The Accessibility Paradox: How Blind and Low Vision Employees Experience and Negotiate Accessibility in the Technology Industry

2025-08-25

AI Summary

This study identifies the “accessibility paradox” in the technology sector: a systemic tension between corporate commitments to accessibility policies and the lived experiences of blind and low-vision employees. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 20 blind/low-vision technology professionals—and integrating analysis of organizational policies and workplace practices—the paper deconstructs the paradox across four dimensions: digital infrastructure, adaptive institutional arrangements, ability-based assumptions, and competing resource priorities. Its key contribution is the conceptualization and empirical validation of the “accessibility paradox” as a structural phenomenon rooted not merely in technical incompatibility, but in the fundamental misalignment between organizational efficiency logics and inclusive values. By moving beyond the dominant techno-centric framing of accessibility, the study advances a theoretically grounded framework for inclusive workplace design and offers actionable, institutionally informed recommendations for policy reform and practice improvement.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: AI for Accessibility
• Computer Vision: Bias, Fairness & Privacy
• Philosophy and Ethics of AI: Bias, Fairness & Equity

Application Category

• Security and Privacy: Privacy-enhancing technologies
• Responsible Web: Technology governance, policy, and regulations
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Incentives in network design for Web infrastructures and ecosystems

Abstract

Many technology companies aim to improve access and inclusion not only by making their products accessible but also by bringing people with disabilities into the tech workforce. We know less about how accessibility is experienced and negotiated by disabled workers within these organizations. Through interviews with 20 BLV workers across various tech companies, we uncover a persistent misalignment between organizational attempts at accessibility and the current realities of these employees. We introduce the concept of the accessibility paradox, which we define as the inherent tension between the productivity- and profit-driven nature of tech companies and their desire to hire and retain disabled workers. Focusing on the experiences of BLV workers, we show how the accessibility paradox manifests in their everyday workplace interactions, including digital infrastructure, accommodations processes and policies, ability assumptions, and competing priorities. We offer recommendations for future research and practice to understand and improve workplace accessibility and inclusion.

Problem

• Misalignment between organizational accessibility efforts and employee realities
• Tension between profit-driven tech companies and disabled worker retention
• Accessibility challenges in digital infrastructure and accommodation processes

Innovation

• Interviewing BLV workers to uncover accessibility misalignments
• Introducing accessibility paradox concept for tech industry tensions
• Analyzing workplace interactions and accommodation processes