Empathy, Education and Excellence in Inclusive DesignDavid Sloan, UX Research Lead, @sloandrSarah Horton, UX Strategy Lead, @gradualclearing

Perceptions around accessibility influence empathy

WebAIM’s Hierarchy for Motivating Accessibility Change

Identify, Prioritize, Inject, Integrate

Five Goofy Things Medium Did That Break Accessibility

An Accessible Design Maturity Continuumuxfor.us/mature-it

Empathy: How might we engage people with accessibility?

Photo credit: Valerie Fletcher, Institute for Human Centered Design

8.1 million people in the US have some difficulty seeing

Sister DaughterMothe

r MeFather

HusbandFriendColleague

BrotherWife

Son

Let’s consider accessibility as an opportunity First-person perspective

Observation

Poll results: Which engagement strategy is most persuasive? Numbers 3, Personal experience 18, First-person stories 16, Observation 20

Who Benefits from Accessible UX

Building empathy through understanding

empat.io/arend

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

Education: How might we build 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

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

Excellence: How might we create pleasurable experiences?

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

Manifesto for Accessible User ExperienceWhen we examine accessibility through the lens of user experience, we see that accessibility is:• A core value, not an item on a checklist• A shared concern, not a delegated task• A creative challenge, not a challenge to creativity• An intrinsic quality, not a bolted-on fix• About people, not technology

accessibleux.org

Accessibility is a creative challenge, not a challenge to creativity

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

Case Study: MBTA user research

The right column is a bad location for critical information

Online information should match what’s

available in print

Boston South Station lobby

Travel can be difficult due to uncertainties and a lack of control. Travel can be made much more difficult by unexpected and unknown changes to schedules or services. MBTA has the opportunity to reduce the negative effect of changes by implementing a notification system that provides up-to-the-minute details in a format that is accessible for everyone, before they travel and while they are in transit. The T-Alert service is a good start, but there is more to be done to fully utilize digital technologies to keep all travelers apprised of details that affect their journey.

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: Appreciating the valueEducation: Understanding what’s needed

Excellence: Designing for pleasure

Thank you!@sloandr@gradualclearing