Empathy, Education and Excellence in Inclusive Design

David Sloan, UX Research Lead, @sloandrSarah Horton, UX Strategy Lead, @gradualclearing

Perceptions around accessibility influence empathy

Introduction: Accessibility and disability, to a teenager…

Photo credit: @garethjms

Empathy: People are people

Photo credit: Valerie Fletcher, Institute for Human Centered Design

A (Rough) Manifesto for Accessible User Experienceuxfor.us/aux-manifesto

Digital resources can reduce social and economic exclusion; without deliberate attention, they will increase exclusion

People’s capabilities and preferences are unique and variable; environmental factors influence accessibility needs

Who Benefits from Accessible UX

Bell Curve

By concentrating solely on the bulge at the center of the bell curve we are more likely to confirm what we already know than learn something new and surprising.

Tim Brown, Change By Design

Empathy: Understanding the impact• Diversity: People and technology• Commonality: People are people• Accessible UX: Design meets disability

Education: Building accessibility knowledge and skills

Learning from standards remediation

Learning how to apply standards to specific interactions

Error message not announced by screen readers

Form labels not programmatically associated with inputs

Learning accessible design patterns

Principles of Universal Design• Equitable Use• Flexibility in Use• Simple and Intuitive Use• Perceptible Information• Tolerance for Error• Low Physical Effort• Size and Space for Approach and Use

North Carolina State University, uxfor.us/universal-design

Accessibility barriers

Removed using universal design principles

Accessibility features that are not needed

Building empathy through understanding

empat.io/arend

Education: Knowing what’s needed• Accessibility: Specifications• Design: Principles and guidelines• User Research: Real-world perspectives

Excellence: Solving problems, not designing new ones

Photo credit: Tom Magliery https://www.flickr.com/photos/mag3737/6265874898/

Accessibility is a creative challenge, not a challenge to creativity

Accessible Design Maturity Continuum

An Accessible Design Maturity Continuumuxfor.us/mature-it

Case Study: MBTA user research

Details• 9 people over 2 days• Sessions lasting ½ to 1 hour• Low vision: Large monitor, ZoomText, large type,

high-contrast mode• Blind: JAWS, VoiceOver• Deaf: Captions• Limited mobility and dexterity: Dragon

The right column is a bad location for critical

information

Online information should match what’s

available in print

Boston South Station lobby

Excellence: Designing for pleasure• Creativity: Using accessibility as a driver for

innovation• Maturity: Integrating accessibility into culture and

practice• Inclusivity: Caretaking the whole experience

Empathy: Understanding the valueEducation: Knowing what’s needed

Excellence: Designing for pleasure

Thank you!@sloandr@gradualclearing