📓 Meetup Notes: To be accessible, start with process by Alwar Pillai
Part 4 of our meetup live-blog from Inclusive UX Research
Our last talk of the night is with Alwar Pillai, CEO of Fable Tech Labs.
Alwar Pillai is CEO of Fable Tech Labs. She has used her expertise in accessibility and inclusive design to build a platform where developers can connect directly with people with disabilities.
Background 📚
Alwar has a Masters in Inclusive Design and an undergraduate degree in UX design. Once she started working in the industry, she realized that she missed engaging with people through design that is more personal and inclusive. She decided to pursue a Masters in Inclusive Design at OCAD, where she focused her research on seniors with minor cognitive impediments. Afterwards, she worked at the Ontario Ministry of Education on projects that focused on how to build educational materials. Alwar got her big break when she started working at Rogers as Manager of Accessibility and UX Standards. Once she got deeper into inclusive design, she experienced a different level of complexity in research and accessibility. These experiences led her to start Fable Tech Labs, where she develops new ways to engage with people with disabilities throughout the entire process.
Alwar’s talk was structured in three parts:
1. “What excites me” 😁
- The innovation that can happen when practising inclusive design.
- It’s nice to see when products are designed to work for everyone. Eg. MarioKart has evolved as a product designed with features that make it an easier experience to play at any level. 🏎️
- Microsoft Xbox created an adaptive controller that made it possible for a whole new group of people to play with their peers. 🎮
- My Aha Moment 💡 — When you see someone doing something they couldn’t do before. For Alwar, it was seeing a 93 year-old woman immediately be able to use an accessible remote control prototype she had built to improve upon another one that didn’t consider her needs. It was an incredible experience.
- These examples show how there’s a new level of excitement that happens when you focus on inclusive design.
2. “What I see as Problems” 😕
- Divided teams — When designers, developers, managers, etc., are solely responsible for a part of the product development, it limits their ability to bring forth change, be creative and innovative.
- Demand on research participants — We need to consider if research is convenient for participants to engage in. Are there other ways for participants to share the experience as they explore a product?
- Research methodologies that don’t work for diverse user groups.
3. “What the Future Holds” 🤩
- I am not an expert — Nobody represents every users needs. It’s ok to recognize that you cannot represent everyone. This mindset in turn ensures that you’re always learning.
- My convenience is not the priority — Making sure that you’re putting participants’ needs ahead of yours.
- Contributors, not Participants — Just changing the language can have a huge impact in the way we approach research. Everyone involved should feel they have space to contribute to the project. This means changing the power dynamics and arriving at a solution together.
- Iteration is not valuable in isolation — it’s good practise to engage with people in a group setting at every iteration and not just by yourself.
Alwar ended her presentation with an important note: Research is continuous and constant, not just the first and last phases of a project. When we approach research this way we are able to practise co-design and integrate inclusive practices throughout the entire design process.👏
Catch up on the other talks from the Inclusive UX Research meetup below 👇
Designing for older adults: What does it mean to you? — Lia Tsotsos
Who is at the table? Co-design methods and learnings — Sepideh Shahi, Cheryl Li and Dana Ayotte
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