You should be doing UX accessibility research — and you can start today
Lately, you may have heard people in the user experience (UX) and product design world talk about accessible UX. Fortunately, more teams and companies are realizing the importance of designing for everyone, not just who they assume their typical user or consumer is. So, what is accessible UX? Why should you be designing accessible products and services? And how can user research facilitate accessible design?
What accessible UX means
An accessible user experience is one that works seamlessly for any user, regardless of disability status or use of assistive technology. It requires an intentionality on the part of designers and researchers to avoid easy assumptions about how users engage with products and an overreliance on existing design conventions that only meet the needs of some users. This means engaging users with disabilities in the research and design process and reimagining the status quo to account for all types of users, all of the time.
Creating accessible UX does not have to be in tension with creating good UX for the “standard” user. In fact, designing for an edge case (a situation that deviates from the typical user experience) often benefits all users.
Speech-to-text capabilities are an excellent example. This technology makes it possible for people with certain physical disabilities to input text without using a keyboard. Speech-to-text also makes it possible for anyone to send texts when their hands are busy — a useful feature for a lot of people and one that consumers now expect because of the convenience it provides.
Why you should be designing accessible products and services
If you’re not convinced, or have stakeholders who need convincing, consider the business case for accessible UX. The demand for accessible user experiences has never been higher and will only grow in the future. Brands that prioritize accessibility are meeting urgent, existing user needs as well as positioning themselves for increased market share in the future.
The demand is there. One in six people globally are estimated to experience significant disability and that number is growing. This includes individuals who identify as disabled, those experiencing temporary disability due to illness or injury, and the growing population of older people.
In addition, declining birth rates and increasing life expectancy mean that, by 2030, one in six people globally will be over 60. It’s no secret that as we age our bodies change. Text that seemed large enough and clear enough ten years ago becomes difficult to read. Common conditions like arthritis change our preferences for the size and shape of the devices we use, and the ease with which we can use them.
It’s the right thing to do. People with disabilities deserve equitable access to products and services. Any company or organization that purports to care about diversity and inclusion should be working on accessibility. Accessible design also signals a company’s values to consumers more broadly who are increasingly expecting the brands they trust to invest in accessibility.
Accessible design is a win-win. The disabled community and their family and friends are estimated to represent over $13 trillion globally in annual disposable income. Inclusively designed products and services tap into this large and growing market. Brands that prove they care by delivering top-notch accessible experiences will reap the benefits.
Tips for getting started with accessibility research
If you want to design accessible products, experiences, and services, you need to talk to users who have disabilities. Full stop. If your UX or product team doesn’t include anyone who uses assistive technology or has a disability, prioritizing talking to disabled users is even more critical. (It might also mean your company’s recruitment and hiring processes are rife with barriers and bias that prevent people with disabilities from being hired or even filling out an application.)
Don’t be overwhelmed or let your current lack of knowledge prevent you from doing accessibility research. In many ways, conducting user research for accessible UX is no different than any user research. If your team already uses thoughtful research design, high quality moderation, and purposeful analysis, you’re halfway there. But you have to be intentional and may need to change some processes. Here’s some tips for doing it right.
Research prep: Take the time to learn about the common barriers faced by the types of users you want to do research with, and the assistive technologies they use. If you’re not an assistive technology user, try it out! Download a free screen reader or speech recognition tool and use it to do familiar tasks. Then try it out with your website or app. When engaging participants, make sure your process is accessible from start to finish including recruitment screening, arriving at the research location or logging into a video call, and receiving the incentive.
Recruitment: Keep invasive, unnecessary medical questions out of your screeners. Instead, think about what you actually need to know about participants. For example, to understand how people with disabilities experience the online job search we asked potential participants about the kinds of assistive technology they used. We were testing a job search website and wanted to know how easy it was to complete basic tasks on the site with screen readers and voice control software. We didn’t need to know why a participant used that assistive technology. (If you want to read more about this research, check out the case study in our white paper Why Accessible UX Matter!) When you do need to know about specific abilities of participants, stick to the relevant facts. For example, to find the pain points for blind and low vision (BLV) users of wearable devices we wanted to recruit users with a wide variety of vision levels. So we asked. But we didn’t ask how long they had been living with their visual impairment or what caused it — we didn’t need to know and it wasn’t our business.
Fieldwork: Flexibility is key. You may need to incorporate breaks or organize your discussion guide to avoid physical or cognitive fatigue. For example, if you know your participants may experience eye fatigue, intersperse tasks requiring looking at a screen with other types of questions. If you’re using an ASL interpreter, remember that participants need to focus on the interpreter when you’re asking a question, not on the product or website. Pace the session accordingly. Most importantly, be prepared for tech failures. Plan extra time for assistive tech setup at the beginning of sessions and, if running remote sessions, don’t assume the platforms you’re used to using will work with participants’ assistive tech. Be prepared for whatever you are testing to fail. Come prepared with contingency plans and backup questions.
Small pilot studies are a great way to get started with accessibility UX research. Talking to a few people who have a disability that affects how, or if, they use your product will reveal new ways of thinking about usability and provide a foundation for incorporating accessibility into your product roadmap.
The time to start is now. As UX researchers and designers, we wield the power to make our world — both physical and digital — more accessible and inclusive. Who wouldn’t want to make their product more available, useful and delightful for everyone?
