Authors: Subhashish Panigrahi, Maari Maitreyi, Claudia Pozo
The internet has connected us widely, helping share knowledge and even essential services. However, nearly 15% of the Asia Pacific population (700 of 4.8 billion people) are excluded due to their disabilities. Persons with visual impairment who do not speak English and other non-Eurocolonial languages remain further excluded due to inaccessible formats, poor localizations, and cost-prohibitive, closed technologies. This is where the Accessibility, Language, and Tech for the People (ALT) research-in-action process comes in. At its core, it aims to increase engagement and improve the online experience for persons with visual impairments, both as users and producers of digital knowledge. ALT recognizes the intersection of language justice and disability rights, and seeks to bridge the gap between the two. This process specifically focuses on the South Asia region, home to about 650 languages and 204 to 306 million people with disabilities. Our ongoing initiative is centered around persons with visual impairment who are users of the Hindi and Bangla languages from India, Bangla in Bangladesh, and Urdu in Pakistan.
Why is this important?
While over 75% of internet users are from the Majority World, accessing and operating the internet in their native languages remains a challenge. This issue is further exacerbated for persons with visual impairments, who already face barriers in accessing technology. This research-in-action emphasizes community co-creation, co-leadership, and co-authorship, ensuring that the project is driven by the needs and voices of the communities it serves.
This blog attempts to share initial insights from the ALT research-in-action process members, explore the key challenges they encounter while using the Internet in their languages of choice, and highlight opportunities for improvement.
Exploring key barriers to digital access
One significant barrier is the distinction between accessibility and usability. While technology might be technically accessible, it isn’t always user-friendly, leading to further complications for persons with visual impairments. As Sneha P.P, a Senior Research Manager with the Open Knowledge Initiatives programme, IIIT Hyderabad in India and not a visually impaired person, notes, “accessibility of digital devices needs to be studied as a problem of its own. Just being accessible does not mean something is also very user-friendly, readily available or does not require training and adaptability. Conversely, technology that is usable but inaccessible can add further complications for persons with disabilities.” This sentiment is echoed by Arvind Sharma, a master trainer at Saksham-Assistech Lab (IIT Delhi) joint initiative teaching people with disabilities to read, write, and build digital literacy using Assistive Technologies, who points out: “There is access to the content, but information does not really reach people.”
Language and the quality of local content present another major hurdle. Many technological solutions and platforms lack support for languages other than English, creating significant obstacles for non-English speakers. Khansa Maria—a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, and advocate for accessibility and inclusion in Pakistan, shares, “unlike other languages, we don’t have a lot of technological solutions, so English is primarily my language of tech usage.” Furthermore, the quality of local digital materials can be poor, and machine translators are often ineffective, as Ishan, an Assistant Professor at the Department of English, Jadavpur University, India, and a language and accessibility activist, observes: “available machine translators produce poor translation for being built poorly.” Vashkar, a consultant working in ICTs for development, e-accessibility, and information accessibility for persons with disabilities in Bangladesh, also highlights challenges in Bangla with legacy fonts predating Unicode, making content unreadable for those with blindness: “Lack of accessible content is one of the biggest challenges in Bangla. Additionally, there is a lack of good-quality keyboards, complicating language input. Many still use legacy fonts, predating the Unicode standard, which screen readers cannot read. People with blindness cannot access such content.”
Rahul Bajaj, a lawyer and co-founder of Mission Accessibility, further elaborates on the challenges faced by visually impaired users in India. He highlights the significant barrier of screen readers struggling to adapt to Hindi-language content, stating, “the main barrier that I face personally and that I know is a challenge is a screen reader’s ability to adapt to Hindi language content easily.” This issue is compounded by the difficulty in accessing and seamlessly switching between Hindi language voices on devices, leading to a diminished ability to engage with Hindi content.
Technical formats and the nature of digital content often create accessibility barriers. Inaccessible PDFs, legacy fonts, and graphical elements without alt text can interfere with screen reader functionality and the ability of users to effectively navigate and understand information. Arvind points out, “When a PDF is not created in an accessible way, our screen reader software can’t read it.” Similarly, Srinidhi, a disabled feminist, researcher, educator, and writer from India, explains that screen reader users cannot “skim” content but must navigate “line by line,” which affects how information is processed.
Nirmita, who works on policy and research in the space of digital accessibility and disability-related technology use, also flagged how she faced difficulty in accessing Tamil content as a student. While studying music, she was unable to access songs, manuscripts and notations in Indian languages like Tamil and Sanskrit and had to rely solely on the knowledge available in English books. She noted that despite translation and other apps being available, Hindi or other Indian language content is still not equitably available since translations are poor, fonts are unreadable, and support is lacking. Comprehending a mechanical sounding voice like e-Speak in different languages can be challenging for many since its speech is not natural and has an English accent. For people with no knowledge of English, this is a huge deterrent from using technology. She stressed the need for training and ongoing support to ensure that people can effectively use technology and navigate digital spaces, highlighting accessible solutions for everyday life. “Talking about accessible solutions, I use my smartphone and laptop the most. Installing NVDA language packs on a computer or phone can be a very powerful solution for persons with vision disabilities who want to access the Internet, digital content and services in their native languages.”
The cost of assistive technology, coupled with a general lack of access, skills, and knowledge about available solutions, forms a substantial barrier. Khansa notes the financial aspect, “I hate it that assistive technology is costly.” Vashkar adds that people with blindness often have less technological skill and insufficient information about available services. Ishan also highlights the need to create access to the internet and devices so that those who are not currently engaged with these technologies can benefit. In fact, access to technology is often linked to social privilege. Ishan observes that many visually impaired individuals in the subcontinent, from the marginalized class, caste, and other social locations, remain excluded from technological benefits altogether.
The possibilities of accessible tech
The path forward, as envisioned by interviewees, involves leveraging technology and community to create genuine access and independence. Assistive technology can be empowering, as underlined by Arvind, “Our screen reader tells us everything.” He further adds, “I like this very much, this is powerful. It was an invention, liberating our lives. You can access Hindi content using screen readers.” Sneha suggests drawing parallels between physical accommodations and digital accessibility, such as adding image descriptions (alt texts), ensuring color contrasts, and using accessible language to make the internet more usable for people with visual impairments. Khansa emphasizes the importance of widening access and increasing independence. Her standpoint also includes creating community spaces for knowledge sharing, advocacy, and solidarity, noting, “there is a lot of knowledge and a lot more people who want to help. Creating a space can also bring out that knowledge from within these communities, help solve problems, so we are able to come together to advocate, create a community, share resources, and space. When tech is frustrating, we need to come together and lobby together.”
Vashkar focuses on the practical benefits of speech-to-text and AI, explaining, “With speech-to-text, I can easily type by speaking. This is a massive solution for me. An accessible solution can change people’s lives.” He also points to the increasing ability of AI to recognize objects and people, enhancing daily navigation, and dreams of a single, fully accessible platform.
Srinidhi, while not a visually impaired person,recognizes the progress in OCR and AI image descriptions, noting, “there’s so much better OCR now than there was even three years ago. Now ChatGPT writes better image descriptions than Facebook.” However, she calls for a more nuanced understanding of disability within the tech development community, stating “Only a few are working on technology who can nuance the experiences of disability. AI in so many ways has improved the lives of persons with disabilities especially folks with blindness.”
Ishan spotlights the role of platforms like YouTube, emphasizing the wealth of readily available audiobooks, noting, “YouTube has created a revolution, allowing users to create diverse audiovisual content, including audiobooks.” He also points out the ongoing use of social media for disability advocacy in Bangla and calls for practical improvements like adding captions or audio descriptions to video content.
Nirmita also emphasized the empowering possibilities of technology. Smartphones and laptops equipped with NVDA are described as “powerful solutions”, enabling independence and survival. They allow visually impaired individuals to access information, work, and engage in entertainment. She also mentioned using Alexa for reminders, which highlights the potential of voice-activated technology to assist in everyday tasks. While acknowledging limitations, particularly the English-centric nature of some solutions, Nirmita’s experience clearly shows that technology can bridge gaps and facilitate participation in various aspects of life.
Looking ahead, the development of robust Hindi text-to-speech solutions is crucial for seamless digital engagement. As Rahul emphasizes, “We need to have good Hindi text-to-speech solutions both on the phone and on the computer in terms of stuff that can easily be installed and can automatically switch from English to Hindi when you come across the content so that there is no friction…” Such advancements would significantly reduce barriers and enhance the online experience for visually impaired Hindi speakers.
Looking ahead
From these experiences, it’s clear that despite the internet’s immense potential, the barriers to independence and dignity through digital accessibility are far from over. While the 61.2 million people with visual impairment in South Asia face these barriers, those who speak languages other than English and Eurocolonial languages are further marginalized. The barriers discussed—from lack of Unicode-compliance, PDF accessibility for complex South Asian scripts, text descriptions, basic usability, language support, technical formatting, and assistive technologies costs to training and community co-creation programs. All of these create a complex web of challenges requiring immediate redressal. Recognizing and understanding these hurdles is the first step towards dismantling them. As the interviewees reflect, only by removing these barriers, the digital world can become a truly equitable space for everyone, regardless of language, ability, or socioeconomic background.
The interviewees’ pioneering roles and their insights offer a roadmap for progress, ranging from accessible technology, screen readers, speech-to-text, AI-driven tools and online content-sharing platforms like YouTube. A large number of stakeholders need to take action to solve the accessibility issues irrespective of the criticality of the issues. Hence, a community-based, concerted advocacy is required to demand for the redressal. ALT aims to document some of the critical issues Bangla, Hindi and Urdu visually impaired users face to supplement grassroots, community advocacy.
We feel this work is not just about technology; it’s about distributed power, knowledge, justice, and ensuring that people with visual impairment can participate fully in the digital world. Our collaborators are already challenging power structures and we hope they will have more evidence-based resources to demand accessibility. Stay tuned for updates about ALT in 2026!
Note: Some quotes have been edited for clarity.
Bios
Arvind Sharma, works as a Master Trainer in a collaborative effort between Saksham and Assistech Lab, IIT Delhi teaching people with disabilities to read, write and build digital literacy using Assistive Technologies.
Claudia Pozo, is a researcher and coordinator working for knowledge and epistemic justice online at Whose Knowledge?
Ishan Chakraborty, is an Assistant Professor at the Department of English, Jadavpur University, and a language and accessibility activist.
Khansa Maria, is a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford, a disability consultant and advocate for accessibility and inclusion.
Maari Maitreyi, is a researcher and coordinator working for knowledge and epistemic justice online at Whose Knowledge?
Nirmita Narasimhan, works on policy research and advocacy related to intellectual property reform and technology access for persons with disabilities.
Puthiya Purayil Sneha, is Senior Research Manager with the Open Knowledge Initiatives programme, Raj Reddy Centre for Technology and Society(RCTS), International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad.
Rahul Bajaj, is Co-Founder at Mission Accessibility.
Subhashish Panigrahi, is a nonprofit leader with a background in social entrepreneurship, digital rights, community-building, and language technology.
Srinidhi Raghavan, a disabled feminist, researcher, educator and writer; working at the intersections of sexuality, gender, disability and technology.
Vashkar Bhattacharjee, works in ICTs for development, e-accessibility and information accessibility for persons with disabilities.
