DESIGN WITH EMPATHY — DESIGN FOR ALL !!
Understanding accessible & inclusive design
“Design is really an act of communication, which means having a deep understanding of the person with whom the designer is communicating.”
― Donald A. Norman, The Design of Everyday Things
A digital product should ensure similar user experience for everyone, irrespective of how someone accessed the user interface, what device he used, internet connection, software, language, location or ability should not affect a product’s accessibility. As a designer it’s our responsibility to make every product, user interface to be more accessible, which will naturally be more usable and useful for everyone.
I’ll be discussing what we mean by accessibility and inclusion. The topics that will be covered here are, why accessibility and inclusive design is important, who is affected by it and how your products or applications are ensured to be accessible.
The Reality Check
Some stats by WHO on disability around the world:
•Over 15% of the world’s population of which more than 1 billion people have disability, shown in a report by WHO (world health organization) and this number will arise to double by the year 2050.
•1.3 billion people, representing 17% of the world’s population are affected by some form of blindness and visual impairment.
•466 million people, that represents 6% of the world’s population have disabling deafness and hearing loss.
•2.6% of the world’s population, which is around 200 million people have an intellectual disability(IQ below 75)
•75 million people which represents 1% of the world’s population need a wheelchair daily.
What is accessibility?
Accessibility is the concept of whether everyone can use a product or service irrespective of how it is encountered. There are accessibility laws in order to aid people who have disabilities, but all potential users should also be accommodated by the designers in many contexts of use to achieve more benefits including better designs for all.
As described by WAI (web accessibility initiative) accessibility, usability, and Inclusive design are closely related, their guidelines, standards, rules overlap significantly. We must know about these broad terms when we are designing for Accessibility.
Types of accessibility issues
The number and types of potential accessibility issues that users will face should be considered. The common barriers are:
• Visual (e.g., colour blindness)
• Motor/mobility (e.g., wheelchair-user concerns)
• Auditory (hearing difficulties)
• Seizures (especially photosensitive epilepsy)
• Learning/cognitive (e.g., dyslexia)
Ability barriers can also arise for any user:
• Incidental (e.g., sleep-deprivation)
• Environmental (e.g., using a mobile device underground)
The possibilities are virtually limitless regarding who might be trying to access your product/service.
Design for everyone, everywhere and every time
It’s sad but true that, the concept of accessibility is often mistaken as involvement of people having disabilities. But we all have certain disabilities in certain contexts and circumstances. Accessibility is not only about disabled, it is about all kind of people. If you have ever broken a hand, you know that tasks that were previously simple become very difficult for you. Or think about attending an early morning workshop after a sleepless night and headache !
A good example of dealing users with accessibility issues are mobile devices. We can use mobile phones even when we’re going somewhere, doing other things, with our attention split several ways. With the universal rise of handheld smart-gadgets, need for embracing accessibility for all and in all contexts has emerged.
In many countries designing for accessibility is a legal obligation, and not just about morality. There are legislation throughout EU to prevent discrimination against persons with disability. Not complying with these laws could cost a company dearly. Although compliance is cheaper, but the amount of dividends is paid by it is big.
There are standards for accessibility that are easily understood. The standards for accessibility will be easily implemented if they are considered at the beginning of the process. Accessibility is simply an access function. For example, although people with visual disabilities may not be able to read the text on your website, if the texts are properly formatted, screen reading software can be used by them to hear words.
It takes some preplanning and analysis to design for accessibility. You should examine your options in the planning phase and concentrate on accessibility while developing. It’s easy to get caught up in the substance of work and forget about this essential point. The designs should be checked often to be certain that the efforts were successful.
However, personally I think it’s not about the law, moreover, it’s a moral duty of a designer to create inclusive design keeping all the possible users in mind. Then ensure your design is compliant with accessibility standards and legal obligations.
Designing for anything starts with empathy:
Empathy becomes a crucial skill to have when it comes to designing for accessibility as putting yourselves into the shoes of a person with disabilities is hard. It’s difficult to feel their pain, needs and motivation, but you can start with a good old research approach:
•By talking/interviewing people with disability.
•Observe their environment, observe how they perform certain task.
•Put yourself in their shoes in every possible way, use the same assistive technology they are using.
•Watch documentaries, interviews, plenty of videos to understand how different assistive technologies are used by people to complete their tasks.
Here is the help — Assistive Technologies:
Any piece of equipment, software program, or product which is used to increase , maintain, or enhance the functional capabilities of people with disabilities is called Assistive technology. People having difficulty speaking, typing, writing, remembering, pointing, seeing, hearing, learning, walking, and many other things are helped by Assistive technology (AT). Different assistive technologies are required for different difficulties.
Although the word “technology” is often linked with electronic devices and applications, assistive technology is much more than only electronic devices.
A wheelchair or a cane can also be assistive technology. Making inaccessible things accessible is the purpose of assistive technology. It is not limited to only digital devices .
Some Examples of digital assistive technology:
•Screen Readers: software that processes content on the desktop and in web browsers, and converts it to other forms such as text-to-speech.
•Screen magnifier — software used primarily by people with partial sight to enlarge the content to make it easier to see.
•Eye-tracking (sometimes called “eye-gaze”) — a system that monitors eye movement to control the mouse pointer and detects blinking to initiate mouse clicks.
•Voice recognition (sometimes called “speech input” or “voice command”) — software that recognizes the human voice and can be used to dictate text or to issue commands to operate the computer.
(Fact: “Globally, only 1 in 10 people with disability has access to assistive technologies and product”-WHO)
Accessible & Inclusive Design
Accessible design based on accessibility guidelines published by various governmental and industry groups focuses on the outcome or the final result of a design project and aims to ensure that the websites and other digital products are effectively accessible to the people with disabilities.
Inclusive design, which is closely related to accessibility, is a methodology for how to approach design rather than an outcome. It’s a process for creating a design which diverse group of people can use.
Both inclusive design and accessible design focus on the idea that disabilities occur at the intersection where people interact with their environments. Inclusive design, in particular, recognizes that people in diverse circumstances will also be beneficiaries of the solutions that work for disabled people.
Converging accessible and inclusive design
Though the approaches of inclusive and accessible design have definite differences, they also share a lot of similarities. Both are supposed to empower designers to create digital products, which is accessible by the largest group of people, regardless of their current circumstances.
Accessible design and inclusive design work hand in hand to reduce barriers that do not let people use digital products effectively. While creating products for people like themselves, designers often inadvertently create these barriers during the design process. They can create products that are accessible to all by employing inclusive design methodology and by empathizing with diverse group of people.
Learning from the ways real people adapt to technological barriers in a given context can improve both inclusive design and accessible design. Designers can create better solutions by studying the ways people have found to adapt to situation. For example, if a person uses text-to-speech in order to listen to an article as they aren’t able to read it due to disability or particular circumstance, designers could provide an audio version.
Standards and Guidelines
Standards and guidelines are used to help ensure that all issues are addressed. The issues can be addressed efficiently and effectively by involving people with disabilities.
In some cases it’s legal requirement to meet accessibility while in others, it’s just a smart thing to do.
Among the accessibility standards and guidelines for different types of products from international standards bodies, governments, and organizations many are available on the Web.
There are different types of standards and guidelines, and the terms for each are used interchangeably in some cases. For example, the “guidelines” developed by W3C WAI (WCAG, ATAG, UAAG) are international Web standards. They are developed following a formal process to ensure broad community input from people with a wide range of perspectives, from industry, disability organizations, accessibility researchers, government, and others interested in accessibility. The W3C WAI guidelines/standards cover the entire range of disabilities and situations.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is a single shared standard that is supposed to make web content more accessible. Both individuals and organizations around the world are benefitted by this.
These guidelines are structured around four principles:
1.Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.
2.Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable.
3.Understandable: Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable.
4.Robust: Content must be robust enough so that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.
There are also other types of guidelines having a much narrower scope which do not involve multi-stakeholder consensus and public review. For example, informal guidelines for websites based on limited usability testing with participants using websites having certain types of assistive technologies have been published by some people. Although useful suggestions are provided by some of these guidelines, they have not enough sufficiency to address the broad range of issues. So designers use these limited guidelines in conjunction with comprehensive formal standards.
Rather than developing their own different standards, governments and organizations should adopt existing international standards when they are available. For example, WCAG has been adopted by several governments, as listed in the online resource International Policies Relating to Web Accessibility. Why Standards Harmonization is Essential to Web Accessibility focuses on web, yet it explains benefits to harmonized standards that apply to all types of products.
International accessibility standards include:
•For web pages and web applications: W3C WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, see WCAG Overview, WCAG Standard
•For web authoring tools: W3C WAI Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines, see ATAG Overview, ATAG Standard
•For web browsers: W3C WAI User Agent Accessibility Guidelines, see UAAG Overview, UAAG Note
•For software: iso 16071 Ergonomics of human-system interaction: guidance on accessibility of human-computer interfaces.
In the U.S., accessibility regulations have the following accompanying standards and guidelines:
Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards for Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which includes sections on:
•Software applications and operating systems
•Web-based intranet and Internet information and applications
•Telecommunications products
•Video or multimedia products
•Self contained, closed products such as information kiosks and transaction machines
•Desktop and portable computers
•Documentation and support
Telecommunications Act Accessibility Guidelines (TAAG) address the accessibility, usability, and compatibility of telecommunications, broadcast, and cable products and services.
Although standards may be the leading force in your accessibility efforts, they should be kept in perspective. The goal of accessibility is not to check off a standards list but to make your product accessible. An approach to using accessibility standards follows:
•Standard(s) that is applied to the product should be determined
•Goal should be determined for meeting all or some of the standards, and dates should be fixed.
•Standards in product design should be reviewed early, along with the other approaches throughout this chapter
•If prototype designs meet the standards as you go along as described in the next chapter it should be evaluated.
Technique Guides
Most accessibility standards and guidelines by nature are required to be broad enough so that they can cover a variety of technologies, situations, and future developments. Technique guides provide more specific guidance on implementing standards and guidelines and most include examples and illustrations. Technique guides follow less formal development and approval processes and can provide more specific design advice is provided by them. They are also updated more frequently.
Several standards and guidelines have associated techniques guides, including:
•For websites and web applications: WCAG 2 Quick Reference, Understanding WCAG 2, Techniques for WCAG 2
•For web authoring tools: Implementing ATAG 2.0
•For web browsers: UAAG 2.0 Reference: Explanations, Examples, and Resources for User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
The Section 508 Tutorial Developing Accessible Software has some similar information as a technique guide. It uses the development of a software calculator to illustrate the application of the accessibility requirements of Section 508, Part 1194.21.
How accessibility can benefit business?
1. By extending your market reach: The global market of people with disabilities is over 1 billion people with a spending power of more than $6 trillion. Hence, ignoring this audience segment is same as losing at least 20% of your potential users who can bring value to any business. It can be an insurance company, saloon, or any other service provider.
2. By enhancing your brand: Businesses focusing on accessibility are considered leaders in the industry today (E.g. Apple) as they are showcasing proof of ethical accessibility practices being able to increase brand credibility, inclusion for all, and online conversions.
3. Minimizing legal risks: While many countries have laws requiring digital accessibility in other countries, accessibility is a human right.
4. Driving innovation and helping everyone: Everyone is helped by accessibility features in products and services. Accessible design thinking provides users flexible ways , so that they can interact with websites, applications and options that are useful for people with and without disabilities.
Accessibility Testing Tools
In addition to the W3 tools, many different accessibility testing tools are available online. The following is a small selection of these:
WAVE — evaluates the overall level of accessibility for any given website.
Color Oracle — displays your site’s colors in a manner similar to how a user with color blindness would see the page.
Image Analyzer — examines website images and tests their compliance with accessibility standards.
It should be remembered that users are people; testing the product for accessibility with real users can be beaten by automated tools. It’s also a great opportunity to conduct user research on a wider scale with those facing accessibility problems. Your website design for everyone can be improved by using the data, not just those facing certain challenges.
Take Away
Thanks to you if you have made it this far. I hope this article has been useful and interesting. Here some of the key points are summarized:
•Accessibility and usability are not mutually exclusive. In fact, the two concepts are seen as near synonymous. You will be making your website more usable by consequence of making it more accessible.
•It is really important to test your product with people using assistive technologies as being compliant with accessibility does not always mean that the product is easily usable.
•Accessibility and inclusion are to be budgeted for
•Everyone’s responsible for accessibility and inclusion
•One should consider accessibility and inclusion from the outset and not as an afterthought
•As Accessibility is an extremely broad ranging topic there is a lot of information available and many dedicated experts
Let’s design for all !!
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Further Reading & References
Articles, guides and accessibility resources for businesses, The Big Hack
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), W3C
The Business Case for Digital Accessibility, W3C
Usability Guidelines for Accessible Web Design
7 Things Every Designer Needs to Know about Accessibility
Designing for accessibility is not that hard
Why digital accessibility matters
Accessibility — How to Design for All:
https://www.interaction-design.org/courses/accessibility-how-to-design-for-all
Quesenbery, W. (2010). “Accessibility First — for a Better User Experience for All”. UX Matters. Retrieved from: http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2010/12/acces...
Thurow, S. (2015).“Measuring Accessibility In the User Experience (UX) And The Searcher Experience”. Marketing Land. Retrieved from: http://marketingland.com/measuring-accessibility-u...
Van Toll, T.J. (2014). “Mobile And Accessibility: Why You Should Care And What You Can Do About It”. . Smashing Magazine. Retrieved from: www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/05/mobile-accessibility-why-care-what-can-you-do/
Watson, L. (2012). “Accessibility is part of UX (it isn’t a swear word)”. No Mensa/blog. Retrieved from: http://www.nomensa.com/blog/2012/accessibility-is-...
Top tips for creating accessible, useful written content, AbilityNet
Standards for Writing Accessibly, Micheal J. Wetts, Andy Welfe
