May 28, 2025 • 13 mins
Sam is joined by Jeanna Manifold and Kate Gooden from Amazon's Alexa department to give us some updates on what Amazon is up to in the accessibility space with regards to their Alexa speakers, and what they got up to at the recent Round Table Conference covering topics related to blindness, low vision and print disability.
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Episode Transcript
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S1 (00:04):
Are you an Alexa user who is blind or has
low vision? Well, today we've got a few updates for
you from Gina Manifold and Kate Goodin with a special
focus on accessibility. Gina is the head of strategic partnerships
at Alexa International, and Kate's the country manager for Amazon
(00:26):
Alexa in Australia and New Zealand. And it's my great
pleasure to be joined by them right now. Gina, Kate,
welcome to Talking Vision. Thank you very much for your time.
S2 (00:37):
Thank you for having us. Thank you. It's great to
be here.
S1 (00:40):
Let's have a bit of a chat about what you've
both been up to recently at the Round Table Conference.
Tell us a bit about what you got up to there.
S2 (00:49):
Yeah. So the Round Table conference is, you know, specifically
about people living with print disability. And so our goal
there was to showcase Alexa, what Alexa is how Alexa works.
And I think talk a little bit about some everyday
tips and tricks that Alexa can help people who have
vision impairment or a print disability feel more empowered and
(01:12):
more independent, and also provide a little bit of a
sneak peek about what's coming as generative AI is revolutionizing
our world and how that might land with Alexa, and
what that would mean for people living with print disability.
S1 (01:25):
Okay. And Kate, did you have anything to add there?
S3 (01:28):
Yeah, I think it was just a great opportunity for
us to actually talk to the community one on one
here a little bit more about how they're using Alexa,
the things they love, the things that they wish Alexa
could do or could do better. And then to kind
of hear about just the independence or lifestyle gaps that
they have, that they thought that generative AI or more
advanced Alexa might be able to assist with. And similarly,
(01:51):
it was really great to see some of the tools
and the technology that people are using every day in
these conferences and then to navigate around. So it was
just a really great opportunity to see how people are
living and thriving.
S1 (02:04):
Just for some added context for our listeners out there,
I'm really keen to get some info from you both
about what you've been up to lately in your work
at Amazon in particular. So, Gina, I might start with you.
S2 (02:19):
Yeah. So my role in strategic partnerships is making sure
that Alexa here in Australia meets the expectations of our
Australian community. So that means that everyone's favorite radio station
is available on Alexa. Also that people who are living
with some kind of disability find function and utility in Alexa.
(02:42):
I'm working with accessibility partners like Vision Australia with universities
to help make these accessibility products more readily available and
easier to understand.
S1 (02:53):
Okay, what about yourself?
S3 (02:55):
Yeah. So I'm the country manager for Alexa in Australia
and New Zealand. So obviously working super closely with Gina
on these partnerships and then also working across either the
broader Amazon business or with our policy teams who are
working really closely with members of parliament and sort of
government teams on the broader opportunity to share a little
(03:17):
bit more about how Alexa is is helping various members
of the community. And then I also work with other
international teams and Alexa, and then also the central teams
in the US to drive prioritization of new features and
experiences to Australia so that we can continue to improve
and evolve our product. For everybody that has one at
(03:38):
home and perhaps is listening to the show here today.
S1 (03:41):
Oh, cool. Okay. And Gina, I'd love to come back
to you and get some feedback that you've received over
the time about the sort of features that have really
added value and given independence to people living with blindness
and low vision. What are the things and experiences that
people have really benefited from with Alexa and the smart
(04:04):
speakers like that?
S2 (04:06):
I think in its most simple form, Alexa is this
ambient intelligence that is there when you need it, but
fades into the background when you don't. And the feedback
we often hear, particularly from an accessibility point, is the
ease of use. When you just need your voice, you
can be standing on the other side of the room.
You don't need to be looking at the device. That
(04:26):
has made things a lot easier and more seamless, which
provides independence. But a story that I actually heard from
a Vision Australia client a little while ago. This man
was a very avid Kindle reader, loved to read his books,
and then through an accident became blind quite suddenly. Then,
once he set up his home with Alexa enabled devices,
(04:48):
he linked it to his Kindle account. And then Alexa
was able to pick up the same book that he
was reading from the same chapter and continue that story
for him and for him, that little moment was a
life changing support to say, you know, there are still
ways that the way that you had lived your life,
we can help you continue to live that with independence
and I suppose, dignity as well. So for me, in
(05:09):
my job at what makes me feel good, going to
work every day knowing that it's the little things that
can actually have a monumental impact on someone's life.
S1 (05:18):
Absolutely. And, Kate, what's been your experience? What have you
heard from people in the general public and some stories
and feedback that you've received over the time?
S3 (05:29):
Yeah. So one of the things that we do every
week is we read every single review that we get
for Alexa enabled devices. We read the feedback that people
send through the app. And so I think it's just
a regularity. We've got a couple of people who regularly
leave us feedback about various things. And one of them
is somebody who's quite funny about trying to get a
(05:51):
feature on Alexa and just being able to. It feels
like a great connection with that person. And we've also
had a lot of feedback from people around some of
the the show and tell features that are available in
the US and sort of working to try and get
them here. And that is something that we hope to
open up with Alexa Plus and sort of have somebody
to be able to. I think we had an anecdote
(06:12):
at one point about somebody who was trying to find
a can of beans, and of course, all of the
cans feel the same when you grab into the pantry,
and so just being able to not rely on, shake
and hope for the best and to sort of be
able to unlock those features that will sort of give,
as Gina said, just another bracket of independence around the
home and not having to perhaps eat what could be.
S1 (06:34):
Yeah. Something else. Exactly. Yeah.
S3 (06:37):
Yeah, I think.
S2 (06:37):
It's a can of beans. And you end up with tomatoes. Yeah.
S1 (06:40):
Oh yeah.
S2 (06:41):
And Sam too, I think one of the, you know, as,
as I said before, people being able to access their
favorite radio station, we have a number of devices that
have been released, some big, some small. Some people love
them in their bedrooms. Some people want them connected throughout
to have studio sound in their lounge room, but not
needing to fiddle with a knob to find your radio station,
not needing to remember the frequency of the radio station.
(07:03):
When we look at the reviews, there's constantly people saying,
I can finally listen to radio stations that I didn't
think I could access. It's opened up radio stations from overseas,
my favorite radio station when I was a child, and
I can simply get it by using my voice. That
seems to be one of the most common pieces of
feedback we get. And a quick plug to say that
Vision Australia Radio is also available on Alexa. So certainly again,
(07:25):
it's just putting an old school radio set back into
the home, which has been very positive for a lot
of people.
S1 (07:32):
Gina will continue on with you, and I'm really interested
to get your insights on the relationship that Amazon and
Vision Australia have been able to build up and what
you've been working on lately, and the benefits of that relationship.
S2 (07:49):
Yeah, definitely. So the Vision Australia partnership has been in
play for many years, and it comes through in a
number of different ways. So as I said, the Vision
Australia radio station, the broadcast is available on Alexa, just
say Alexa, play Vision Australia Radio and you should get
whichever frequency suits you. And then also Vision Australia has
(08:09):
a Commonwealth Funding and Alexa at home program, so that
includes the provision of Alexa enabled devices and some training
for qualified clients, which means that your home can be
set up to become a smart home, but you're also
given some guidance on how to make the most out
of that to increase your independence. So that's something that
(08:30):
is really great. And then as part of that vision,
Australia has built what we call an Alexa, a custom skill,
which is simply like an app on a phone and
that provides information about Vision Australia's services. You can hear
the newsletter and also find out more information about the
likes of Happy Pants and the Felix Library too. So
(08:52):
there's a number of different ways the wider community can
connect with Vision Australia through being entertained and informed, through
Vision Australia Radio's content, or actually being organised and finding
utility in the home through that Alexa at Home program.
S1 (09:06):
Okay. And Kate, I'll come to you now and have
a bit of a chat about some exciting innovations that
are on the horizon that you're really excited to see
where they pan out. And Gina will come to you
after and get your thoughts. But, um, Kate, I'll just
start with you and, um, get your insights.
S3 (09:26):
Yeah. So some of your listeners might be aware of
big announcement that we made a couple of months ago
in the US. So we have been working incredibly hard
to take our already very complex Alexa experience. It's got
the Alexa experiences, more than 30 AI and machine learning models,
and then a layer of localization over the top, which
(09:49):
is how Alexa is and sort of understands Australians. And
to make that generative AI and LLM powered, it has
been an incredible worldwide effort to get it to this point.
And we did demos and it started to roll out
to customers in the US over the last couple of weeks.
So Alexa Plus is really what we had hoped Alexa
(10:14):
could be all this time. So it's conversational. You don't
need to worry about Alexa speak. There will be no
more Alexa, turn on the lights. You might walk into
a room and Alexa knows you've left the bedroom and
Alexa will proactively say, would you like me to turn
off the lights in the bedroom? Alexa will remember things
that are important. For example, that one person in your
(10:34):
family is vegetarian and one is dairy free, and one
who might be celiac. And so if you ask for
a recipe for dinner tonight, that sort of meets those needs,
then Alexa will know to create something that is going
to meet all of those different family members needs. We
don't have a timeline, unfortunately, yet for Australia, it's one
of those things that could come very quickly, or it
(10:56):
might take a little while, but you can be very,
very sure that particularly with our partners like Virgin Australia,
will be definitely giving you a heads up and we
may be able to get Alexa Plus into the studio
and sort of do a bit of a bit of
a chat.
S1 (11:11):
Yeah, that'd be pretty cool. Yeah, yeah. Okay. And Gina,
I'll come to you. Now, the same question, but also
interested in if there's sort of some features there or
innovations coming for, you know, listeners who are blind or
have low vision to look forward to.
S2 (11:29):
Yeah, look, I think there's two that are going to be,
I think, super useful for everybody, but particularly useful for
people with blindness or low vision. One is the object identification.
So as Kate was talking about before, but rather than
it relying or that's a can of vegetables, you should
actually be able to hold up the can. And Alexa
(11:50):
might be able to say spin it around and I
can read you the nutrition label. And so it becomes
much more interactive. Or you would be able to hold
up a picture that your grandchildren had drawn. And Alexa
will describe what the drawing looks like. There's two stick figures.
This one's in pink, and there's a little dog and
some flowers and a sun in the corner. So I
think that's going to be really interesting. And then the
(12:12):
other is intelligent documentation. So that could be if you've
got a new dishwasher and you can get a digital
copy of the dishwashers manual, you'd be able to store
that in Alexa's library and then ask, Alexa, how do
I get it onto the steaming cycle? and Alexa will
be able to look through that manual and come back
(12:32):
and provide that information for you, and then remember it
as well. And so it's not just things like dishwasher
manuals that could be a pamphlet about diabetes from your doctor.
It could be a newsletter from your child's school. All
of these things you'll be able to provide to Alexa
to be kept in the library. And then that helps.
As Kate said, for Alexa to become more proactive in
(12:54):
helping you manage your day and keeping you informed.
S1 (12:58):
Perfect. Well, I've been speaking today with Gino and Kate
from Amazon with a bit of a tech update of
sorts regarding some different features and innovations that they're looking
to roll out on Alexa devices, including some new ways
in which it can assist the blind and low vision
(13:20):
community in their everyday life. Gina, Kate, thank you so
much for your time today. It was great to catch
up with you.
S2 (13:28):
Thank you so much. We really appreciate you taking the
time to talk with us.
S3 (13:31):
Great to be here.
Are you an Alexa user who is blind or has
low vision? Well, today we've got a few updates for
you from Gina Manifold and Kate Goodin with a special
focus on accessibility. Gina is the head of strategic partnerships
at Alexa International, and Kate's the country manager for Amazon
(00:26):
Alexa in Australia and New Zealand. And it's my great
pleasure to be joined by them right now. Gina, Kate,
welcome to Talking Vision. Thank you very much for your time.
S2 (00:37):
Thank you for having us. Thank you. It's great to
be here.
S1 (00:40):
Let's have a bit of a chat about what you've
both been up to recently at the Round Table Conference.
Tell us a bit about what you got up to there.
S2 (00:49):
Yeah. So the Round Table conference is, you know, specifically
about people living with print disability. And so our goal
there was to showcase Alexa, what Alexa is how Alexa works.
And I think talk a little bit about some everyday
tips and tricks that Alexa can help people who have
vision impairment or a print disability feel more empowered and
(01:12):
more independent, and also provide a little bit of a
sneak peek about what's coming as generative AI is revolutionizing
our world and how that might land with Alexa, and
what that would mean for people living with print disability.
S1 (01:25):
Okay. And Kate, did you have anything to add there?
S3 (01:28):
Yeah, I think it was just a great opportunity for
us to actually talk to the community one on one
here a little bit more about how they're using Alexa,
the things they love, the things that they wish Alexa
could do or could do better. And then to kind
of hear about just the independence or lifestyle gaps that
they have, that they thought that generative AI or more
advanced Alexa might be able to assist with. And similarly,
(01:51):
it was really great to see some of the tools
and the technology that people are using every day in
these conferences and then to navigate around. So it was
just a really great opportunity to see how people are
living and thriving.
S1 (02:04):
Just for some added context for our listeners out there,
I'm really keen to get some info from you both
about what you've been up to lately in your work
at Amazon in particular. So, Gina, I might start with you.
S2 (02:19):
Yeah. So my role in strategic partnerships is making sure
that Alexa here in Australia meets the expectations of our
Australian community. So that means that everyone's favorite radio station
is available on Alexa. Also that people who are living
with some kind of disability find function and utility in Alexa.
(02:42):
I'm working with accessibility partners like Vision Australia with universities
to help make these accessibility products more readily available and
easier to understand.
S1 (02:53):
Okay, what about yourself?
S3 (02:55):
Yeah. So I'm the country manager for Alexa in Australia
and New Zealand. So obviously working super closely with Gina
on these partnerships and then also working across either the
broader Amazon business or with our policy teams who are
working really closely with members of parliament and sort of
government teams on the broader opportunity to share a little
(03:17):
bit more about how Alexa is is helping various members
of the community. And then I also work with other
international teams and Alexa, and then also the central teams
in the US to drive prioritization of new features and
experiences to Australia so that we can continue to improve
and evolve our product. For everybody that has one at
(03:38):
home and perhaps is listening to the show here today.
S1 (03:41):
Oh, cool. Okay. And Gina, I'd love to come back
to you and get some feedback that you've received over
the time about the sort of features that have really
added value and given independence to people living with blindness
and low vision. What are the things and experiences that
people have really benefited from with Alexa and the smart
(04:04):
speakers like that?
S2 (04:06):
I think in its most simple form, Alexa is this
ambient intelligence that is there when you need it, but
fades into the background when you don't. And the feedback
we often hear, particularly from an accessibility point, is the
ease of use. When you just need your voice, you
can be standing on the other side of the room.
You don't need to be looking at the device. That
(04:26):
has made things a lot easier and more seamless, which
provides independence. But a story that I actually heard from
a Vision Australia client a little while ago. This man
was a very avid Kindle reader, loved to read his books,
and then through an accident became blind quite suddenly. Then,
once he set up his home with Alexa enabled devices,
(04:48):
he linked it to his Kindle account. And then Alexa
was able to pick up the same book that he
was reading from the same chapter and continue that story
for him and for him, that little moment was a
life changing support to say, you know, there are still
ways that the way that you had lived your life,
we can help you continue to live that with independence
and I suppose, dignity as well. So for me, in
(05:09):
my job at what makes me feel good, going to
work every day knowing that it's the little things that
can actually have a monumental impact on someone's life.
S1 (05:18):
Absolutely. And, Kate, what's been your experience? What have you
heard from people in the general public and some stories
and feedback that you've received over the time?
S3 (05:29):
Yeah. So one of the things that we do every
week is we read every single review that we get
for Alexa enabled devices. We read the feedback that people
send through the app. And so I think it's just
a regularity. We've got a couple of people who regularly
leave us feedback about various things. And one of them
is somebody who's quite funny about trying to get a
(05:51):
feature on Alexa and just being able to. It feels
like a great connection with that person. And we've also
had a lot of feedback from people around some of
the the show and tell features that are available in
the US and sort of working to try and get
them here. And that is something that we hope to
open up with Alexa Plus and sort of have somebody
to be able to. I think we had an anecdote
(06:12):
at one point about somebody who was trying to find
a can of beans, and of course, all of the
cans feel the same when you grab into the pantry,
and so just being able to not rely on, shake
and hope for the best and to sort of be
able to unlock those features that will sort of give,
as Gina said, just another bracket of independence around the
home and not having to perhaps eat what could be.
S1 (06:34):
Yeah. Something else. Exactly. Yeah.
S3 (06:37):
Yeah, I think.
S2 (06:37):
It's a can of beans. And you end up with tomatoes. Yeah.
S1 (06:40):
Oh yeah.
S2 (06:41):
And Sam too, I think one of the, you know, as,
as I said before, people being able to access their
favorite radio station, we have a number of devices that
have been released, some big, some small. Some people love
them in their bedrooms. Some people want them connected throughout
to have studio sound in their lounge room, but not
needing to fiddle with a knob to find your radio station,
not needing to remember the frequency of the radio station.
(07:03):
When we look at the reviews, there's constantly people saying,
I can finally listen to radio stations that I didn't
think I could access. It's opened up radio stations from overseas,
my favorite radio station when I was a child, and
I can simply get it by using my voice. That
seems to be one of the most common pieces of
feedback we get. And a quick plug to say that
Vision Australia Radio is also available on Alexa. So certainly again,
(07:25):
it's just putting an old school radio set back into
the home, which has been very positive for a lot
of people.
S1 (07:32):
Gina will continue on with you, and I'm really interested
to get your insights on the relationship that Amazon and
Vision Australia have been able to build up and what
you've been working on lately, and the benefits of that relationship.
S2 (07:49):
Yeah, definitely. So the Vision Australia partnership has been in
play for many years, and it comes through in a
number of different ways. So as I said, the Vision
Australia radio station, the broadcast is available on Alexa, just
say Alexa, play Vision Australia Radio and you should get
whichever frequency suits you. And then also Vision Australia has
(08:09):
a Commonwealth Funding and Alexa at home program, so that
includes the provision of Alexa enabled devices and some training
for qualified clients, which means that your home can be
set up to become a smart home, but you're also
given some guidance on how to make the most out
of that to increase your independence. So that's something that
(08:30):
is really great. And then as part of that vision,
Australia has built what we call an Alexa, a custom skill,
which is simply like an app on a phone and
that provides information about Vision Australia's services. You can hear
the newsletter and also find out more information about the
likes of Happy Pants and the Felix Library too. So
(08:52):
there's a number of different ways the wider community can
connect with Vision Australia through being entertained and informed, through
Vision Australia Radio's content, or actually being organised and finding
utility in the home through that Alexa at Home program.
S1 (09:06):
Okay. And Kate, I'll come to you now and have
a bit of a chat about some exciting innovations that
are on the horizon that you're really excited to see
where they pan out. And Gina will come to you
after and get your thoughts. But, um, Kate, I'll just
start with you and, um, get your insights.
S3 (09:26):
Yeah. So some of your listeners might be aware of
big announcement that we made a couple of months ago
in the US. So we have been working incredibly hard
to take our already very complex Alexa experience. It's got
the Alexa experiences, more than 30 AI and machine learning models,
and then a layer of localization over the top, which
(09:49):
is how Alexa is and sort of understands Australians. And
to make that generative AI and LLM powered, it has
been an incredible worldwide effort to get it to this point.
And we did demos and it started to roll out
to customers in the US over the last couple of weeks.
So Alexa Plus is really what we had hoped Alexa
(10:14):
could be all this time. So it's conversational. You don't
need to worry about Alexa speak. There will be no
more Alexa, turn on the lights. You might walk into
a room and Alexa knows you've left the bedroom and
Alexa will proactively say, would you like me to turn
off the lights in the bedroom? Alexa will remember things
that are important. For example, that one person in your
(10:34):
family is vegetarian and one is dairy free, and one
who might be celiac. And so if you ask for
a recipe for dinner tonight, that sort of meets those needs,
then Alexa will know to create something that is going
to meet all of those different family members needs. We
don't have a timeline, unfortunately, yet for Australia, it's one
of those things that could come very quickly, or it
(10:56):
might take a little while, but you can be very,
very sure that particularly with our partners like Virgin Australia,
will be definitely giving you a heads up and we
may be able to get Alexa Plus into the studio
and sort of do a bit of a bit of
a chat.
S1 (11:11):
Yeah, that'd be pretty cool. Yeah, yeah. Okay. And Gina,
I'll come to you. Now, the same question, but also
interested in if there's sort of some features there or
innovations coming for, you know, listeners who are blind or
have low vision to look forward to.
S2 (11:29):
Yeah, look, I think there's two that are going to be,
I think, super useful for everybody, but particularly useful for
people with blindness or low vision. One is the object identification.
So as Kate was talking about before, but rather than
it relying or that's a can of vegetables, you should
actually be able to hold up the can. And Alexa
(11:50):
might be able to say spin it around and I
can read you the nutrition label. And so it becomes
much more interactive. Or you would be able to hold
up a picture that your grandchildren had drawn. And Alexa
will describe what the drawing looks like. There's two stick figures.
This one's in pink, and there's a little dog and
some flowers and a sun in the corner. So I
think that's going to be really interesting. And then the
(12:12):
other is intelligent documentation. So that could be if you've
got a new dishwasher and you can get a digital
copy of the dishwashers manual, you'd be able to store
that in Alexa's library and then ask, Alexa, how do
I get it onto the steaming cycle? and Alexa will
be able to look through that manual and come back
(12:32):
and provide that information for you, and then remember it
as well. And so it's not just things like dishwasher
manuals that could be a pamphlet about diabetes from your doctor.
It could be a newsletter from your child's school. All
of these things you'll be able to provide to Alexa
to be kept in the library. And then that helps.
As Kate said, for Alexa to become more proactive in
(12:54):
helping you manage your day and keeping you informed.
S1 (12:58):
Perfect. Well, I've been speaking today with Gino and Kate
from Amazon with a bit of a tech update of
sorts regarding some different features and innovations that they're looking
to roll out on Alexa devices, including some new ways
in which it can assist the blind and low vision
(13:20):
community in their everyday life. Gina, Kate, thank you so
much for your time today. It was great to catch
up with you.
S2 (13:28):
Thank you so much. We really appreciate you taking the
time to talk with us.
S3 (13:31):
Great to be here.
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