Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Prototype Reviews, People With Disabilities, and You

Gold
Wednesday, December 8, 2021 • Civic Design 2021
Share the love for this talk
Prototype Reviews, People With Disabilities, and You
Speakers: Sam Proulx
Link:

Summary

In this interactive session, Sam Proulx, accessibility evangelist at Fable, will draw from experience as a person with a disability, and from Fable’s thousands of hours of research experience, to answer all of your questions about conducting prototype reviews with people with disabilities. What design systems work best? What disabilities can participate in prototype reviews out of the box, and what types of disabilities might need special adaptations? What information should a prototype contain, to get the best feedback and engagement from people with disabilities? How can you, within the public sector, learn to better shift left, and involve people with disabilities as early as possible in the design process, and why should you? We’ll also have plenty of time for your own questions! If you’ve been wanting to conduct prototype reviews that involve people with disabilities, but weren’t quite sure where to begin, don’t miss this session!

Key Insights

  • Start accessibility testing with screen magnification users because they can interpret visual prototypes with minimal adaptation.

  • Involving users with physical challenges requires clear indications of hover states, control labels, click target sizes, and may require operating prototypes on their behalf.

  • Screen reader users cannot effectively use typical visual prototypes because they lack semantic markup; alternative prototyping using structured documents is necessary.

  • Accessibility testing should expand in a circle: from screen magnification to physical challenges, then to screen readers.

  • Addressing accessibility issues for one group often benefits other groups, creating a positive cascading effect.

  • Prototypes frequently lack critical information like semantic structure, focus states, keyboard navigation, and alt text needed by screen reader users.

  • Prototyping tools like Webflow support coding prototypes that better simulate real assistive technology environments but require technical expertise.

  • Considering platform differences (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android) is essential as assistive technologies behave differently across them.

  • Excessive white space can hinder usability for screen magnification users by forcing excessive scrolling.

  • Early involvement of people with disabilities in design avoids costly retrofits and leads to more effective accessibility solutions.

Notable Quotes

"The best way to build a fully accessible foundation is to involve the voices of people with disabilities at every step."

"Screen magnification users are low vision and interact visually with prototypes, so little adaptation is needed."

"For users with physical challenges, hover states can be very difficult, especially for eye, head tracking, or voice control users."

"Screen reader users require prototypes that contain semantic information like heading levels, control labels, and landmarks."

"You may need to operate the prototype on behalf of users whose assistive tech can’t click or interact with clickable prototypes."

"Fixing problems found for one disability group often helps fix problems for others too."

"When you magnify prototypes, they may look blurry, but that’s something to fix in the final website design."

"Webflow is an ideal tool for prototypes with code because users can test in the actual browser environment."

"Aim to work with at least one person on each platform your product supports, because assistive tech varies."

"You can create prototypes for screen reader users in Word, Excel, or Google Docs by simulating semantic markup."

Ask the Rosenbot
John Calhoun
Bring your DesignOps Story to Life! The Definitive DesignOps Book Jam
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
JD Buckley
Communicating the ROI of UX within a large enterprise and out on the streets
2018 • Enterprise Experience 2018
Gold
Brianna Sylver
Lead With Purpose
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Chelsey Glasson
Exit Interview #3: Same as It Ever Was: What Leaving Tech Taught Me About Change
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Bria Alexander
Reflect and Chart Forward
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Meredith Black
Building Community and Common Trends to Look for in 2021
2020 • DesignOps Community
Dan Willis
Enterprise Storytelling Sessions
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Jane Reid
Self-care in User Research
2020 • Advancing Research Community
Mariesa Lenz
What Beekeeping Taught me about Product Teams
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Mujtaba Hameed
The new horizon of ethnography: using AI to unlock the full potential of in-person research
2026 • Advancing Research 2026
Gold
James Rampton
The Basics of Automotive UX & Why Phones Are a Part of That Future
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Nathan Curtis
Beyond the Toolkit: Spreading a System Across People & Products
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Maish Nichani
Sparking a Service Excellence Mindset at a Government Agency
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Doug Powell
Closing Keynote: Design at Scale
2018 • DesignOps Summit 2018
Gold
Aras Bilgen
Research Democratization: A Debate
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Mansi Gupta
Women-Centric Research: What, Why, How
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold

More Videos

John Cutler

"Maturity is not linear; the tanker company had a lot to learn from the speedboat, and vice versa."

John Cutler

Oxbows, Rivers, and Estuaries: How to navigate the currents of change (without burning out)

December 3, 2024

Darian Davis

"Creating a roadmap built enough space to make meaningful design changes for developers to implement."

Darian Davis

Lessons from a Toxic Work Relationship

January 8, 2024

Dave Gray

"You don’t have to sit through two hours a day; we’ll spend about 15 minutes on setup then you’ll pair up and do the exercise."

Dave Gray

Group Activity: Making Sense of DesignOps

November 7, 2017

John Cutler

"These aren't linear; every circle or box has multiple lines into it—our work does not fit neatly into trees or pyramids."

John Cutler

The Alignment Trap

November 29, 2023

Abby Covert

"Simplicity is not always the answer to complexity, but understanding often is."

Abby Covert

Stuck? Diagrams Help

October 27, 2022

Mark Interrante

"Assume positive intent from their point of view — they’re trying to have a good day, not work against you."

Mark Interrante

Collaboration Flows in Product Development

June 9, 2017

Devon Powers

"Too often, futures imaginaries want to erase or align difference rather than reckon with it."

Devon Powers

Imagining Better Futures

March 9, 2022

Prayag Narula

"There is overlap between design and research when it comes to different types of research; it’s not a strict divide."

Prayag Narula

How to Empower Your Designers to Do Good Research – And Why You Want To

June 10, 2022

Peter Van Dijck

"Your short term memory is the context window; too big, and the model has trouble accessing everything."

Peter Van Dijck

Hands on AI #3: Claude Code for UX people

October 22, 2025