TD Bank ranked No. 20 on the Fair360, formerly DiversityInc Top 50 Companies list in 2023.
May 18 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day, encouraging accessibility and inclusion for people living with disabilities. We spoke with Samantha Estoesta, Product Manager – Social Innovation Specialization at TD Bank and Product Owner of TD Adapted Accessibility, a new tool that will drive inclusive and accessible experiences for online users.
Created by TD Lab, TD Adapted Accessibility enables users to personalize websites to address their accessibility needs and preferences.
Some of the accommodations users can choose from include reading guides, adjustable font size, dark mode, a dyslexia-friendly font, bionic reading and monochrome mode. Designed as a browser plug-in, the tool will aid colleagues and eventually customers in their experience without affecting the usability of the site.
“As we become even more ingrained in a digital world and we have this ability to hyper personalize our experiences online, we want to make sure that we can provide an accessible online experience that makes sure no one is excluded,” Estoesta said. “We focus on inclusive design practices, and that means designing for the margins to make sure that it doesn’t matter if you have standalone assistive technology — [this tool] allows hyper personalized accommodations for our users.”
As a product manager, Estoesta is on the frontlines of considering accessibility challenges and how to solve them. While many of these responsibilities fall to her, she said creating accessibility is everyone’s duty.
“There’s a place in every role to think about accessibility,” she said. “I always reference those equity considerations, particularly within the accessibility area, to say — how can we think about this day one, in ideation? How do we make sure that we’re thinking about inclusive design principles from day one so that we can prioritize making an accessible product instead of thinking about accessibility as a compliance matter?”
Estoesta encourages product managers to not think about accessibility as a checklist item, but as an opportunity to create products that elicit a sense of belonging.
TD takes pride in offering accessible customer experiences and considering intersectionality. The company allows colleagues and customers to interact via their channel of choice, from utilizing Aira technology, which offers free visual interpretation for blind or low-vision individuals to partnering with Video Relay Services to develop a dedicated phone line for customers who are deaf or hard of hearing.
The TD Adapted Accessibility plug–in is currently being piloted with over 6,000 retail colleagues in the U.S., providing accommodations to retail employees in stores. The second phase of the pilot program will be run alongside Disability:IN to ensure the tool is ready for market consumption. Following this, TD hopes to make the widget available to customers.
“Hopefully we can take away some of the stigma that comes with saying ‘I have an accessibility need’ because it’s available on day one for them,” Estoesta said.
