Accessibility

Our primary goal as designers is to ensure our products work well for everyone. We have a legal and ethics responsibility to include people with disabilities in our research, and to ensure their needs are supported during the process.

At least one in four Americans live with a disability. Making our research practices accessible means being inclusive for people who:

• Use assistive technology (such as screen readers, keyboard-only navigation, - speech recognition software)
• Use mobility devices (wheelchairs, canes, or walkers, for example)
• Have difficulty living independently or managing daily tasks
• Are neurodivergent or have a cognitive disability
• Are deaf or have hearing loss
• Are blind or have low vision

While these conditions are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), they may not be seen as impairments by people within those communities. Be respectful and curious when writing or asking about people’s unique needs.

Accessibility benefits everyone, including people with slow internet connections, changing abilities, caregiving responsibilities, and temporary limitations from illness or injury. Centering accessibility helps us achieve our broader mission of delivering inclusive digital services to the public.

Conducting research with people with disabilities

Here are some ways to support people with disabilities during the research process:

• Offer accommodations throughout the process. Check in with participants at the beginning of the session to see if they need anything or if there’s anything you should know before you get started. This gives them a chance to talk about what’s going on for them and add anything they’ve been thinking about.

• Provide materials in accessible formats. Avoid using inaccessible formats such as PDFs or images without HTML or plain text alternatives. Ensure participants can access the consent form, compensation instructions, and any prototypes or testing materials in their preferred format.

• Do tech checks with each participant. Schedule a separate call to make sure they can connect to any apps or websites, and feel comfortable going into the session. This also helps reduce back and forth at the beginning of each session.

• Encourage participants to use their preferred tools and supports. For example, they can bring their preferred device (e.g., phone, laptop, tablet) and use any browser tools or settings they use regularly (e.g. zooming in, color inversion). If a family member typically helps the participant use the internet, include them in the session and allow them to help as usual.

Explain the purpose and format of the session. Help participants understand what we’re hoping to learn, what we’re testing, and how we’ll use the information. Mention if other people are in the session to take notes, observe, or ask questions. Describe the scenarios before diving into testing. This is always helpful, but especially for people using assistive technology.

Be flexible in your facilitation style

• Be clear and concise. Provide instructions in plain language. Ask one question at a time, with as few words as possible. When testing a flow or set of tasks, break things down into manageable steps. Adjust your pacing as needed when providing instructions, and paste any verbal instructions in the chat. When referring to a website or prototype, include direct links so the participant can open them on their own device.

• Focus on connecting at a human level. Validate the participant’s experiences, especially when they’ve shared something difficult about themselves or their disability. Help them feel comfortable and don’t rush into usability questions when a participant opens up about painful situations.

• Offer multiple ways to respond. Let the participant choose how they want to accomplish a task or respond, such as verbally, in chat, by phone, or cameras off.

• Speak up as needed. It’s okay to step in or answer questions to reassure participants. Long silences don’t work for everyone. While we often leave space for participants to navigate and think aloud, some participants may need more verbal feedback. Words of encouragement like “yes” and “great callout” can build rapport. If you’re concerned about leading the participant to an answer, ask them what they expect or need to be successful. Keep in mind that visual cues like nodding or smiling don’t always translate well.

Pay attention to time

Build unstructured time into your interview guide to account for differences in processing and response time. Make sure the script allows for detours and cutting later tasks if needed.

• Be flexible with scheduling. Some participants may prefer morning or afternoon sessions, depending on their needs, energy levels, and access to transportation (when meeting in person or using a computer outside the home).

• Don’t overbook the session. Prioritize key questions and allow yourself time to ask follow-up questions about a participant’s needs. Some participants may not complete all of the testing, whether it’s because of a disability, a more talkative style, Wi-Fi trouble, or some other reason.

• Offer breaks and time checks. Participants may fatigue and need shorter sessions or breaks between tasks. In addition, time checks can help participants stay focused and have a sense of time passing.

• Practice the session timing with a colleague or agency partner. Invite interested peers to do a dry run if they’re comfortable talking about their disability or cognitive needs to improve the research protocol. Within TTS, you could try the #neurodiversity or #g-accessibility Slack channels to find people.

After the session

• Focus on user needs over limitations. If someone is having difficulty navigating a website, it may have nothing to do with their disability or tech proficiency. When synthesizing things in archetypes or user stories, for example, tie insights to the user’s needs or goals rather than a particular disability.

Supporting neurodiversity in research

We want to support a wide variety of people in our work, including neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals. Neurodivergence refers to people whose brains and nervous systems work differently than dominant societal norms. People who are neurodivergent may also identify as having a cognitive disability, such as:

• Autism
• Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Learning differences (such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dyspraxia)
• Mental illness (such as depression, anxiety, PTSD)
• Memory loss (such as, dementia, amnesia)
• Vestibular disorders (such as migraines, vertigo)
• Brain injury
• Stroke

The CDC reports that 12.8% of adults have a cognitive disability, which can affect a person’s ability to concentrate, process information, remember, and make decisions. While a checklist won’t solve for such a diverse range of conditions and populations, people with cognitive disabilities share some common needs. As a researcher, you can be more neuroinclusive by offering:

• Support with focusing, remembering, and breaking down complex tasks
• Clear, specific language
• Flexibility and choices
• Control over text size, light or dark mode, and scrolling speed
• Information presented in multiple ways to accommodate different learning styles (e.g., text, verbally, visually, or in a story)
• Additional processing and response time

Further reading

Accessibility

• Accessibility for Teams
• Accessibility in the U.S. Web Design System
• Evaluating for accessibility
• Inclusive research
• Making events accessible

Neurodiversity

• Make content usable for people with cognitive and learning disabilities
• Neurodiversity at work playbook: federal edition
• Cognitive disabilities and related design considerations
• Designing for people with cognitive disabilities and everyone else
• Disability language style guide