Accessibility
Activity 1: Understanding Challenges
(15 minutes)
The simulations linked here are meant to show you the challenges faced by kids who struggle with Reading, Writing, Attention, Math, or Organization.
Pick one or two simulations and try to complete the challenge. Was it difficult? If so, what made it hard?
Activity 2: Increasing Access
(10 minutes)
How could you creatively design something that could be used and enjoyed by everyone, even if they struggled to read, pay attention, see, walk, or hear?
It’s a hard challenge, but designers have come up with creative ways make their designs accessible. When something is accessible, everyone can participate. If a building has stairs, for example, designers can make the building more accessible by adding a wheelchair ramp or elevator. That way, not being able to climb stairs won’t limit anyone’s ability to use the building.
Buildings aren’t the only thing that need to be accessible. Designers work hard to increase access to busses, books, movies, sports, computers, and experiences.
How do you think designers could make movies more accessible for people who cannot hear?
Brainstorm a few ideas, and then watch this video for one example of increasing access:
Inside Out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nurwoe9KBgw
How do you think designers could make movies more accessible for people who cannot see?
Brainstorm a few ideas, and then watch one of these videos which increases access for people who cannot see:
Frozen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7j4_aP8dWA
Lion King: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT5AsjzgIC4
Activity 3: Creating Options
(20 minutes)
To learn about creating options, you can either watch this video, click through this powerpoint, or read the text below -- whichever works best for you!
Activity 4: Where do these ideas come from?
These three categories are based on three major networks in your brain: The Recognition Networks, Affective Networks, and Strategic Networks
To learn more about how designers increase access by designing for the human brain, visit the following site:
UDL Guidelines: http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines_theorypractice
What You'll Need:
Design for the people that matter: your users
Activity 5: Make your Website more Accessible and re-submit
(15 minutes)
Have you been brainstorming, wireframing, or designing a website? Now is your chance to make your website more accessible by adding options. Read the list below and choose a few ways you can add options for representation, engagement, or expression to your design.
Options for Representation:
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If your website includes lots of text, can you create a video or audio file of yourself reading the text so that users who can’t read can still know what your website says?
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If your website includes lots of images, can you include captions with image descriptions?
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If your website includes a video, can you add subtitles or closed captioning to your video so that a user who cannot hear can still understand the video?
Options for Engagement:
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Could your website include options for a happy, excited user as well as a sad, reluctant user?
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Could you website allow a user to explore individually or as part of a group or team?
Options for Expression:
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If your website asks users to leave comments, can they leave comments in the form of text, images, audio, or video?
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If your user needs support, are there options for how they could learn more and/or ask for help?
How will you make your website more accessible? What changes can you make to create options? Submit an updated url to your website or choose another way to show off or describe your new and improved designs!
Try doing these modules in order:
Design Thinking > Brainstorming > WireFraming > Design a Webpage > Accessibility
or
Have you heard the expression “One size fits all?” When is that true? When is it not true?
Imagine you went to a school in which all the classes were taught in a language you didn’t speak, or all of the books were written in Braille and you had never learned to read Braille, or the doors to get inside all of the classrooms were too heavy for you to open. That might sound extreme, but many students find that “one size fits all” is not true for their school experiences.
One of the best ways to increase access is to give people options. The Universal Design for Learning framework encourages designers to give people three different kinds of options:
Options for Representation, Options for Engagement, and Options for Action and Expression.
To unpack what each of these categories mean, imagine you’re about to meet a dog for the first time.
Representation: How do you sense this dog? If you’re meeting a dog for the first time, you might want to look at the dog, listen to it bark, feel it’s fur, or even smell it. Those are all ways to take in information about the dog.
Engagement: How do you feel about this dog? You might love dogs, you might be scared of dogs, or you might be overwhelmed by dogs. What motivated you to meet this dog? You might have met the dog by accident, you might have wanted to meet this dog for a long time, or you might think that meeting this dog will impact your life in the future. Those are all ways you could engage emotionally.
Action and Expression: How do you communicate your experience with the dog? If you wanted to tell everyone about your new dog friend, you could tell a story, you could draw a picture, you could make a video, you could sculpt a statue of a dog. Those are all ways to express yourself.
When you’re designing a new experience, your users will learn the most and get the most out of that experience if they have options for representation, engagement, and expression. That way, they can choose the options that best help them learn.