Access is only the starting point. We’re co-creating a world where people with disabilities can thrive.
Sharing our learnings to build inclusive and accessible creative
Every creative choice marketers make has the power to shape how we see ourselves and each other. In efforts to propel better work that both resonates with and accurately represents people with disabilities we’ve expanded All In, our inclusive marketing toolkit, to include new insights on accessible marketing.
How we’re building for disability inclusion
We’re building a workplace where people with disabilities feel seen, valued, and empowered.
Find out howHow we’re working to better recruit, hire, and co-create with Googlers with disabilities
Googlers with disabilities make critical contributions across the company. We’re actively working to make Google a place where everyone can learn, grow, and have an impact. Here are a few ways we’re doing it:
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Launched a new careers site to better recruit people with disabilities, including information about workplace accommodations
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Created a training on Disability Fundamentals for managers at Google, then partnered with Disability:In to make the course available to their partner companies.
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Cultivating community through Disability Alliance, our internal employee resource group (ERG), which was named ERG of the Year 2020 by Disability:IN
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Joined the Valuable 500 as one of 14 iconic companies, working to “co-create solutions which will transform the business system to be more inclusive of people with disabilities.”
We’re working with the disability community to improve our everyday products.
Learn about Project EuphoniaA research project to help millions be better understood
For the millions of people around the world who have atypical speech, face-to-face communication can be difficult and using voice recognition technologies can be frustrating, too. To help with this, thousands of people with speech impairments submitted speech samples through a Google research initiative called Project Euphonia. With their help, and in collaboration with partners like ALS Therapy Development Institute, Team Gleason, and the Motor Neurone Disease Association, the Euphonia team worked to train new speech recognition models with the aim of improving tools like Live Transcribe and Google Assistant.
People with disabilities are leading some of our most exciting innovations.
Learn about the Start with One experimentsIdeas that impact many often start with one
Members of the disability community are often the first to come up with innovative solutions to challenges they’ve faced in their lives. Our Start with One experiments are a collection of projects that began with a maker working with one person to innovate for them and their community using Google technology. Many of these projects then spread to impact many more beyond their initial scope.
We’re improving representation in our media and challenging others to do the same.
Read about our workPushing for more authentic representation of people with disabilities
The stories we tell shape the way we see each other and ourselves. Representing people with disabilities authentically and with respect for their full identities is an essential part of building more disability inclusion in the world.
We’ve officially partnered with LaVant Consulting, a disability-focused strategy and communications firm founded by Andraéa LaVant (she/her), to guide our work in disability representation. With the help of LaVant Consulting, we are featuring stories that show how people in the disability community are driving accessibility in the world.
In 2021, we also launched All In, our inclusive marketing toolkit, which shares our learnings and ongoing work to improve representation of people with disabilities, as well as other groups who are marginalized by structural inequalities due to their identities. We worked with Disability:In to create specific guidelines for eliminating stereotypes in representations of people with disabilities, and share these insights in the hopes of driving progress in the industry overall.
Your tools should adapt to you. We’re building with accessibility in mind.
Hardware
Live Transcribe, Voice Access, Action Blocks, and more to make your hardware work for you
Online tools
Screen readers, magnifiers, keyboards, and more help you browse the web with ease
Workspace
Get things done with access features for all our workspace products
More ways we’re building for disability inclusion:
Aubrie Lee (she/her) President of the Disability Alliance, Google
The purpose of technology is to expand what we can do, so we have a responsibility to use it to significantly improve the lives of Disabled people. Building for everyone requires respecting our Disabled workers and involving Disabled people as decision makers at every stage of the process.
Googlers with disabilities building community
Google’s Disability Alliance was named Employee Resource Group of 2020 by Disability:IN. In honor of Disability Pride Month, Googlers with disabilities shared how they’re celebrating their disabilities as part of their identities.
We’re committed to providing accessible hiring and workplace experiences.
Learn about our accommodations teamsEnsuring a fair, accessible hiring process and productive work experience
The Disability Accommodations team at Google is a devoted team that is working to make sure that all employees have what they need to do their work. The team supports employees with resources like personal care assistance, visual support assistance, sign language interpreters, and CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) captioning. The Candidate Accommodations team provides similar support for candidates, to help ensure a barrier-free interview experience.
A CODA story: Why one Googler advocates for accessible technology
Read the storyA CODA story: Using Google’s accessible technology to stay connected
As a CODA, or “child of deaf adults,” Googler Tony Lee (he/him) has always straddled two worlds. But with the help of assistive technologies like Live Caption and Google Meet, Tony and his family are able to share the moments that matter most, no matter the distance or their hearing ability.
Innovator of the Year
Google was named 2021 Marketplace Innovator of the Year for Products by Disability:IN.
Learn more about itWe were named 2021 Marketplace Innovator of the Year for Products by Disability:IN.
Accessibility is at the core of our product mission at Google, and we have pushed this commitment even further in recent years.
Hiroshi Lockheimer (he/him) and more Android team members accepted the award on Google’s behalf, acknowledging this work. The award recognizes innovative products that are inclusively designed for people of all abilities.
How Google Maps is helping people with disabilities navigate the world
Read about the featuresHelping people with disabilities navigate an often inaccessible world
For the 130 million wheelchair users worldwide and the more than 30 million Americans who have difficulty using stairs, it is essential to know accessibility information about your route and your destination before you leave, but this information is not always available, or easy to find.
With Accessible Places turned on, you can see accessibility information displayed prominently when you search for a place on Google Maps. And with "wheelchair accessible” routes, you can find accessible ways to get there.
Accessibility is at the core of all Google for Education products.
Read about our workAccessibility is at the core of all Google for Education products.
Schools include all different types of learners, so it’s critical for educators to have the tools to keep students included, engaged, and informed throughout the learning process. Google for Education products like Chromebooks, Classroom, and Assignments, are created with accessibility in mind, to help everyone do their best work with support for their individual learning styles and needs.
How a blind runner is using technology to exercise independently
Read about Project GuidelineProject Guideline: Technology helping people who are blind or low vision run independently
Project Guideline is a Google Research project, developed in partnership with Guiding Eyes for the Blind, that uses machine learning to help people who are blind or low vision run independently and regain a sense of independence in their exercise. Using only a phone running Guideline technology and a pair of headphones, Guiding Eyes for the Blind CEO Thomas Panek (he/him) was able to run independently for the first time in decades and complete an unassisted 5K in New York City’s Central Park.
A new communication tool built in collaboration with the disability community
Read about Project RelateA communication tool for people with speech impairments
After years of research through Project Euphonia, Google teams have worked closely with the disability community to develop Project Relate, a new app, currently in beta testing, that can be trained to create customized speech recognition models for individual voices. Using this tool, a person could create live captions for their voice, generate a clear, computerized voice to repeat what they’ve said out loud, or speak directly to Google Assistant.
Meet the innovators helping to amplify Black disabled creatives.
Read the storyMeet the innovators creating opportunities for inclusion using Google Workspace.
Jillian Mercado (she/her) and Brent Lewis (he/him) built public databases to elevate opportunities for artists and innovators often left out of the creative world. Mercado’s Black Disabled Creatives and Lewis’ Diversify Photo databases were first built using Google Workspace tools, and through the power of word of mouth, they have grown to help amplify creative voices that are too often missing.
This LGBTQ+ and disabled chef is empowering her community through cooking.
Read the storyMeet the LGBTQ+ and disabled chef empowering her community through cooking
Alexis Hillyard (she/her), an LGBTQ+ chef with limb difference, created her award-winning YouTube channel, Stump Kitchen, to celebrate diverse bodies and her love for healthy food.
Google employee’s quote
By making a product more accessible for people with disabilities, we’re enabling people to learn more, to accomplish more. I feel so proud to be able to help make our products better for people so that they can do anything that they want to do in their lives.
