How to be more inclusive for people with disabilities.
Liz Davis @lizdavis__
Liz has been a problem solver since birth. She has used a wheelchair since she was 5 years old and consistently battled an environment not built for her. Her empathy with the disability experience offers a unique perspective on design. She's currently a UX Designer in Chicago at QuikOrder and pursuing a degree in HCI at DePaul University. She's also a 2018 Fellow of the ADA Advancing Leadership program and an avid sled hockey player.
Inclusive design is often daunting. You may feel excited but also overwhelmed with the task of making an experience usable for all. After all, how can we think of everything?
We can strengthen our inclusive design empathy by leveraging the knowledge of those living the experience everyday.
Connecting and listening to the disabled community is a huge advantage for making your experience inclusive.�
“Inclusion is a vast promise
— as immense, in fact, as human diversity —
and that’s what makes it a great design challenge.”
Kat Holmes
Shaped Inclusive Design at Microsoft
How do we define disability?
Medical Model
Disability is something that needs to be cured and normalized.
Person should be cured so they can walk.
Social Model
Disability is a mismatch between a person’s abilities and their environment or society they live in. The environment should conform to be more inclusive.
Build Ramps.
�
What is Exclusion?
Everyone experiences this in some way.
What percentage of the CTA Train Stations are accessible in Chicago?
70%
of the CTA train stations are accessible in Chicago
… at least it’s better than NYC which is only 20% accessible
Identify Exclusions
During the design process, identify possible mismatches based on who might be using it.
Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect
But how can we account for all exclusions?!
You may ask...
Image Source: Braintree Commision on Disabilities in Braintree, MA
Include people with disabilities in the conversation!
In Design we can be intentional about why we choose to exclude people and take responsibility for making it better over time.
Finally,
The End
Richard Bong Recreational Area in Wisconsin.
An excellent example of inclusive experience with their amazing accessible cabin.
Here’s a picture from above.
Understanding Inclusive Design
https://www.microsoft.com/design/inclusive/
https://inclusivedesignprinciples.org
Quick Start Guide
https://accessibility.digital.gov/
Testing Resources
https://css-tricks.com/accessibility-testing-tools/
Courses
https://www.lynda.com/Accessibility-tutorials/Foundations-UX-Accessibility/435008-2.html?
https://www.udacity.com/course/web-accessibility--ud891
https://egghead.io/courses/start-building-accessible-web-applications-today
A11y Checklist
https://github.com/Heydon/inclusive-design-checklist
Great Inclusive Design
https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2018/02/28/how-weve-made-gov-uk-elements-even-more-accessible/
https://airbnb.design/designing-for-access/
Wins
https://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/accessories/controllers/xbox-adaptive-controller
Follow Discussions on Twitter
https://twitter.com/search?q=a11y&src=typd
#a11y
Join the a11y slack channel
https://web-a11y.herokuapp.com/