Prioritizing Accessibility in Your Verifiable Digital Credentials

2024 was a pivotal year for the adoption of mobile driver’s licenses (mDL), with many new states moving to adopt this new form of privacy- and security-enhancing digital identity. However, many of these projects are still being tested, with elements still to be explored and refined.

One of those is accessibility in emerging technology. Digital credentials like mDL are crucial to many basic aspects of life, like all forms of identity documentation, and must be usable by as many people as possible. It’s vital to ensure, for instance, that the visually impaired can present credentials in various contexts. There are upsides to explore, too: What benefits might people gain from new digital identity tools?

The good news is that, while challenges remain, mobile devices and apps already offer comprehensive accessibility options that extend to digital credentials—in fact, mobile devices have become powerful tools for improving the lives of those with disabilities. For some types of disabilities, such as mobility impairments, digital credentials offer further quality-of-life improvements.

What Does Accessibility Mean?

Information technology built for accessibility must abide by four core principles outlined by the World Wide Web Consortium. These principles are sometimes referred to by the acronym POUR, for Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust.

Tools should be Perceivable even for those with constrained senses; they should be Operable with a variety of input mechanisms, including keyboards, touch, or voice controls; and they should be clear so they’re easily Understandable. Finally, infrastructure should be Robust in its formatting and presentation, enabling a variety of user agents and assistive technologies to interpret and present data to users.

For state and local governments in the U.S., making web and mobile tools accessible is mandatory under the Americans with Disabilities Act and its evolving rules. These rules ensure that everyone can benefit from the convenience of the internet to engage with vital government processes like voting and paying taxes.

But serving as many users as possible is also just good business for private firms: more than 4 million Americans, for instance, have serious or total loss of vision, 11 million have serious hearing loss or total deafness, and more than 12%, or 40 million, have impaired mobility. Overall, according to the CDC, nearly 29% of American adults have some form of disability.

That’s not a group businesses can afford to leave underserved.

Digital Tools for the Visually Impaired

The first accessibility challenge you’re likely to consider when thinking about the mobile driver’s license is for users with visual impairments. For example, one common way a digital credential might be presented is as a QR code, which is likely to be quite difficult for someone who can’t see the scanning device.

The good news is that the phone itself is far less of an obstacle. A sighted person might assume that the lack of tactile feedback like braille would make using a smartphone nearly impossible for a blind person, but in fact, smartphones have shown many advantages for the blind. Thanks to screen-reader software and gesture-based controls built natively into both Apple and Android devices, according to one expert, “the vast majority of everyday actions that needed the help of a third person a few years ago can now be done on the phone.”

For mDL users, that means a screen reader will let them find the correct wallet and credentials. As VDCs become more common, this might even become a more accessible option than paper credentials: It’s relatively rare for certifications or identity documents to be offered with braille options, and while the percentage of visually impaired people who use braille is not well-studied, it seems surprisingly low: only about 7% in the U.K., for instance. Digital credentials could, in practical terms, be more accessible than paper documents. 

This does require the designers of credentials and wallets to comply with the POUR tenet of robustness: data must be easy to read for a variety of user agents. While wallet designers will need to be specifically attentive here, one of the great strengths of verifiable digital credentials is that they conform to universal standards – meaning that the data in the credentials themselves will be consistently categorized and formatted by default, making it easy for agents to interpret for users.

Read More: Who Should Build a Digital Wallet?

The question of scanning or presenting credentials in various contexts is thornier. While we don’t claim to have the answer, one possible route would be to use sound to guide users to a scanner: a scaled-down analog to the audio beacons that are common for U.S. crosswalks and increasingly used in other settings. 

Security as Accessibility

The largest group of Americans with disabilities is people who face cognitive impairments, defined as serious difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions. A substantial portion of this group is made up of older Americans – and they are disproportionately victims of fraud and phishing attempts. 

While VDCs can't stop scammers from asking for an intrusive amount of personal data or prevent phishing of passwords, they can bring an additional element of security to common transactions with trusted verifiers, such that any fraudulent activity will stand out. If a bank is routinely asking for a verifiable digital credential before transferring money, it will be obvious if that credential isn't required or if the verifier is not the normal requester for a fraudulent transfer.

Of course, mDL and other forms of VDC are novel technologies that may be off-putting or confusing for those with cognitive impairments, regardless of their theoretical benefits. This is one important reason that VDC-based identity, whatever its advantages, should be offered as an optional, convenient supplement for paper-based documents rather than a required substitute.

The Big Benefit of Digital Credentials: Secure Remote Services

Mobility impairment is the second-largest type of disability impacting Americans after cognitive impairment. This is where the mobile driver’s license and other VDCs have the potential to truly shine: because they are reliable for acceptance online, digital credentials can enable new kinds of remote services for people who face challenges moving around. This potentially includes not just reliably proving identity online but eventually presenting a variety of other documents, from marriage certificates to property titles and medical history.

Discussion around digital credentials has often touched specifically on financial services and benefits provision, particularly relevant for people with a disability since some may receive financial assistance. Reliable digital identity and credentials can also open employment opportunities for the mobility impaired: remote work is ideal for many people with mobility challenges, and digital credentials used for secure access control can make more roles available remotely.

While work remains to carefully understand and address user needs, a close look shows that digital credentials are starting from a very strong position for accessibility. As the verifiable digital credential ecosystem develops, SpruceID is committed to maximizing that potential for the benefit of all Americans.

Explore Accessible Verifiable Digital Credentials

At SpruceID, we’re committed to making digital identity solutions accessible, secure, and user-friendly for everyone. As mobile driver’s licenses and verifiable digital credentials continue to evolve, ensuring inclusivity is key to unlocking their full potential. If you’re interested in learning more about how SpruceID is advancing accessibility in digital identity—or if you’d like to explore how these solutions can benefit your organization—reach out to us today.

About SpruceID: SpruceID is building a future where users control their identity and data across all digital interactions.