Summary
Designing with rigid assumptions often means creating for a narrow set of “typical” users—people who look and think like us. But this mindset risks excluding real, diverse needs, especially those of people with disabilities, one of the fastest-growing population segments. In this talk, you’ll explore the hidden costs of designing systems for templated personas and learn why flexible, inclusive approaches are essential.
Key Insights
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Disability affects one in five people, not a rare minority.
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The medical model views disability as a person’s defect, while the social model locates disability in inaccessible environments.
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There is no 'average user'; designing for average excludes most people.
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User personas often fail to represent the true diversity and complexity of user needs.
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Disability is a spectrum varying over time and circumstance, including temporary and situational disabilities.
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Assistive technologies often become mainstream tools used by non-disabled users as well.
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Designing early with people with disabilities reduces cost, complexity, and improves user experience.
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People with disabilities should be included as active colleagues and participants, not just studied in research.
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Testing accessibility requires experts who use assistive technologies daily, rather than sighted testers alone.
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Inclusive design benefits future selves, catering for aging, cognition fluctuations, and situational impairments.
Notable Quotes
"People with disabilities are not one in a thousand. They’re one in five."
"We don’t design services for elves and unicorns because they don’t exist. So why are we designing services for average people?"
"The average user doesn’t exist."
"Disability is not a binary. We need to stop thinking of people as either disabled or not."
"Accessibility isn’t just about developers. Everybody has a small part to play."
"If services aren’t designed well for temporary disability, people won’t come back when they are well."
"Captions were once thought of as assistive tech for the few, now many use them regularly."
"When you’re driving a car, you are effectively blind to your phone’s screen."
"We solve our own problems extremely well, but we are not good at solving other people’s problems."
"Testing with a screen reader for QA is fine, but user research must be done with experienced assistive tech users."
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