to pictures in Gmail. For those who may not be aware, this is another name given to a description that pops up when an image does not load.

Moreover, you’ll also see them read out loud by a functionality known as a screen reader. And that is Google’s main focus at the moment.

The new functionality will do wonders for screen readers as they’ll now get an up-close preview of what a particular attachment that’s given to them is all about. And the best bit is, that the update is already being launched for all users.

But the company is not stopping there. They are now planning on introducing a unique feature in the form of a multi-pin that is for Google Meet only. This allows a user to put up numerous video tiles on a screen.

During collabs, disabled people would be able to witness both a presenter’s screen as well as the screen belonging to an interpreter. And in case you don’t have any disability, you can still see use the very handy feature that pins a number of users to a single screen for calls on Google Meet.

The company has gone as far as calling this a life-changing ordeal and we can understand why because for those that are suffering from hearing impairments or are deaf, life would be so much easier.

Google also has an upcoming exciting feature in store for people suffering from visual impairments. For instance, they’re going the extra mile for such users by enabling video content to be conveniently accessible across the board.

One particular feature of interest is the audio descriptions functionality that goes on to explain exactly what’s present on the screen. And a big plus point is how it’s going to be available for the content seen on YouTube that was posted as early as last year.

Last but not least, we can see Google taking its Project Euphoria to the next level. And by that, we mean launching it in four different popular languages like Hindi, French, Spanish, and even Japanese.

The grand initiative was actually launched three years back by Google to help those with speech issues. Google wanted to bring forward a much more accommodating model relating to speech recognition and now it seems they’re on the right track to doing just that.

The results obtained through the project will be used to better AI-powered technology and train virtual assistants.


Read next: Apps On The Google Play Store Are Being Updated With Accessibility Tags To Help Those With Disabilities
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