I was in need of a new laptop, so I bought a cheap ChromeBook – mostly because Amazon could deliver it the same day. Sadly, the trackpad was broken. Before I sent it back, I thought I’d try using a mouse with it. That’s when I discovered that accessibility is very much a second thought for all the young and healthy people Google employ.

I have RSI and use a vertical mouse. After decades of regular left-clicking, my index finger is worn out. So I use a thumb button to click. Changing the order of mouse buttons is supported in all modern operating systems. Evoluent – the manufacturer of my mouse – also provide a handy tool for Windows and Mac so that I can set the mouse buttons up just the way I like them. I’ve written a guide for how to do it on Linux.

But with a ChromeBook? No. The message being put out is that Google doesn’t want unhealthy people using its products.

I plugged my mouse in, and tried to change the button order. There’s no way to do so. No hidden flag, no extension, no catering for abnormal people.

This isn’t a new problem. A bug was raised FIVE years ago.

My favourite responses from Googlers to that bug are:

Technically it’s not hard, it’s just a question of UI work.

So it’ll come along quickly?

Chrome has always aimed to minimize UI, as these features add up.

Ugh! Such a hassle to create something useable!

It’s clearly a power-user feature

Yay! My super-power is pain in my index finger. I’m sure Professor Xavier will invite me to his special school for mutants any day now…

It’s 2019. It is unacceptable to release a product which isn’t accessible. Google is one of the most powerful companies on the planet, it employs some of the most talented people I know. But there seems to be no way to prompt them into fixing old accessibility bugs. Perhaps a ranty blog post will push things along?