Building a more accessible mobile future: Q&A with Fable’s Kate Kalcevich

For many people with disabilities, using apps can be a frustrating experience. Fable helps companies understand these frustrations by conducting usability testing with people with disabilities. Fable’s accessibility testing platform brought to life the real-world impact of inaccessible design in our new report, "The State of Mobile App Accessibility." 

In this Q&A, we talk with Kate Kalcevich, Fable's head of accessibility innovation. Kate, who has worn hearing aids since childhood, shares valuable insights from her extensive experience and Fable's user testing for the report, including direct quotes from people about the barriers they experienced.

Kate lives in Toronto with her husband and two cats (plus a neighborhood cat who believes he's a resident). When she's not championing accessibility, she pursues her passions for fitness and human biology — she even reads medical studies in her spare time. Her personal experience with hearing loss, combined with her extensive career in accessibility, has given her a unique perspective on inclusive design. As she notes, “App accessibility improvements benefit a wide range of users. … Accessibility is simply good, inclusive design.”

Tell me about your personal journey with accessibility.

I've worn hearing aids since I was 6. I learned to speak without hearing well and had extensive speech therapy to improve my pronunciation of words. I rely heavily on lip reading in person and, thankfully, captions and transcripts are available on all major meeting platforms, especially now with online meetings being so prevalent. Growing up, I didn't know other people with disabilities, so my identity as a disabled person developed later, through my career in accessibility. It was then that I discovered the disability community and culture.

You worked in government for 18 years, then switched to Fable. What motivated the change?

I like working quickly and trying new things, which can be challenging in government. I made a big impact advocating for accessibility there, but I wanted to influence the private sector. People interact with private companies daily — shopping, entertainment, etc. — so the potential impact is greater.

Tell us about your recent appointment to the Accessibility Standards Canada Committee.

Yes! It's a way for me to continue contributing to public service. I'm helping create government standards, focusing on the challenges and opportunities in increasing accessibility. If we get accessibility right, it benefits everyone — increasing employment, expanding Canada’s GDP, and affecting how tax dollars are used.

Can you share how your current work and Fable help companies improve digital accessibility?

We provide insights into the human experience by connecting companies with people who have disabilities so they can give feedback on their user experience. Part of the core benefit we offer companies is speed and easy access to this community. Recruitment for these targeted audiences can be difficult. And we hear from our customers that the insights from our community are high quality because many have experience giving detailed feedback. So that combination of speed and quality of insights integrates well into the product development lifecycle – making developing accessible products easier for the companies we work with. 

Can you explain, very simply, why real user testing is important?

Automated test tools are limited — especially on mobile — and only catch code issues, not the full human experience. User testing reveals what the experience is like so you can improve it. Automated testing only reveals where you need to update your code, not how real users are experiencing your app or website. That’s where user testing is essential. 

What was it like working on the State of Mobile App Accessibility report?

It was a great experience, especially collaborating with Ben Ogilvie and the app accessibility team at ArcTouch. I enjoyed learning their perspective on accessibility-first app development and user experience.

Why do you think the report is important?

Mobile apps are the future of customer engagement, but many companies haven't caught up to the needs of all their users. This report raises awareness and helps fill those gaps. App accessibility improvements benefit a wide range of users, from Gen X, who value simplicity and captions, to seniors, who may abandon complex experiences. Many innovations, like smart home speakers, speech-to-text, Internet modems  – even the typewriter and keyboard — originated as accessibility products and features and later became mainstream. Accessibility is simply good, inclusive design. 

What surprised you most about the report's findings?

The lack of landscape-mode support throughout streaming apps. All of the apps use landscape mode for watching videos. But users have to rotate back to portrait mode for other interactions. It's a poor experience for everyone – especially those who have their devices mounted in a fixed position and are unable to physically change the orientation. 

Why are simple things like landscape mode and font scaling overlooked?

Many mobile app development teams have a legacy in creating pixel-perfect designs adding rich content that is often more compact and less responsive than the web. That approach can be at odds with accessibility. There's also a lot of "doing things the way we've always done them," which hinders progress. Changing these legacy mindsets and approaches can be hard.

Were there any positive surprises you found in the report?

A few apps demonstrated a good overall user experience. It's promising to see companies prioritizing the entire user journey, and not just parts of it.

How can companies build a culture of accessibility?

Inclusive hiring is really important. If you don’t have people with disabilities on your team, you're not getting diverse perspectives. And then there's having a means to test your products and experiences with people who have disabilities. Testing the human experience is so important. Whether it's diversity on the team or testing with diverse users, tapping directly into those different perspectives is what helps build culture. 

What are some important first steps to creating more accessible products?

Build upon your own awareness of the experiences of people with disabilities. Use resources like this report and videos of people struggling with inaccessible apps to understand the implications.

What emerging trends in accessibility are you most excited about?

I’m very excited about AI because it has the potential to make it easier to develop and customize apps in ways that are more accessible. We’ll also start to see AI agents getting better at providing customer support and even completing tasks on a user's behalf. And then there's also AI being built into assistive technology — making interactions easier for people with disabilities. For example, there are smart glasses able to describe things in the environment for people who are blind, and improved AI-based transcripts for people like me with hearing impairments. 

Thank you so much for your time today, Kate!

Download the State of Mobile App Accessibility report to identify timely trends and opportunities for improvement, and contact us for a free accessibility assessment of your company's apps.