Donux Couldn't have said it better, hah.
I've also worked on a project involving physically disabled people, especially with new regulations coming into effect across the EU. The current state of physical accessibility is really just a band-aid. In many less developed EU countries, accessibility has been pushed for years, but if you actually look at the design, it’s often completely unusable for those with physical disabilities.
Take basic needs like toilets, for example. On the surface, they all seem accessible. But when one of them was audited by someone who’s actually disabled – purely from a usability point of view – he said wearing diapers was the better option most of the time. He simply couldn’t access the majority of “accessible” toilets because of obvious obstacles between the entrance and the toilet itself.
Truly good design takes time, and time costs real money – labour, high-quality materials, actual testing.
In the case of tech, you nailed it. These “beautiful-looking features” are killing everyone’s eyes (some of us just feel it sooner). But most people won’t care until it affects them. And that’s okay – food was the same story. No one cared until the obesity epidemic hit. Now we’ve got a booming healthy food industry because more people are choosing to live better.
I hope the same thing happens with devices. And I really hope no one has to go blind just to push forward truly healthier options.