From this Thursday November 28, the firm Cabify enabled a version of its mobility application that will be accessible to blind people. The tool incorporates technological improvements to adapt to screen readers based on gestures that work on some phones.
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The project was led by a blind developer, Jonathan Chacon, who is now the company’s senior accessible software engineer. “At the technological level, we have adapted the application to make it easier to process for screen readers who use blind people, such as VoiceOver (which works on iOS devices) and we are also adapting our social networks,” explained Chacón.
The modifications allow the screen reader function, which reproduces through the voice the visual content of the screens of mobile devices, can now read the Cabify application, thanks to semantic and programming modifications.
According to Manuel Torres, general director for Cabify Colombia, the Spanish firm expects to become a 100% inclusive application. In fact, it is working to improve the readability of the platform and make it responsive to voice commands.
“That is the next step, to aspire to a function in which we only leave the most relevant and that the commands look bigger and with adequate colors.” According to Torres, this could benefit people with partial visual impairment.
In addition to the technological update, Cabify began a sensitization process with the more than 300,000 drivers who make use of its platform, providing recommendations on how to help passengers. “Awareness is necessary, the world of disability is still very unknown and many of us do not know how to treat a person with disabilities,” says Chacón.
The Spanish company says that in 2018 it invested almost 30% on the amount of its gross margin in research, development and innovation and hopes that by the first half of 2020 it will have been able to incorporate all the advances designed to improve the experience of its visually impaired clients .
