OVERVIEW
A single research to find out if assistive technology will help hidden/individual disabilities in the learning or work environment.
TIMELINE
2 months
TOOLS USED
Pen & Paper, Zoom, Email, Diary Notes, Interviews
my role
As a UX/UI designer, I interviewed various people about their disabilities to see how assistive technology could help them in their own environment.
Project
The main problem being explored is our current assistive technology. Is it helping people with hidden disabilities, and how can they succeed in their working or learning environments? Accessibility concerns will not disappear anytime soon, as long as there are people. Accessibility considerations must be part of the conversation from the beginning to the end.
With such a wide variety of disabilities, how can we figure out what tools will help with the gap of learning?
BUSINESS OBJECTIVE
The main problem being explored is our current assistive technology. Is it helping people with hidden disabilities, and how can they succeed in their working or learning environments? Accessibility concerns will not disappear anytime soon, as long as there are people. Accessibility considerations must be part of the conversation from the beginning to the end.
RESEARCH GOALS
I would like to confirm if an individual feels confident using assistive technologies.
My goal is to discover which assistive technologies will be useful in the respective domains in which they operate. By discovering which technologies are useful, and if an individual is confident in using them, we can then know how to improve their experience using assistive technologies.
I used the method of a daily diary to have the participants write their own experiences for two days using a short list of prompts.
I also interviewed them post-experience.
Daily Diary Questions:
What types of tasks do you need to accomplish that require the use of assistive technologies OR what types of tasks do you need to accomplish that could benefit from the use of assistive technologies?
Where are you performing these tasks?
When are you performing these tasks?
What types of barriers do you see when working with the current assistive technology work/learning environment?
(Can you describe them down after you are work/learning task)
What software/tool are you using?
What is the specific step/task/action that requires the most assistance?
How long is the task/action?
Interview Questions:
When you were doing your daily diary, what was the most challenging task/learning you had to do?
What was not working for you while using the technologies?
What did you wish you had in your current assistive technology?
IN CONCLUSION
Overall, most of the participants thought that the current technology did help them, and the primary tool was their laptop for their work. One participant wished the software would read their text to them to understand the social difference when a slack message comes. When she visually reads her slack messages, the words start to jumble around, so it's hard for her to focus.
Key Takeaways from the Project:
Would ask more about their disabilities
Would ask them to show me a task they did
More open-ended questions.
