AOL and the Spirit of Change

By Joan Leotta

This month the Solutions Marketing Group recognizes a company that is striving for perfection—in accessibility—by one of America's e-icons, America Online, (AOL). The company's more than 25 million members utilize interactive services, which include reaching the World Wide Web and e-mail through AOL. The company's "You've Got Mail" greeting has become a part of Americana, even serving as the title of a movie.

On the Road to Change

AOL VP and Public Relations Director, Andrew Weinstein admits in the company's early years, accessibility was not as high profile a concern. "Steve Case, our CEO, often makes the point in the first years of rapid growth we were so focused on simply keeping above water that we just forged ahead. Once we were established and the company matured, we turned to consider how to use our position to make the e-world, and the world in general a better place. Our goal is to become the most valued and respected company in the world. To do that, we know we have a responsibility to be good corporate citizens, seeking out markets that enlarge our vision as well as our profit, such as the disability market, and to take leadership role in social issues that touch the wired world, such as closing the digital divide and civic engagement via the Internet."

AOL versions 4.0 and 5.0 were accessible to varying degrees. Instant Messaging, (IM) has been a particular boon to those with hearing impairments since it allows typed "conversation" in real time. But the changes made in those versions were incremental. It was not until AOL 6.0—which became available to the general public in October 2000—that accessibility was placed in the foreground.

Debbie Fletter, AOL's Director of Accessibility notes, "The redesign of AOL 6.0 was not simply an incremental change. With 6.0 we rebuilt the entire software from the ground up. With AOL 6.0, we started the process from scratch, which gave us a chance to make our vision statement a reality. The company made a conscious choice that accessibility would be a value in the new operating system—from the beginning."

What AOL 6.0 Offers

AOL 6.0 has built-in voice recognition and improved keyboard navigation. Text handling relevant to screen readers has been vastly improved. AOL Anywhere provides universal accessibility. Fletter points out two new products, developed at the same time as 6.0, also expand access. AOL-by-Phone lets you telephone for e-mail, sports scores, and weather. It responds to voice commands over an 800 number for an additional monthly fee of $5.00 (this service is free before April 2000). AOL's Mobile Communicator allows instant messages through a pager-like device. "It's a great new product for all our members and particularly ground-breaking for our users who are deaf or hard of hearing," says Fletter.

Learning to Communicate

The introduction of 6.0 has brought about the version's greatest accomplishment—the process of expanded communication. AOL has recognized the need to be in constant communication with the disability community as it makes AOL 6.0, a better and more disability-friendly product.

In July 1999, the National Federation for the Blind (NFB) filed a suit against AOL. In a letter to AOL on behalf of the blind community, NFB Director, Curtis Chong said, "the overall situation is that blind people find the AOL software difficult, if not impossible, to use with their screen access programs. The software does not provide enough access to its functions via the keyboard, and it does not display information on the screen using standard Windows..."

Weinstein responds, "We were already working on these issues, but the suit made us realize we had not communicated well with the disability community and we had to improve."

As a result, AOL met with NFB and more than forty other groups representing persons with various other disabilities. Since then, AOL outlined its new accessibility policy, the appointment of a single point of contact to deal with disability issues throughout the company, and unveiled the plans for programs they had already been developing. In July 2000, NFB agreed to withdraw its suit for one year.

"When AOL showed us the AOL-by-Phone, you could sense the atmosphere in the room become more positive towards AOL," says Chong. In addition, AOL selected beta testers for its improvements from the disability community and appointed Debbie Fletter as its Director of Accessibility.

Fletter, who'd been with AOL for six years prior, began her new role October 2000. She first became interested in accessibility issues when she saw the importance the Internet played in the life of a friend who became a paraplegic through an accident. "Another friend with cerebral palsy uses the Internet to aid in basic tasks like finding names in the Yellow Pages. I wanted to be a part of something that would make their daily lives easier."

Partnerships

AOL has developed strategic partnerships with the National Center for Accessible Media and many disability advocacy organizations. "Rather than mention them by name, I'd rather just mention that these people are beta testers for our services. They provide us with valuable feedback and that allows us to maintain a constant dialog with individuals and organizations to ensure that we are addressing issues across the board from mobility, visual and hearing impairments. Though we do not want to share specifics responses, the comments on these new features is generally favorable," says Fletter.

Chong, a beta tester himself adds, "From my perspective, AOL 6.0 has improved greatly. I can use e-mail and have partial use of the address book without assistance. Some fields in the address book are not accessible yet. The right screen reader is still needed for weather and news. Parental controls are still not speech-controlled, the help desk needs some upgrading, and chat rooms are still not useable for the blind, but AOL has come a long way."

Future

"AOL 6.0 is in a constant state of improvement," notes Weinstein. "We review the program every few months and make incremental changes. As far as those with visual impairments are concerned, screen reading compatibility is one in need of additional program [changes]. But the attitude of AOL is what deserves meritorious recognition, even if our product is not yet quite where the disability community wants it to be."

One of Fletter's roles is to work with product groups, helping them determine features they need think about to make their products more accessible. "In the next few months we are having a company-wide disability awareness campaign. This effort will fuel further awareness and enable us to reach pockets of the company that have not yet been contacted. To date we've been most focused on education around a few priority products. Now we want to step back and take a broader approach at driving awareness. We will continue to do things on both levels."

Says Weinstein, "AOL is a work in progress. I think it's important that we have made progress on accessibility but of even greater importance is that we are committed to continue to make AOL more accessible."

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