Consider these for Better Inclusive Design
There are so many events and people that got me interested in accessibility and led me to write this article. I would like to thank them and briefly talk about why I’m writing this:
First, I learned about the term “accessibility” from Josue Martinez, the former lead designer at GoGuardian that assigned me to a color accessibility project. He taught me how to check the contrast ratio using a Stark plugin and also explained how it can help those with different visions. I was fascinated by the fact that people can perceive colors in different ways.
Another is JT Houser, a QA integration engineer, that reached out to me. He volunteered to be a tester to validate color combinations. He has a superpower called Monochromacy, a type of vision to see the world in shades of gray. This superpower has helped me reach accessibility standards faster; helped me to create something valuable for users.
Third, Gina Yu, our UX designer on the Pear Deck team, supported me a ton to move forward with this article. I didn’t know where to begin and how to structure my thoughts. She supported and created this space to write a post on what I genuinely cared about.
Lastly, this topic was inspired by my friend Ojen Shammasian, a UX designer and accessibility advocate. She’s the reason why I got more interested in learning about accessibility; she openly shares her stories with me when we meet up. Ojen Shammasian and Sophia Scozzesi, who are co-founders of a website called “Problem Collective” at https://www.problemcollective.com. It’s a website where people with disabilities and non-disabilities come together to share their perspectives on issues and concerns regardless of the subject. It is really difficult to know and consider limitations if we don’t have a specific lens to tell us stories for change. The Problem Collective is that lens to share different stories for us to be aware of our diverse community.
For example, Ojen has physical disabilities called Muscular Dystrophy and Myasthenic syndrome. It’s progressive muscle weakness, and it can cause overall muscle weakness in the face/ body/ arms/ legs along with difficulty breathing and chewing. Her superpower is to create designs and share her stories of trials and tribulations when using computers. With minimal mouse movements and clicks, using her voice, she shares a lack of inclusivity when she uses her computer. Her feedback and observation have created this list of things to consider when designing for users with different motor skills.
Here are some approachable things that any designer could consider when designing for people with mobility disabilities:
Included here is also the inability to be able to double-click, right-click, drag-and-drop, pan, or make a full range of motion with a mouse.
These are things to consider—NOT to recommended solutions.
Keep in mind these are only a few I observed when my friend, Ojen, was creating her presentation decks.
Some might use On-Screen Keyboards; the On-Screen keyboard is covering 1/3 of the workspace. The default On-Screen keyboard is usually set on the bottom. You can easily test how much it covers by turning on the “On-Screen keyboard” from the Accessibility features page.
The Dictate/ Voice command is helpful when typing. The users who can only type with a click could benefit from this dictate/ voice command button.
Navigator Window helps with a limited range of motion.
Having a Pop-up Edit toolbar with a set of expected Call-To-Action buttons after making a selection helps.
Shortcut keys on hover or next to each button help make quick actions.
In conclusion, the proximity considerations are important for different levels of a person’s motor skills. These considerations are critical and more awareness is needed to play nicely with assistive devices and built-in accessibility features.
Designing for inclusivity is a practice.
We as a designers need to make a habit of observing people’s discomfort and do more usability tests with them, instead of learning about their disability through the WCAG checklists.
Most people will experience some type of physical disadvantage at some point in their life; it could be an injury, accident, illness, or just aging. We all will benefit from inclusive design solutions either directly or indirectly.
I also believe GoGuardian, PearDeck, and Edulastic are great places to start raising awareness where all education leaders come together for collaboration.
People with different realities who talk about all the discomforts and physical needs, need to be heard for design to be implemented for all.
Instead of catering to technology, designers should aim to cater to everyone’s lifestyle.
