What my broken hand taught me about accessibility 🦴🦴🦴

Illustration made by Wioleta Zamrzycka

Picture this: I broke my dominant right hand during a wrestling 🤼 and let me tell you, it wasn’t just a setback, it was a game-changer. Suddenly, everyday tasks became daunting challenges, and I found myself thrust into a world where I had to navigate life one-handed (what’s worse — left handed).

Source: X-ray operator 🙏 thank you! Great shot!

It was a sad and fortunately temporary reminder of the reality faced by millions of people living with permanent disabilities. Yet, despite the frustration and inconvenience, this experience became a profound lesson in empathy and understanding.

Follow along as I share what I’ve learned “thanks to” my broken hand and explore the important topic of digital accessibility.

Not all disabilities are clearly visible

Consider this: When the term “person with disability” comes to mind, what’s the first image that pops into your head? Likely, it’s someone using a wheelchair or someone who is blind. These are the stereotypical associations with the word.

Source: Unsplash & Pexels images merged

But let’s look at things from a wider view. “Disability” covers a lot of different situations. It could be someone who had a stroke and now finds it hard to press small buttons because their hands shake. Or it could be someone dealing with mental health issues, having a tough time with complicated screens or thinking quickly.

Currently, around 16% of global population lives with some kind of disability (source: WHO report) — so you can assume 1/5 people you pass on the street have some kind of health issues.

This idea makes you wonder:
Maybe we’re all only temporarily non-disabled.

There could be a time when any of us experience a disability, whether it’s short-term like my broken hand or long-lasting. And it might not even be because of an accident or sickness, but simply as we age. (Wojciech Kutyła, an UX consultant, is as far as I know author of this thought process — and I think it’s really accurate.)

Enough — What are my actual insights?

🎯 Small touch targets are indeed pain in the a*s

One of the immediate hurdles I encountered was the frustration of navigating digital interfaces with small touch targets. With my dominant hand out of order, precision became a luxury I couldn’t afford as my left hand was a little bit “shaky” when I was trying to do something that required precision.

Simple tasks like tapping icons or buttons on my smartphone suddenly felt like navigating a minefield. Each attempt to hit a tiny target was met with either missed taps or accidental miss clicks.

Source: made by me

👍 Thumbs up for thumb friendly design

Thumb-friendly design means making it easy to use your phone with just one hand. This is especially important on big phones, which are common nowadays.
I won’t focus on specific apps here — I will focus on my own smartphone.

Source: Image made by me, but based on this example

At that time I had a big phone with a 6.4-inch screen 📱. Even though I have big hands and long thumbs, I usually typed with two hands — one holding the phone, the other typing. But with one hand in a cast, I couldn’t do that anymore. It was tough to realise I’d have to figure out a new way to use my phone.

Source: made by me

One thing that really helped me out was a feature built into my Samsung phone called “One-handed mode.” It basically makes the screen smaller, so you can use your phone with just one hand more easily. Really useful.

I didn’t know about this feature before, and at first, using my phone after the accident was really frustrating, even though I have really BIG hands. Accessibility tools caught me off guard (in a positive way ;D)

⌨️ Keyboard Power: Navigating without a Click

I’m happy owner of Logitech MX3 (it’s not a commercial btw) — but I wasn’t that happy once I’ve tried to use it. My only hand that was available was the left one — guess for whom was it designed… RIGHT HANDED PEOPLE- so discovering the power of keyboard navigation was a game-changer during my time with a broken hand.

Source: made by me, photo from Logitech website

Instead of relying on the mouse, I learned to somehow maneuver through digital interfaces using keyboard shortcuts. It was liberating to realize that I could actually navigate websites on my computer. From scrolling through web pages to filling out forms, keyboard navigation provided alternative.

Source: made by me

This experience underscored the importance of designing interfaces with accessibility in mind, ensuring that users of all abilities can navigate digital spaces comfortably and independently. Important note: NOT EVERY PAGE has logical order of a tab focus so I had to sometimes use touchpad for assistance (shaky left hands strikes again)…

What now❓

My bone healed and I’m back to using my right dominant hand — Conclusions you’ve read are of course not everything I got from being one handed for few months.

I’m not an expert in accessibility (yet) — I still have a lot to learn, and I’m actively doing so. I encourage you to do the same. After my experience, I volunteered for a UX project focused on accessibility.

This article is part of my ongoing effort to promote and support this important topic, which I believe is valuable.

If you found it valuable — please give it like, comment or share ;D.
✨Have a nice day!✨