# Android Developers and Accessibility - Challenges and Proposed Solutions

DevFeed: [Android Developers and Accessibility - Challenges and Proposed Solutions](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/android-developers-and-accessibility-challenges-and-proposed-solutions-38458.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://eevis.codes/blog/2023-07-17/android-developers-and-accessibility-challenges-and-proposed-solutions/>)

Author: Eevis Panula

Published: 2023-07-17T04:21:11.887000Z

Content type: article

Language: en

Sources: [Eevis Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/eevis-blog.md>)

Topics: [Accessibility](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/accessibility.md>), [Android](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/android.md>), [Development](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/development.md>), [Requirements](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/requirements.md>), [implementation](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/implementation.md>), [Users](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/users.md>)

Tags: [accessibility](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/accessibility.md>), [accessibility-requirements](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/accessibility-requirements.md>), [accessible](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/accessible.md>), [android](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/android.md>), [app](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/app.md>), [developers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/developers.md>), [development](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/development.md>), [implementation](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/implementation.md>), [requirements](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/requirements.md>), [users](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/users.md>)

## AI overview

This blog post examines accessibility challenges faced by Android developers, including limited accessibility knowledge, difficulty understanding disabled users' needs, and companies treating accessibility as an extra cost or postponing it until after development. It also introduces proposed solutions based on research and the author's master's thesis.

## Source excerpt

My current Big Project is my master's thesis - I'm writing about Android accessibility, and my goal is to create a list of checks Android developers could use to create more accessible apps. I'm super excited about the theme, and once it's ready, I will definitely share the results on my blog. One of the main theoretical themes in the thesis is how Android developers implement accessibility and what challenges prevent them from doing so. Research also provides some solutions to these challenges. In this blog post, we'll first look through some of the challenges Android developers face (although these are common for other types of development as well) and then discuss proposed solutions. The Challenges Let's first look at the challenges developers face. I've listed all the resources used in the Resources section. The list has three studies about Android developers, their accessibility knowledge, and their willingness and readiness to develop accessible apps. Not Knowing About Accessibility and Lack of Awareness The first problem I want to mention is that Android developers often lack accessibility knowledge. This lack of familiarity varies - for some, it's total unawareness, but for most, it shows as problems understanding the exact needs of disabled users. 1 This finding is something I can confirm from my own experiences. Often Android developers are familiar with the fact that accessibility should be part of an app. Still, the exact implementation and why they must do something are unclear. Companies Ignoring Accessibility Requirements Another aspect of the lack of awareness is that companies ignore the accessibility requirements. Patel et al. 2 found out that the leadership in companies often prioritized other things over accessibility when a deadline was approaching. They usually see accessibility as an extra cost rather than an opportunity. This attitude is also visible in the internal policies, so for developers, it's often hard to find time to fix accessibilit