Inclusive Design Basics

Understand the basics of creating products, services, and environments that accommodate as many people's needs as possible
Inclusive Design Basics Lesson

In his book The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, Jesse Schell points out that inclusive design is a result of viewing the design from many different perspectives, or lenses.

Essentially, design should benefit all people, no matter the existence or lack of disabilities. In this lesson, learn about the different types of disabilities and why inclusive design is a win-win situation for everyone.

Worldwide, the most common disability in people under the age of 60 is depression, followed by hearing and visual problems.[1] When designing with disabilities in mind, it is just as important to consider cognitive disabilities.

Inclusive design

Inclusive design is the belief and methodology of creating products, services, and environments that accommodate as many people's needs as possible, without the need for specialized design. While inclusive design encompasses accessibility, it also considers cultural, social, and other needs that extend past those of the perceived "typical" user.

In the digital realm, creating inclusive design starts by identifying situations where people cannot use certain technologies. Recognizing this exclusion can happen to anyone depending on the particular circumstances and is a key element to inclusive design methodology.

Mismatched human interactions Bad Practice
Mismatched human interactions Best Practice

The way we define disability has changed in the last 40 years. In 1980, we thought of it as a health condition restricting a person from performing an activity. Nowadays, we don't look at disability as a personal attribute. Instead, it's something that only appears when a person with certain physical characteristics can't successfully interact with the environment where they live.

In 2001, the WHO introduced the term "mismatched interaction" for activities that fail to meet people's abilities and exclude them from participating. The way to decrease mismatched interactions is not for disabled people to adapt to the world. Instead, engineers and designers need to create environments, products, and services that are easily accessible for everybody, despite disabilities.

Permanent disabilities last longer than 12 months

There are 3 main types of disabilities: permanent, temporary, and situational. When thinking of a disability, most people tend to think of people with permanent impairment. It's an inclusive term covering a range of disabilities, illnesses, and conditions: loss of sight, hearing or speech, mobility impairments, difficulties with fine motor skills, and many non-visible disabilities like dyslexia, autism, depression, and others. What all of them have in common is that they last longer than 12 months and result in a significant change in someone's ability to perform day-to-day tasks.

Pro Tip! Keep in mind that disability is something that people can choose to apply to themselves — even if we think that someone has a disability, the person themselves may not identify as having one.

Temporary disability Bad Practice
Temporary disability Best Practice

Temporary disabilities refer to occasions in which people lose the ability to perform certain actions because of an illness or other medical circumstances. For example, someone with an arm in a cast will have difficulty typing on the keyboard, or someone with dilated pupils after an eye doctor's appointment will find it challenging to look at a bright phone screen.

Situational disability depends on the environment

Situational disabilities only impede people from performing actions during specific circumstances. For example, a new parent holding a baby doesn't have the ability to use both hands, or a person in a loud office can't make out what people in the video are saying.

Put the "Curb-Cut Effect" in practice

The "Curb-cut effect" illustrates how designing for people with permanent disabilities benefits everyone. The story behind the name comes from the 1940s, when the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan decided to make public streets accessible to wheelchair users, cutting the curb to allow smooth passage between the sidewalk and the street.[2]

It turned out to help many other categories of people: skaters and cyclists, parents with strollers, people with crutches or canes, and many others. Nowadays, we don't even think of cut curbs as assistive technology as it's become the new normal.

It's essential to understand that everyone will experience some form of disability in their life. Closed captions are an excellent example of the "Curb-cut effect" in digital products. Initially created to help people with permanent hearing loss, they are also beneficial for people with earwax blockages, people in loud environments, and those who study foreign languages.

Adapt design to people using assistive technologies

Assistive technology includes any device, software, or equipment that helps people work around their challenges. In the digital world, common examples are screen readers, switch devices, screen magnifiers, and others. However, assistive technology comprises low-tech tools, too, like pencil grips.

When ensuring accessibility in design, it's crucial to understand how people will be using your designs. Learn how to navigate a webpage using only your keyboard and how to use a screen reader, such as VoiceOver on your Mac, so you can spot-check new features when necessary. Observing people using assistive technology also can help you understand how people use different strategies to interact with digital products.

It's also important to use accessibility testing tools to ensure that your designs are accessible to all users. There are several tools available that can help identify accessibility issues, such as color contrast, font size, and alternative text for images. Some popular accessibility testing tools include Stark, AXE, and Wave.

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