Q&A with the Winners: Rahma Utami & Noor Muhammad
In this Q&A, Rahma Utami & Noor Muhammad talk about their team’s solution — “Ba11y, Crowdsource a11y reporting platform” — which won Best Overall Concept, sponsored by Microsoft in the 2021 Connecting the Unconnected Challenge.
- Please summarize your winning solution
BA11Y is an accessibility reporting platform designed to enable people with disabilities to report accessibility issues they face while using websites, web applications, mobile applications, documents, and social media posts. The platform allows users to submit detailed reports with screenshots, videos, and other media. It provides an easy-to-use interface for website and content owners to receive and resolve those issues. Our solution is built to be simple and user-friendly, enabling people with disabilities to report issues directly without requiring advanced technical skills.
The platform also helps companies to involve disability communities in the user testing process efficiently, and provides technical solutions to solve their accessibility issues. Organisations and companies can use the report as data-driven proof to push a disability-inclusive agenda towards their software development lifecycle.
Our platform allows customers and users to make their websites, web applications, mobile applications, documents, and social media posts accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. By doing so, they create a more inclusive and equitable digital environment while opening up a larger potential audience and improving search engine optimisation.
In addition to the benefits for beneficiaries, our platform also provides significant benefits for our customers and users. Through BA11Y, they can avoid potential lawsuits or penalties for noncompliance with accessibility laws and regulations, saving time and resources while enhancing their brand image and reputation. Additionally, our streamlined and efficient solution for accessibility reporting eliminates the need for manual checks, allowing customers and users to focus on their core business goals.
2.What is the most unique/innovative aspect about your approach?
One of the most unique and innovative aspects of BA11Y is its meaningful participation from people with disabilities to report issues directly. By allowing people with disabilities to report issues directly, we are empowering them to take an active role in making the digital world more accessible and inclusive. This approach empowers people with disabilities to identify and report accessibility issues in real-time, leading to faster resolution of those issues. Additionally, BA11Y is designed to be scalable and flexible, making it easy for organisations of all sizes to implement and use.
3. What did you enjoy most about the CTU Competition and Summit Program?
Participating in the CTU Competition and Summit Program was an incredible experience for our team. We enjoyed connecting with like-minded individuals, learning from industry experts, and showcasing BA11Y to a global audience. The program provided valuable feedback on our solution, which we have incorporated into our plans.
Because of our involvement in CTUC and IEEE, tech-background people in Indonesia start seriously considering digital accessibility when we present this solution.
4. Have you taken any steps to implement your concept since the 2021 CTU Summit?
Since the CTU Summit, we have taken steps to implement BA11Y and bring it to market. We have had discussions with NGOs, governments, companies, and government-related institutions to promote our solution and explore opportunities for collaboration.
We also partner with one smart city in Indonesia to provide a used case sample. In addition, we also present the concept to Indonesia’s national planning bureau (Bappenas) and National Election Committee (KPU), hoping this initiative can be integrated to evaluate government and public service digital assets and services.
We are revising the last version and working on developing a beta version of the platform, which we plan to launch in the coming months.
5. Have you estimated how many people would be impacted if your solution was implemented
We estimate that BA11Y has the potential to impact millions of people with disabilities worldwide, making the digital world more accessible and inclusive for all. There are 1 billion people with disabilities (PWD) Worldwide, out of which 285 million are blind, and 87% are in developing countries.
In Indonesia alone, there are 22 million PWD, and 3.5 million of them are vision-impaired. To put this into perspective, 3.5 million people is equivalent to the population of a country like Uruguay, while 22 million is equal with the number of Australia citizen. With such a significant number of people impacted, we believe BA11Y can make a significant contribution to creating a more inclusive world.
6. Anything else you would like to share
Public services, governments, and private companies can utilise Ba11y’s data collection to create more inclusive products, policy-making and decision-making. It will not only defends vulnerable communities from misinformation or disinformation, but also enables access and meaningful participation. Moreover, once the national digital accessibility standard is launched, Ba11y facilitates the public to monitor the implementation actively.
We are proud of BA11Y, our winning solution, and grateful for the opportunity to participate in the CTU Competition and Summit Program. We believe that our accessibility reporting platform has the potential to make a significant impact in the lives of people with disabilities and contribute to a more inclusive and accessible digital world. We look forward to continuing our work and bringing BA11Y to market in the near future.