"Nothing About Us Without Us" is a fundamental belief of the Disability Rights Movement, describing the need for the full participation of disabled people in any work and innovation on their behalf. One of the ways we live this model is through our partnership with Fable, an accessibility platform powered by people with disabilities. The Fable team, along with our internal #able community, a group of employees with disabilities or neurodivergence, were consulted at every stage of this Plan.
With Fable's help, Spotify surveyed more than 100 people with disabilities on their needs and preferences related to accessibility. Responses included perspectives from people who use assistive technology for vision, hearing, cognition, speech and/or mobility. The survey covered a wide range of topics such as customer support, communications, hiring, physical spaces, digital products, and accommodations. Fable also ran an online focus group session with four people with various accessibility needs to dive deeper into the same topics. These insights were used to inform the development of Spotify's Accessibility Plan.
After the Plan was drafted, an additional focus group with five more participants with disabilities reviewed the draft and gave feedback on it. This iterative approach to involving people with disabilities in the development of the Plan helped to uncover areas for improvement and to bring confidence in the direction of Spotify's accessibility efforts over the next three years.
As an example of how our consultation led to the development of this Plan, survey respondents said the person responding to customer support enquiries should be familiar with assistive technology and accessibility. In response to this feedback, in the "Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)" section of this Plan, Spotify has committed to expanding our existing team with enhanced knowledge, skills, and tools to assist people with disabilities.