Accessibility & User Experience - You Can't Have One Without the Other

Accessibility & User Experience
Accessibility &
User Experience:
You Can’t Have
One Without the
Other

Who Am I?

What is UX?
 The extent to which people
(with disabilities*) are able to
understand and use a product.
What is Accessibility?
 How a person feels about and
interacts with a product
What does a UX practioner
do?
What does an Accessibility
advocate do?
 Through research, advocacy and empathy, create
 products that meet user expectations and needs

Great Perspectives (And Challenges)...
 Reframing Accessibility for the Web (Anne Gibson)
http://alistapart.com/article/reframing-accessibility-for-the-web
 “We can reframe accessibility in terms of what we provide,
not what other people lack.”
 “We seem to live in a world where the able-bodied among us
are considered normal, and everyone else must strive to
attain that level.”
- I Am Not Broken: The Language of Disability, Bookworm Blues
http://www.bookwormblues.net/2014/09/10/i-am-not-broken-the-
language-of-disability/

Accessibility
A Brief
Overview

Some (Mis)Perceptions of Accessibility
 Accessibility = just blindness
 It’s just not a big enough % of our audience
 “All of our users need to be able-bodied”
 “Accessibility is just for government compliance”
 “You can’t expect an experience to work the same for
everybody.”
 “It’s too difficult to make an application/web experience
accessible”

Disabilities...by the Numbers
 People (all ages) with
a disability in the US:
12.1% (2012)
 Those 21-64: 10.4%

Disabilities
More Than
Just
Blindness

Vision Disabilities
 Blindness
 Poor Vision
 Color Blindness
 About 6.2% of people 15 and older experienced some level of difficulty with seeing, hearing, or
having their speech understood (2010 Census Bureau)

World Headquarters
Cincinnati, Ohio
Hearing Disabilities
 Hard of Hearing
 Deaf
 About 6.2% of people 15 and older experienced some level of difficulty with seeing, hearing, or
having their speech understood (2010 Census Bureau)

World Headquarters
Cincinnati, Ohio
Motor Disabilities
 Cerebral palsy
 Muscular dystrophy
 Arthritis
 About 12.6% of people 15 and older had limitations associated with ambulatory activities of the
lower body including difficulty walking, climbing stairs, or using a wheelchair, cane, crutches, or
walker (2010 Census Bureau)

World Headquarters
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cognitive and Other Disabilities
 Attention Deficit
 Dyslexia
 Seizures
 About 6.3% of people 15 and older experienced difficulty with some kind of cognitive, mental, or
emotional functioning. (2010 Census Bureau)

World Headquarters
Cincinnati, Ohio
Environmental
 Rooftop Displays
 Poor Lighting
 Multiple Interfaces

UX Techniques
And Accessibility
Archetypes/
Personas

World Headquarters
Cincinnati, Ohio
Example Users: Building Automation World
Poor Vision
Color
Blindness
Blindness
Hard of
Hearing
Deaf
Arthritis
Motor Skill
Limitations
Seizures
Attention
Deficit
Dyslexia
Poor or Too
Much
Lighting
 Facility Operator?
 Service Technician?
 Security Guard?
 Security Operator?
 Case Investigator?
 Facility Manager?
 Director?
 CEO?
 Nurse?
 Teacher?

World Headquarters
Cincinnati, Ohio
Poor Vision
Color
Blindness
Blindness
Hard of
Hearing
Deaf
Arthritis
Motor Skill
Limitations
Seizures
Attention
Deficit
Dyslexia
Poor or Too
Much
Lighting
 Facility Operator?
 Service Technician?
 Security Guard?
 Security Operator?
 Case Investigator?
 Facility Manager?
 Director?
 CEO?
 Nurse?
 Teacher?
Example Users: Building Automation World

UX
Techniques
And
Accessibility
Usability
Testing

Usability Testing with Disabled Users
 In-Person
 Remote
 Recruiting?

Accessibility
Tools
Don’t Fight
The OS &
Browsers

World Headquarters
Cincinnati, Ohio
Accessibility Tools

World Headquarters
Cincinnati, Ohio
Accessibility Tools
 Contrast checkers
 WCAG 2.0 Guidelines
 Section 508 Checklist
 WebAIM – www.webaim.org

“People are people. They come in many shapes and
forms and abilities. Computer interfaces are input
and output hardware. They help people
communicate with software. Websites are software
that help people accomplish their goals, regardless
of the hardware and software combination,
regardless of the shapes and forms of their people.
That is accessibility.”
Anne Gibson
Reframing Accessibility for the Web (A List Apart)

Cheers!
Steve Grobschmidt
 The Art of Web Accessibility
(www.theaccessibility.com)
 Twitter: @sgrobschmidt
 Email: steve@theaccessibility.com

Image Sources
Images are author’s own unless noted below:
 Slide 8- http://www.easterseals.com/sepa/our-programs/childrens-
services/assistive-technology.html
 Slide 11- http://www.ilrcsf.org/about/galleries/photo-gallery/
 Slide 12- http://uxmovement.com/content/6-surprising-bad-practices-that-
hurt-dyslexic-users/
 Slide 21- http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Improve-usability-with-
assistive-technology
 Slide 22- http://www.interactiveaccessibility.com/services/usability-
accessibility-testing
 Slides 1 & 5– Got these from a free istockphoto account years ago

Accessibility & User Experience - You Can't Have One Without the Other

More Related Content

What's hot

Viewers also liked

Similar to Accessibility & User Experience - You Can't Have One Without the Other

Recently uploaded

Accessibility & User Experience - You Can't Have One Without the Other

Editor's Notes