Summary
As we shift into a mobile first world, are you struggling to conceptualize and design accessible mobile experiences? While screen readers are included on both IOS and Android, it can be difficult and overwhelming for designers to learn about them. This session will help you get started! Samuel Proulx, Fable’s accessibility evangelist and a life-long screen reader user, will guide you through the ins and outs of screen readers on mobile. This interactive live demo will show you what an excellent mobile experience can sound like, give you some ideas of things to keep in mind during design, and help you make the case for bringing the voices of assistive technology users into the training and testing at your organization.
Key Insights
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Many screen reader users prefer Android for its high customizability, despite iOS VoiceOver’s market dominance.
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Accessibility is not one-size-fits-all; customization and configurability are essential for meeting unique user needs.
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Using a screen reader effectively requires skill and muscle memory, developed over years of practice.
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Developers testing with screen readers themselves may misunderstand user experience or get discouraged.
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VoiceOver uses a combination of speech and sound cues to efficiently communicate screen changes and states.
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Screen curtain on iOS protects privacy and saves battery by turning off the screen display but keeping VoiceOver active.
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Involving people with disabilities in testing creates empathy and provides actionable insights that simulations cannot.
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Fable provides virtual platforms for research with users with disabilities, enabling live interaction and recording.
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Siri and gestures provide multiple ways to navigate and control VoiceOver for flexible user interaction.
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Even advanced users rely on familiar screen layouts and muscle memory to improve efficiency with assistive tech.
Notable Quotes
"Both Google and Apple have excellent accessibility suites built into their smartphones."
"Accessibility isn’t one size fits all — everybody has unique circumstances, needs, and preferences."
"With great customizability comes great complication."
"Using assistive technology is a skill, not something you can just pick up and be effective with."
"Testing with real users is how you build empathy and get great research results."
"If you test it yourself, you’re only checking technical functionality, not the real experience."
"VoiceOver tells you what you’re touching but you have to double tap to activate."
"The screen curtain is a privacy feature that saves battery and prevents shoulder surfing."
"You can swipe through elements quickly; you don’t need to wait for VoiceOver to finish speaking."
"Once you involve real users, small changes like color or label tweaks can make huge differences."
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