By Alexis Kashar, BFF Belonging and Mattering Council-member, disability rights attorney and entrepreneur 

Through all of its iterations, the World Wide Web has offered new forms of access while simultaneously creating new barriers. As we migrate from the current version – Web2 – to Web3, it is important to take the lessons learned from the inaccessibility of our current digital world to ensure our future endeavors maximize access for all by prioritizing the voices of those who have been most marginalized.

What opportunities exist with Web3, what exactly the metaverse means, and how interoperability of various products and tools will work across platforms remain unclear for many of us. However, one thing is clear: there is haste to exploit the potential of Web3.

Historically, people with disabilities and other people in intentionally marginalized groups are left behind when it comes to creating mass-produced products. Access ends up being a costly afterthought that no one wants to touch. One only needs to look at Web2 to understand why. Not only are a very low number of websites accessible, but there is simply not enough bandwidth to change the code of millions of sites that exist or are being built each day. Playing catch-up is nearly impossible at this point.

While Web3 can be thought of as a continuation of Web2, there is new opportunity to lead the way in the creation of products in Web3, realizing a suite of products that reach and benefit more people than the imagined “standard” set of users. One of the reasons I’ve joined BFF’s Belonging and Mattering Council is to actively respond to the needs of us “others.” BFF, an open-access community whose mission is to help women and non-binary people get educated, connected, and empowered in Web3, is challenging the status quo and working to remove the barriers that face people like me around the world.

Designing for the most challenging user cases often creates products that benefit many others.  Not all designs are created equally, with built-in adaptability to serve multiple audiences. There is opportunity in the gap, which allows designers to be innovative and creative when working with diverse communities to create products that cater to a larger segment of customers.  On the same note, being Deaf myself does not make me an expert on the needs of all disabled individuals.

An example of something that started out as an accommodation for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing but now is considered an essential function is captions and subtitles. These features were made possible by an Act of Congress to require captioning on television screens over 30 years ago. To understand the impact of captioning that came from this requirement, one need only to look at social media.  Numerous data sources indicate that most videos are viewed without sound, and captioning is a feature people – whether Deaf, Hard of Hearing, or hearing – often use to access those videos.

With Web3, not only is it essential to build in captioning as a default feature, it can be thoughtfully crafted to deliver information designed to evoke reaction in ways never thought possible. While accuracy should be the most important feature of captioning, there is plenty of room for creativity to ensure that every single sound whether verbal or nonverbal can be expressed visually. While far from perfect, one need only to look at the “Squid Game” subtitle debate or the extra elements added to captions or subtitles on other streaming shows that have received raves.

Research and development must begin and end with the real experts: those of us who are not invited to the tech tables, despite tech being a necessary and helpful tool that helps us live our best lives.  As important, there must be more education pipelines to ensure the ongoing talent development of underrepresented groups to create innovative products. Moreover, there must be a corporate shift to include and invite people who are Deaf, disabled and/or members of other underrepresented groups to participate on corporate boards and investment houses, going beyond the mandates of diversity, equity and inclusion requirements. Without these essential changes, Web3 will simply be a prettier version of the inaccessible Web2 and we will have failed to capitalize on real innovation.