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Inclusive Design

Version 4.4 by Clara Stiller on 2022/03/30 11:30

Main Goal of inclusive design: make system accessible and usable to as many people as (reasonably) possible

How to achieve this:

  • consider disabilities already in your design process
  • optimize the system for the specific user with specific needs
  • for evaluation broaden the participant group: diverse, great variety
    What to avoid:
  • make assumptions about your users (using stereotyping, patronising attitudes and/or language, stigmatizing and incorrect terminology)
    instead: ask people how they like to be referred to 
  • design and test with "healthy users" (only university students)
    instead: involve people from target group eg. by doing a focus group/ mutual learning or design workshops, involve them from earliest stages
    consider effort, that is time consuming and the specialised knowledge that the design requires.

Different kind of disability grouped by their frequency in occurrence:

  1. Permanent: Cognitive disability
  2. Temporary: Learning, drugs, distress
  3. Situational: Interruption, distraction

disabilities grouped by their cause:

  1. perceptual
    blind, deaf, partially sighted > use close captioning, support for screenreaders
  2. motor
    limited or no use of limb(s), use of mobility assistance > provide physical accessibility (eg. no stairs)
  3. cognitive
    dementia, down syndrome, autism, neurodiversity > communication needs and preferences
  4. social and economic factors
    money, culture, environment > affordable design, fit in life and environment

Accessibility

  • is related to usability
  • all users should have equivalent experience
  • inclusive design also beneficial to all users
  • universal design

Different kind of access:

  1. direct
    system is accessible without assistance
  2. indirect
    system is accessible with an EXISTING assistive technology (e.f. screen readers)

Inclusive design addresses:

  • Social aspects (e.g., manners)
  • Cognitive processes (e.g., memory)
  • Affective processes (e.g., trust)
  • Perceptual/ motor skills (e.g., tremor)

Examples:

VESSEL support

Exoskeleton design