Designing content for conflicting access needs

Written by Chloe Tear and published here on her behalf.

At Scope, we design content for disabled people and their families. We aim to make it accessible to everyone. But how does that work if people have conflicting access needs?

What are conflicting access needs?

An access need is something a person needs to communicate, learn and take part in an activity. This is normally because they have a condition or impairment, but not always.

Even when the content is accessible, different things work for different people.

Conflicting access needs are when the access need for one person is the opposite of what someone else needs.

For example:

• User 1 needs all the information on one page. They’ll forget what they have read if they need to switch between pages.
• User 2 finds all the information on one page overwhelming. They need to have separate pages that break up the information.

Here are some patterns we have found when testing Scope’s information and advice content.

The words you use when describing something

Language is important, but it is also personal.

In testing sessions, we were able to tailor our language to each participant. Often mirroring the phrases that they used. But in the content, we had to find a shared language.

When testing content about death and bereavement, there was a mixed opinion on some phrases.

For example:

• ‘Dead’ and ‘died’ sometimes felt jarring to participants but was also seen as clear.
• ‘Has lost someone’ and ‘passed away’ felt softer to some people but were seen as confusing to neurodivergent people and parents explaining death to children.
• ‘Is no longer alive’ was seen as a clear way of saying died by people who found it emotionally hard to read ‘dead’.

Uncertainty

When you’re writing content for a range of situations, the answer to something can depend on a person’s circumstances.

In our content we can use the phrases ‘might’ or ‘could’ to explain this.

For example:

• If you struggle with everyday tasks or your mobility, you could be entitled to Personal Independence Payment.
• Your employer’s policies and procedures might describe how they should be helping you.

We found that ‘might’ or ‘could’ can be reassuring for some people, especially if they have anxiety.

But it does not test well with neurodivergent people. They wanted to know if it applied to them or not.

As a solution, we provide people with the tools they need to find out for definite. This could be a list of eligibility criteria or a link to a benefits calculator.

Balancing readability and digital ability

Our content can vary in length. It’s difficult to write a piece of content that is the right length for everyone. This is because:

• some people find lots of text on a page hard to read
• others find it difficult to navigate content when there are lots of links to other pages and want all the information on one page

People tended to prefer more shorter pages rather than one long page, as this means they can flick between the information and read the bits they need.

But we’ve found that physically disabled users or parents of disabled children wanted longer pages so everything is in the same place.

Our solution:

• use bullet points
• use headings in the side navigation to act as jump links
• links for more in-depth info

Seeing themselves in the example

Within our content, we use examples to explain concepts. We put these examples in a coloured box to show the difference between advice and examples.

Here is one of our examples on a social care page:

For example, you’re a wheelchair user and your mobility needs are well managed because you have a powerchair that you can operate independently. A CHC eligibility assessment must include that you cannot independently mobilise.

Many disabled people benefited from these examples as it allowed them to understand a concept more easily and see if it applies to them.

But we’ve found that neurodivergent people thought situations did not apply to them at all if an example did not include their condition.

As a solution, we now include multiple examples. We make sure one is about someone who’s neurodivergent if the situation can apply to them.

Becoming disabled

If someone becomes disabled, it can take time for them to identify or even recognise that they’re disabled. This means people miss out on support and benefits that they’re entitled to.

We have found this a lot with our benefits content.

At Scope we test all our content, but people who have recently become disabled are less likely to be on our research panel. This makes it harder to test content with them.

Our solution is to use ‘impairment’ or ‘condition’ when talking about disability. This also follows the social model of disability. But it equally includes people with a newly acquired condition.

We also:

• explain things
• give examples
• do not assume previous knowledge

Sometimes we make content specifically for people who might not identify as disabled. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw huge search demand for long COVID and benefits. The advice we gave regarding benefits was the same. But we changed the tone of the piece and made sure to give condition-specific examples.

If we had not created this page, people would have struggled to find information about benefits you can receive as a disabled person.