Emily Turnage
Gamification of Social Media
For this blog post, I’d like to talk about not one article, but a number of Ted Talks related to one central idea: designing with disability in mind. The talks range from blind people like Chieko Asakawa speaking on the innovations she’s helping to pioneer to help blind people live independently, to Neil Harbisson - a colorblind man who had a chip and camera implanted into his skull so that he can hear colors, providing him with a range of experiences unlike any other human has had. All these talks emphasized one thing in particular: that designing with disability in mind helps more than just disabled people. Though on its own that would be enough - to ensure that people with various disabilities are able to live and function independently of caretakers or helpers - in truth, designing for disability has a tendency to open up avenues to solutions for problems we weren’t even looking to solve.
Take, for instance, Neil Harbisson’s light-sensitive camera and chip implant. Not only does the chip allow him to hear the visible spectrum of light for us humans, but it allows him to see ultraviolet light, something normally invisible to humans. Ultraviolet light produced by the sun is what causes sunburns, and a life of overexposure can lead to various types of skin cancer. Because Harbisson’s implant allows him to hear ultraviolet light, it’s a reminder to not go without protection when the sun is out - or even when it’s cloudy, as UV light can penetrate through cloud cover. This seems like a silly example - we know to wear sunscreen already. But it’s a reminder that by solving problems for disabled people, we may find that we unlock helpful technology for all people. This is true of the telephone, which Chieko Asakawa tells us was invented while trying to create a communication aid for hearing impaired people. Asakawa reminds us that accessibility ignites innovation - that creating accessibility solutions for disabled people opens up paths we didn’t even know existed. That being said, I think it is not only an ethical decision, but an ethical imperative that we, as designers, pay heed to and attempt to design with disability in mind. From a utilitarian point of view - doing the most good for the most people - factoring in disability into design hurts few, if any, users, and has the potential to drastically improve some user experiences. It also, as mentioned previously, has the potential to open up avenues of exploration and innovation that have the potential to benefit people beyond just those we have in mind when designing for disability. Certain keyboards, in fact, were created to help people with disabilities as well, Asakawa says, and most of us take the existence of keyboards for granted every single day. As designers - no matter what field we are poised to enter once we leave college - we have the largest say in how people will interface with the things we create. By designing not just for the able-bodied, able-minded people we tend to regard as “normal” - though almost 20% of Americans have a disability, rendering that point utterly moot - but for everyone, whether it’s making text available and easy for screen-readers to use, to closed captioning and alternatives for otherwise audio-only experiences, just as a small example. As designers, it’s our duty to think about and engage with everyone - not just with whom it’s most convenient for us to cater to.
12 Comments
Adrienne Horca
5/1/2017 11:13:17 am
Emily,
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Eliasar Gandara
5/3/2017 06:54:14 pm
Hello Emily,
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Darren Chan
5/3/2017 07:28:54 pm
This idea has been out there but unfortunately not many people consider this idea. Lots of people have disabilities and it is very important to cover as many people as possible because people with disabilities have a hard time with different things and with the technology now, we are able to help disabled people with their needs.
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Anita Garcia
5/3/2017 07:53:39 pm
As much as I hate to say this, I can see how this may be justifiable. Take for example, a start up that is trying to validate their prototype product. They don't have the funding or man power to design the product AND design for the disabled. Once they reach a different stage, I think it makes sense to accomodate the disabled, but I don't think it's unethical to not account for it in when it's not possible in a start up environment.
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Eliasar Gandara
5/3/2017 08:07:25 pm
Anita, I can see where you are coming from. This usually tends to happen in life where the answer is it depends whether not accomodating for the disabled is ethical or not. Since it could benefit more people for startups to not focus so much on accomodating the disabled, it would be ethical for them to do so.
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Anita Garcia
5/3/2017 08:13:27 pm
Chad, do you think it would be unethical to enforce such an agenda of you must accomodate the disabled regardless of company dynamics?
Eliasar Gandara
5/3/2017 08:44:38 pm
Anita, in the case of a startup that cannot afford to spend time accomadating for the disabled, I think it is too much to ask for them to put in the extra work.
Anita Garcia
5/3/2017 09:56:49 pm
I think it's safe to consider not accommodating the disabled and not unethical. I would dare to say its unethical to impose such impossible regulations on companies at certain levels.
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Pearce Reinsch
5/5/2017 07:42:45 pm
I agree that as an engineer one should try to include all types of people in their design process. The hard part is that there are so many different types of disabilities and demographics that exist that it get to the point of impracticability to try to cater to them all. I think a good in-between solution is designing with ease of use in mind and allowing for feedback for any new features needed to increase accessibility.
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Jose Cortez
5/20/2017 10:48:43 pm
I agree with you and as the saying goes "you can't please everybody". Adding features as needed or from feedback is the best way to approach this in my opinion.
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I actually saw a video of this article. I think is really interesting how they were able to create a technology this great and this useful for people with disabilities. I seriously think investing money in technologies like these are better than investing in other technologies like self driven cars.
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5/21/2017 12:37:45 am
I completely agree with you, while new ideas are created from necessities, creating with people with disabilities in mind would help our society as well as the tech industry so much.
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AuthorI am a senior studying Communication Design, with an emphasis in Game Design. I like playing video games, writing, and yelling too loudly about things I care about. Archives
May 2017
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