Thread by @FrankElavsky

👋🏻 Hello #a11y folks, but especially those who build software and games: I have a new piece out where I talk about "Option-Driven Design" and how it is not only a huge trend in accessibility, but surprisingly underdiscussed.

PDF here (HTML incoming):

arxiv.org/abs/2304.08748

If websites aren't accessible by default, should they use an overlay to give users options?

How do you design for conflicting access needs and access friction?

Does the amount of time someone spends with the software matter?

Do extensions and mods count?

I cover all this!

I hope that this micro-paper serves just to get the conversation started! There's so much to discuss.

And I am not writing this micro-paper to claim the idea that people use options in software (because this is an old and ubiquitous practice).

Rather, I am just contributing to what I hope is the start of an ongoing conversation between accessibility researchers and practioners.

Considering when, why, and how we give users options for accessibility matters!

Folks like @momoxmia, @Super_Crip1994, @ianhamilton_, and @MissFire4 are already having this conversation in games. But many more contexts need to start thinking seriously about this design choice.

I hope this short read (with an HTML version coming soon) is helpful for folks who might have a hard time even googling basic resources.

I'm giving this type of design choice a name so that it might be easier to find later. I look forward to the discussion!