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Hey friends! One of the table stakes of good UX is #accessibility. I want to share a personal story about how non-accessible experiences have had an impact on my family and how that’s informed my own UX practice. (Thread)
My middle sister is about 5 years younger than me. She was born with physical disabilities (she’s mostly blind and deaf) and cognitive challenges.
Throughout Jennifer’s childhood, we assumed she would never be able to communicate her needs or desires or be able to connect with the world in a way that would afford her any kind of agency.
I looked after her a lot when I was a teenager, and was always surprised by how unaccommodating the world was for her. Then when Jennifer was 16, a wonderful teacher introduced her and our family to PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System).
Jenny received a small purse with velcro laminated symbols (large, high contrast black on white shapes, big enough for her to see) and simple words for common things she might need or want to say.
We were all skeptical that she’d be able to navigate this system but within weeks, Jenny was running up to me, or tapping me on the arm and handing over a symbol. If I didn’t react quickly enough, or told her “not now” …
she would persistently come up and “ask” the same thing over and over, tapping and pointing until she knew I understood. Jennifer could communicate!
This small set of 20 or so symbols changed everything. Jenny’s wasn’t perpetually frustrated by an inability to be understood and was much calmer, happier, and more comfortable even in less familiar environments.
We were able to take her out in the community more. She did better in school. Now Jenny lives in a bright group home in a dynamic community with four other women and she even has a part time job.
Small changes and shifts in approach can make a big impact and the difference they can make to real humans is staggering. Life changing, even.
I’m not an expert in accessibility and chances are, neither are you. But here are the things that I try to remember as I approach my work, while holding my sister and her experiences in my mind and heart:
1/5 Kill the idea that accessibility is too big, broad, or abstract a problem to impact. Small changes can make a difference and there are lots of resources to get even the smallest team, or most novice designer started.
Pick three things you want to do over the next few months to improve how you think about and approach accessibility. Heck, pick one and do that until it’s an ingrained part of your practice.
Here’s a list of a few things we keep in mind at Shopify, and this is just the tip of what our teams are thinking about: polaris.shopify.com/foundations/ac…
2/5 Acknowledge that humans are diverse and don’t assume that by that considering the most common use cases it means you’re thinking about a pool of people with perfect vision, physical dexterity, or cognitive ability.
The people who check all boxes are few and far between. I think we need to expand our view of what we think of as common and what we think of as an edge case, and embrace that accessible experiences will work for more people, but the reverse isn’t true.
There’s a real business imperative to designing experiences in a way that enables more people access.
3/5 Consider how giving attention to small details such as contrast can result in meaningful wins. Really think about how you can craft your experience with accessibility in mind.
For example, my sister doesn’t use a screen reader so she relies on high contrast experiences. The notion that designing visually accessible experiences means compromising on design aesthetic is nonsense.
Embrace the constraints that designing accessible experiences requires. It will improve your work.
4/5 When spending time with my sister, I’m aware of how little of the world was built with someone like her in mind. It sucks to try or care about something and feel excluded from it—to literally be unable to navigate it or access it.
If you can’t relate to this feeling, consider finding ways to get some frontline exposure with people who don’t fit your “common user model” in the new year. Consider whether your hiring practices encourage diverse people to apply or thrive at your company.
Volunteer somewhere, look for local non-profits who might connect you or your team with people who might not be part of your research pool.
I remember the first time I witnessed someone navigating the internet with a screen reader and I will never forget it (and will never forget to add alt text to an image as a result!).
5/5 Remember that context changes. Today I may have good sight, vision and mobility, but when I’m spending time with my sister or my friend’s baby for that matter, I am more physically constrained.
I may only have one hand free, I may be lifting another human while trying to do something on my phone. I maybe in a place with shitty light that makes it hard to see the details on my screen.
And as I get older, my own physical abilities are likely to change. Our users aren’t operating in perfect office environments, on high-end monitors, with no distractions.
When we keep accessibility in mind, it improves the experience for everyone (including those common users and our future selves).
I’m still learning about this and I suspect always will be. If there’s a key takeaway to this thread it’s to not feel bad if you don’t know how to approach accessibility yet and that it’s OK to start with small things. Just start.
I’m grateful that I get to work with folks like @devonpersing, @svinkle, and @tiffany_tse who continue to push my thinking on this forward.
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