Google, please be good

Around one billion people in the world experience some form of disability. These people are also more likely to have other burdens. These include lower education, inadequate health care, lower wages and an increased cost of living.

The internet, in its core, is nondiscriminatory. Everybody can be equal when access is equal. That is where digital accessibility comes in. When you create a website, an app or any digital experience, you can include everybody equally.

The challenge of making something accessible is often not technical. The challenge is making people aware that they can contribute to accessibility and motivating them to do so. This is a challenge when you're trying to make an accessible product. The challenge is even bigger when you want an entire organisation to create accessible products. To have people world wide create accessible products, that's a near impossible challenge.

Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world.
- Archimedes

Enter Google

There is no organisation that shapes our digital experience as much as Google does. They are responsible for the most used website, browser and mobile operating system. They have analytics, a voice assistant, their ad network, YouTube, AMP, Gmail and the list goes on.

Now imagine what good can be done for those one billion people by a company like Google. What would happen when an accessibility score would influence your ranking in their search result? What if there were accessibility requirements for publish your app in the Play store? No other company could make a difference like Google.

No one man should have all that power
- Kanye

Nobody could make a difference like a Director of Accessibility at Google. And that is exactly the job opening they have right now. I hope both the people hiring and applying are aware of what an opportunity this is. I hope they hire the most ambitious and empathic person they can find. I hope that person will chose to lead by example. I hope they will look beyond "don't be evil" and chose to be good.