My Experience With Google Accessibility By Phone

Technology is great! It gives us the ability to be independent, get help when and if we need it, and get and retain employment, and so many more things! When it works, the keyword being when.
We've all been there, you're going about your day, doing some holiday shopping, checking Facebook, or doing whatever you needed to do and... your device starts acting wonky. Or, you have been using it, and things have been going wonderfully. Until that is, you have to update your software. What do you do? Some people may look on YouTube, or any other site, talk to friends and/or family, and maybe try some basic troubleshooting steps, such as turning it off and back on again. Most of the time, these solutions either work, or give you a workaround until the issue is fixed for instance. But, sometimes, no matter how hard you try, or what troubleshooting steps you take, the issue persists. So, then the next logical step is to reach out to tech support.

For people without disabilities, this is pretty straightforward. You call, tell the agent what issue you're having, on which device it's occurring on, and whatever troubleshooting steps you've taken. For people with disabilities, the process can get complicated, for a number of reasons. We use assistive tech such as screenreaders, which makes our devices work differently than a non-disabled person's. That means that while we use our devices to do the same things as the rest of society, we have to do things differently. Or, we may use a piece of assistive technology such as a braille display which connects to our devices. To add to that, we may use our devices for things such as reading documents aloud with OCR. To add to the complexity, if someone has a cognitive or intelectual disability, or learning disability, etc, understanding what the agent is telling you to do can be challenging. For these reasons, we rely on accessibility support phone numbers and channels, that have agents that are trained to work 
with accessibility features and people with disabilities. Sometimes, these agents use assistive tech outside of work as well.
I recently had an issue that is still ongoing, that required me to reach out to tech support for Apple and Google. This is my reveiw of my experience calling Google Accessibility. I've also put in some recommendations on how accessibility support lines could be improved, as well as my recommendation for the best way to get ahold of Google Disability Support, along with the ways you can reach out.
To give a little background, I'm completely blind, and use the Voiceover screenreader, on my Iphone and Ipad. I also use email quite a bit, and have a Gmail address, linked to my Apple Mail app. This issue started when I updated to 18.2 on both devices.
Apple recently released a feature that sorts your email into categories, such as transactions, priority, etc as well. However, there's only support for this feature on the Iphone, not the Ipad. Before updating, everything was going wonderfully.
The issue started when I had to schedule an email to be sent out at 9 PM. on Wednesday night. I had set it up like I usually did, and figured I'd download the update, and the email could and would be sent out while that was happening. I found out later on, that the email was never received. However, it was not in the send later box as it normally would be nor was it in the outbox, which would've indicated that the message didn't go through. Then, I looked at the rest of my emails. My inbox was ok on my Ipad, however, I found out to my horror, and shock, my VIP. mailbox, and my flagged mailbox were missing a very significant number of messages. The messages were on my phone, in the right places, but, the inbox was not right on my phone. I was still getting emails, and, I don't know what happened. I did some basic trouleshooting steps, of refreshing the Mail app, checking available storage, etc, with no luck, and everything looking good.
So, I called tech support. After spending a few hours on the phone with Apple, we deleted the account on my Ipad, and put it back on. For a while, it seemed to be rebuilding itself quite well. However, it got stuck at some point, and my VIP. and flagged mailboxes soon became stagnant.
I called back the next morning, gave the Apple advisor the case number associated with this issue, and explained what was going on, and, what we'd done to try and remedy the situation. After looking at the case file, I was sent to Google. This is where things really started heading downhill and getting more stressful, and frustrating.

To start out, there are 3 ways you can get ahold of an accessibility support representative at Google. You can either reach out to Google through the Specialized Help section of the Be My Eyes App available on Windows, IOS. and Android, call a toll-free number, or fill out a form, and have an agent call you. I have used the form method with great success. However, due to the nature and complexity of the issue, I decided to just call the number. I also had the Apple Accessibility agent on the phone in case there were questions because my Gmail account is linked to my Apple Mail app.

When I called, I was given the standard prompts that you normally hear in this type of situation. That you were calling the accessibility support line, and who the line was for, and, told to visit the web site, for more help, or if I wasn't an accessiaility customer. After that, I was given a list of options to pick from, such as account recovery and access issues, issues with Android, etc, with each option having a different number associated with it. I chose my option, and was put on hold until an agent was able to take my call. It didn't take long, before an agent picked the phone. I gave my personal and account information, and, told him I used VoiceOver on an Ipad, stating I was visually impaired, and, explained my issue. The agent went on by telling me what he thinks caused it, which was my email was going to my Spam. Before I go any further, I wayt to say that I have pretty good tech knowledge, and that everything worked good until after the update. Plus, emails from these lists and people weren't 
going there before.
But, I understand he had a script and steps to follow. So, I asked how to get to it on the Gmail website. He said to click on the 3 underlines. I asked what that was labeled as. When you have an icon, button, etc, it has to be labeled a certain way so that a screenreader can detect it, and tell you what it is. So, for instance, if you have a settings icon that looks like a hamburger, you would want to label it settings. If you have a button that allowed you to say forward an email, you would want to label it forward, and then screenreaders will say, "Forward button,"
This is why it's crucial to have elements such as links, buttons, checkboxes, etc, labeled, because without that, whatever element we have will just say for instance "Link," or, "Button," which doesn't give us much.

I explained politely to the agent that I was visually impaired, so, when he said things like the three underlines or 3 dots, it meant nothing to me.
After trying different things, he put me on hold. I also had the Apple agent on the phone since my Gmail account was hooked up to the Apple Mail App. After a while, the agent came back on the phone, but, the Apple agent said she heard static and had to put me on hold.
After waiting for a while, and not being able to hear the Google agent, and being frustrated, I ended the call.


Fast-forward to later that day, and, I receive an email from another Google Disability Support agent, with suggestions. The suggestions didn't fit the problem I was and am having.
I'm going to be getting someone else to help me hopefully solve this issue, and I hope that it can eventually get solved. Because this is an issue that has disrupted my workflow, along with other issues.
I'm very disappointed with the experience calling Google Accessibiility, especially because I have had wonderful experiences whenever I've filled out the form and had an agent call me. The fact that there's that much of a gap in quality between experiences is concerning to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that we have this option. I'm also glad that more companies are offering accessibility support for customers. However, I think there's a lot that could be done to impove things.

1. Agents should get extensive training not only on assistive technology, such as braille displays, but also, accessibility features on devices, such as voiceover on an Ipad.
2. Agents should be trained on how to interact with and/or work with people with disabilities, and learn about different ways they may identify themselves. While I could've worded my sentence more clearly by saying I was completely blind, so people may say they have a visual impairment, for instance.
3. This is one of the most important things for me. Companies that have accessibility support lines, should hire people that have lived experience, and use this technology outside of work as well in their every day lives. If a person helps their family member with this stuff, that's also a plus. This is especially important when it comes to working with products such as braille displays hooked up to devices.
I've had several instances calling an accessibility support line, due to issues with my braille display and connected devices such as my Ipad, and, I've had to walk the agent through things painstakingly, because sometimes things have had to be escalated to the engineering department. I've even had one agent tell me that their engineering department suggest that I take a picture of my braille display and submit it through their system. I must admit, I had not heard that one before, and was pretty shocked when I heard that one, and, I had to ask the agent to repeat themselves! I've had various agents tell me that they don't receive hardly any if any training on braille displays.
4. Screensharing can be a blessing! There's a company that I call, and whenever I have an issue, if the agent doesn't say anything about screensharing, I request it. With the software that's used, the agent can only see the screen. They can't control it, and, if I have to enter anything sensitive such as banking info, either the software pauses automatically, or the agent pauses it. You can also request that the agent pause the session at any time. Before this, something that would normally take 10 minutes to solve, would take 20 minutes or longer. Because I had to explain what app I was in, where I was on the screen, along with every detail that I could. More companies should adopt screensharing practices and software for their agents to use. It will save time, and frustration, among other things for both the customer and the agent. If the customer is using a 3rd party device such as an Ipad to access a company's software, then there should be a way for screensharing to still take place. This should be easy, user-friendly, and free for customers and agents. Agents should also be able to walk a customer through installing and getting it up and running. Right now, say if I have to Amazon about my echo, and I have to go into the app on my Ipad, the agent cannot see my screen. I have to tell them what's on it, and break it down into chunks, as well as telling the agent what Voiceover is saying. Sometimes, the agent has to resort to using their phone at work to figure it out.


If you have to reach out to Google Support, I recommend filling out the form and having an agent call you. I've had to do that twice, and, have had great success that way.

To get in touch with Google Support, you can go to:


https://support.google.com/accessibility/contact/disability_c2c?hl=en



Google Disability Support is available from 7 AM. Eastern Time to 9 PM. Eastern time Monday through Friday.
U.S. customers can also call toll-free:
+650-417-9257

You can also reach out to them through the Specialized Help Section on the Be My Eyes App, which is available on IOS. Android, and Windows.