4 ms·
I was at a conference the other week, and one of the big takeaways for me is how many people actually have some sort of disability. In the US for people aged 18
by fyfy18 7y ago
I was at a conference the other week, and one of the big takeaways for me is how many people actually have some sort of disability. In the US for people aged 18 - 65 it's 10%, but for those over 65 it jumps to 37%.
It's easy to dismiss these statistics as 'not applicable to our customers', especially when you are a healthy twenty-something, but the statistics say that as we get older, 1 in 3 of us will have some sort of disability.
The talk also mentioned temporary impairments which restrict the way users can interact, similar to disabilities. What happens if you have a climbing accident and your mouse hand is in a cast for three months? Or maybe you are just on a train, holding the rail with one hand while it's swaying backwards and forwards.
- gnicholas 7y agoI'd say 10% is low--the rate for dyslexia alone it's 15-20%.
- JimDabell 7y agoTemporary impairments are a massive thing to consider! One example I recall was that Facebook learned video engagement rose massively when subtitles were added because most people scrolling through Facebook on their phone don't have sound on due to the environment (work, commuting, etc.). Another example that I'm always complaining to designers about is that low contrast text might look fine when you are designing something on your desktop machine indoors, but take it outside on a phone and a sunny day might make it all unreadable.
- csswizardry 7y agoI had this exact thing happen to me: https://mobile.twitter.com/csswizardry/status/1081278821280694273?s=20 https://mobile.twitter.com/csswizardry/status/10812788212806... Verdict: we need to do better.