The Guardian has launched an experimental feature format on World Accessibility Awareness Day, in partnership with
Google and the Royal National Institute of Blind People
Audio storytelling is an avenue into other worlds. So when the Guardian was approached to take part in an experimental project to make journalism more accessible to low-vision and blind users, it felt like an opportunity we couldn’t turn down. Audio has always been about making stories more accessible, and this was an opportunity to push that even further.
The result is a storytelling website called Auditorial, created to showcase the possibilities of accessible stories for blind and low-vision audiences. The story is our own, paired with Google technology and the invaluable accessibility user-testing and expert advice provided by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) – an example of what can be done when inclusive design and thinking are at the forefront from the start.