AccessBridge: A Proposed Inclusive Accessibility Framework for Digital Services in Pakistan

Abstract and Description AccessBridge is a proposed inclusive accessibility framework designed to improve digital access for blind, low-vision, deaf, and hard-of-hearing users in Pakistan. The framework focuses on reducing accessibility barriers across social media platforms, banking applications, and government websites through a modular approach that can complement existing assistive technologies. The proposed system incorporates voice-assisted navigation, text-to-speech, speech-to-text transcription, contextual image descriptions, visual notifications, and a curated Pakistan Sign Language (PSL) resource module. It explores the potential integration of these features into compatible digital services through authorized application programming interfaces (APIs), software development kits (SDKs), and web components. This paper presents the motivation, research objectives, proposed system architecture, functional and non-functional requirements, potential implementation technologies, and a methodology for evaluating the framework's usability, accessibility, reliability, and safety. Particular attention is given to multilingual support, user privacy, secure interaction with sensitive services, and collaboration with the deaf community to ensure that PSL resources are linguistically appropriate. AccessBridge is presented as a proposed research and system-design concept. Its effectiveness and practical feasibility remain to be established through prototype development, user testing, and empirical evaluation. The paper aims to provide a foundation for future research and the development of more inclusive digital services in Pakistan.