How a Thumb Injury Made Me Think About Product Accessibility
Overview
Earlier in the week, I injured the thumb on my dominant hand and as it would turn out, ended up with a very painful infection that rendered it all but useless for several days... as the week went on I found myself having to use a different approach to many of the typical activities I do on a normal day.
Last Tuesday, I received an unexpected package in my mailbox. Although I may have a borderline online shopping obsession (no thanks to Amazon), I knew I hadn’t bought anything recently. I had forgotten that I won a raffle for a t-shirt from axe-con, an excellent web accessibility virtual conference I attended, put on by Deque Systems.
Earlier in the week, I injured the thumb on my dominant hand and as it would turn out, ended up with a very painful infection that rendered it all but useless for several days. Typically, I would tear open any package I receive with reckless abandon. But as it turns out, I had trouble opening the poly-plastic wrapped t-shirt and had to use scissors to get at my conference swag. Not a big deal, I suppose.
However, as the week went on I found myself having to use a different approach to many of the typical activities I do on a normal day. For instance, as I used my computer I would forget for a moment that striking the keyboard or gripping the mouse at just the right angle would send throbbing pain through my right hand. Not very fun for someone in my role where typing emails or navigating websites with a mouse comprises 80% of my daily work activities. I resorted to the use of keyboard-only navigation using my left hand on websites and heavily relied on voice dictation in applications that supported it.
As I recounted my experience to my teammates, our UI/UX strategist made an astute observation. I now had this temporary disability and that I was forced to adjust my typical use of the digital tools I was accustomed to using in a certain way.
This was a poignant reminder that ensuring accessibility in digital products doesn’t only benefit those with lifelong disabilities. Online products should also serve users during times where he or she may need to use a product differently than they would normally, due to some type of injury or situational disability. Perhaps the user sustained a concussion and has a sensitivity to certain patterns, colors, or sounds. Or, maybe he or she can’t wear reading glasses due to an issue with their head or face and need to increase the website’s font size. Or, like in my case, needed to use the product without use of the dominant hand.
As the axe-con t-shirt states, I am a proponent of equality in many contexts - in relationships, in society and in digital platforms. My work at Interactive Knowledge allows me to be an advocate for digital equality, whether it is considering accessibility best practices in our product designs and implementations or furthering our team’s collective knowledge on new approaches and innovative ideas to serve our product audiences with equality. This makes me happy and proud to be a part of an organization that values empathy and translates it into our work.
Do you have a product that needs to be evaluated from an accessibility standpoint? Or do you receive complaints from your users about not being able to use your online platform or application?
You can read some of our case studies on accessibility compliance reviews and remediation or even better, drop us a line and let’s talk about how we can help your organization ensure digital equality in all of your products.
Now, a week removed from my thumb injury, I am back to using online products in the way that I am used to but this experience will have long-lasting effects on my approach to accessibility as we design our clients’ online education platforms, mobile applications, and websites.