Are we there yet? The developing state of mobile access equity

Abstract

ABSTRACT The purpose of the studies presented in this paper was to inform federal regulatory policy concerning the mobile phone industry’s level of compliance with the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010. The Mobile Phone Accessibility Reviews included phone models from the top four wireless carriers, one prepaid carrier, and five randomly selected Lifeline Carriers. Using the providers’ web pages as a reference, researchers identified 215 phone models for the 2015 sample, 214 for the 2017 sample, and 141 mobile phones for the 2019/20 sample. For each phone model, data were collected on the presence of features that impact accessibility and/or were designed to provide access to people with vision, hearing, cognitive, and mobility disabilities. To illuminate the current state of mobile phone accessibility for people with disabilities, a comparative analysis of mobile phone accessibility features by disability type, phone type (smartphone compared to non-smartphone), and data collection period (2015, 2017, 2019/20) are detailed. Findings showed that, in the aggregate, the accessibility of mobile phones is improving. But accessibility features are not uniformly available in all phone models, and gaps in the accessibility experience persist. Enabling individuals with disabilities to select from the full range of commercially available devices would ensure continued progress toward a more universally inclusive mobile phone market.