Summary
Did you know that the SUS creates biases in your research, affecting one in five people? That’s right! People with disabilities, especially those who use assistive technology, are not considered by most of the questions in the SUS. As a designer for the public sector, this could lead to you making design decisions that don’t take into account 20 percent of the visitors to your website.
Key Insights
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Traditional System Usability Scale questions can be confusing or irrelevant for assistive technology users.
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Assistive technology users heavily customize their tools; default configurations in research labs misrepresent real-world experiences.
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Screen reader users tend to report significantly lower usability scores than low vision or alternative navigation users.
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Alternative navigation users choose tools based on specific tasks and physical condition, not one tool fits all.
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Research methods involving simultaneous talking and screen reader output confuse participants and researchers alike.
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Environmental and technical factors in usability labs often create unfamiliar, stressful test settings for disabled users.
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Breaking tasks into smaller chunks improves research session clarity for screen reader users.
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Inclusive design benefits from measuring usability specifically tailored to assistive technology contexts.
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Lower usability scores can reflect long-term lowered expectations among experienced assistive tech users.
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Fable’s Accessible Usability Scale is freely available online and invites iteration and adoption by product teams.
Notable Quotes
"I consider myself a very technical person, but the reason I can’t use the website isn’t because I’m not technical enough; it’s because it’s not working with my screen reader."
"Taking me into an assistive technology lab means using a screen reader that probably hasn’t been configured by anyone familiar with the technology."
"Alternative navigation users pick the tool that is right for the job, depending on their physical condition and task."
"Breaking tasks into little chunks avoids the confusion of talking while the screen reader is talking."
"The system usability scale didn’t consider people relying on assistive technology, so answers were often inaccurate or misunderstood."
"Screen reader users score significantly lower on usability, often reflecting the most complex interpretation demands."
"Things that can’t be measured don’t happen, so having a tailored usability scale matters for progress."
"Issues that are minor for general users represent broader usability barriers for assistive technology users."
"We invite others to leverage, evaluate, criticize, and modify the Accessible Usability Scale to improve measurement."
"Inclusive design is the most robust way to build great products that work for everyone."
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