The Usability of ICTs in People with Visual Disabilities: A Challenge in Spain

The use of ICTs provides autonomy, equity, and social inclusion to people with visual disabilities. The National Organization of the Spanish Blind (ONCE) offers its 70,462 legally-blind people the necessary resources for the usability of ICTs. Still, most individuals with visual disabilities do not have a similar support system. This research aims to expose and make visible the importance and need for ICTs usage in this group. The qualitative approach has allowed the modeling of a contextualized inductive process through two heterogeneous discussion groups: eight individuals with legal blindness and six with moderate visual impairment, as well as three in-depth interviews with experts in typhlotechnology, accessibility, and low vision. The following has been verified: there is a lot of misinformation among people with visual disabilities outside the coverage of ONCE; accessibility is still not a priority for companies and institutions when creating and developing products and services with Design for All; the need for more professionals to advise and train users with blindness and low vision is clear. In Spain, there are almost a million visually-impaired people not affiliated with ONCE, for whom access to technical aids and digital literacy is a priority problem in which the Government should intervene.