Lessons in inclusive design: Don’t be a virtue signaller

Having designed websites for a disability advocacy org and an award-winning assistive technology database, I clearly am the authority on accessibility. That’s a joke, please don’t cancel me.

As I often do with these musings, I’d like to start off with a personal anecdote. Because I am a Leo. Growing up in Australia as a child of Chinese-Malaysian immigrants, I faced some marginalisation during my formative years.

My mum would often send me to school with delicious home-cooked meals, kept warm until lunchtime in a thermos. And then one day I brought radish cakes. The age-old smelly lunch faux pas—every Asian has experienced it. Peers were quick to cover their noses and liken the stench to farts (to be fair, they’re not wrong). I was too young to realise that the joke was actually on them, with their Kraft Singles and TipTop white bread.

Another time in New Zealand, a group of girls at a caravan park teased me by slanting their eyes, the original widescreen/Asian eyes joke. I chased them until they ran into a bus. Not a moving one—they literally ran and hid inside a parked bus to hide from the tiny angry 9-year-old.

For better or worse, the people who design the touchpoints of society determine who can participate and who’s left out. Often unwittingly.

If design is the source of mismatches and exclusion, can it also be the remedy? Yes. But it takes work.

Kat Holmes, Mismatch²

---

But I digress.

TLDR—I experienced ostracism from some areas of society due to my culture. And I’m sure that at some point in your lifetime, you’ve likely experienced some form of exclusion. Inclusion can shape your sense of identity in the world, and contributes to an improved quality of life. Now that companies are beginning to take accountability, not only is there significant business potential, but inclusive design also can have a profound psychological and emotional impact on users.

Here we go! Some of my favourite takeaways on inclusive design:

Don’t do it because it ‘feels good’

Whilst empathy is a crucial quality in UX design, sympathy and pity serve as a roadblock to inclusion. Treating inclusion as a benevolent mission can widen the gap between people.

Put aside your fear of getting it wrong

There’s a special place (in front of a moving bus?) for people advocating for inclusion who will, in the same breath, chastise you for saying something incorrectly. Ignore them, as long as your intentions are right. Inclusion is messy. Some solutions are not a one-size-fits-all. As is the case with design, there are multiple iterations, and new phases as you learn more about your users’ needs.

Be aware of your own biases

Time-poor designers (myself included) may use themselves as a framework on how a product should be designed. Ability bias is a common cognitive bias that refers to our tendency to design based on our own abilities. This results in a solution that is favoured by other users with similar abilities, but can exclude many others.

Tokenism is gross

This article on Medium provides a helpful visualisation of the levels of user participation in relation to various stages of co-design. Activities such as consulting and involvement (decision-making, but not agenda-setting) can be helpful for research insights, but if not prioritised, can fall into the checking-a-box category¹. Many users with disabilities have often opted out of co-design sessions, with the main reason being that they felt their voice was not heard.

Inclusive design is essential. 1 in 6 people in Australia live with a disability³, and no good experience excludes or marginalises users. Avoid tokenism like the plague, and consider how improving your product’s design can also increase economic growth and encourage business. To delight your inner child and simultaneously receive additional education, do some further reading on Susan Goltsman, pioneer of inclusive playground design.

Ultimately, inclusion only gets better with practice.

References

1. The difference between co-design and participatory design

2. Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design

3. People with disability in Australia

Pilot: Be brave, post your drafts

Putting your thoughts out there can be nerve-wracking. As with many others in the design field, imposter syndrome has served as my personal firewall. But I’m trying a new way of thinking. Throw caution to the wind! Post your drafts! Or, as a dear friend advised—you could just post and never read it again.

I occasionally post mock-arrogant captions on Instagram, feigning influencer levels of confidence. Close friends are familiar enough with the incessant self-deprecation to know that my statement, “But maybe I am the true work of art” (featuring yours truly posing against a backdrop of street art) is mostly, completely disingenuous. One friend suggested I pen all of my posts this way, as a confidence-building exercise. So you can thank her for the incoming barrage of self-flattery.

When it comes to posting actual learnings publicly, fears of criticism and accusations of being self-centred always arise. And so in an act of bravery that should be awarded a medal, I’m shelving the insecurities and giving it a whirl.

Like Olin Miller said, “You probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do”.

---

Here are some other reasons to encourage you on why you should start publishing your own thoughts (it really is just to convince myself):

Scratch an itch

Write to ‘scratch your own itch’, as Tim Ferris advises. Writing about topics you’re experienced or interested in means that there will always be a guaranteed audience of at least 1.

Improve articulation

Writing will help you clarify the knowledge in your head, and how it makes sense to you. Ultimately, it will make you a better communicator. You aren’t setting out to convince everyone that you are the smartest person in the room, but more importantly helping them understand what you are talking about.

Share knowledge

I’ve never come across a helpful YouTube video or book that’s left me thinking, “This person is unbelievably self-centred for sharing their expertise or knowledge”. Anything you publish will be adding to the body of resources available on the internet, and that’s not a bad thing.

Gain knowledge

No one knows everything, even the most experienced or senior thought leaders in the industry. If someone challenges you on your writing or opinions (by the way, always make it clear what is / isn’t an opinion), they may or may not be right, but it’s an opportunity for discussion and adding to your knowledge base.

Finally, what drives you?

I think it’s best to know what’s motivating you to write. For me, it’s to expand on my learning as I go through references and case studies to back recommendations, as well as upskill in mentoring new and curious designers.

I don’t intend to be the next Ran Segall or another person flinging their opinions onto the interwebs, but hey, I wouldn’t turn down a paid gig writing for Medium.