Universal Accessibility Design and Support Considerations for an Aging Population

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Universal AccessibilityDesign and Support
Considerations for an Aging Population

• Bill Gribbons, PhD, Director, Human Factors
  ProgramBentley CollegeWaltham, Massachusetts,
  USA
• wgribbons_at_bentley.edu
• www.bentley.edu/gr/mshfid
• www.bentley.edu/usability

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Overview

• Define universal accessibility
• Describe the aging population
• Discuss the characteristics and requirements of
  the aging population
• Discuss what is best practice in this area - both
  research and information design
• Make a business case for accommodating the needs
  of this rapidly expanding market

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A Couple of Stories..

1. Harold, bring me my screwdriver
2. Lost in IVR
3. Two and a Half Popcorn

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Accessibility

• Our mission is to provide full and complete
  access to technology and information design
  through a deeper understanding of a disability.
  Through this understanding, the information
  designer provides appropriate performance support
  and design accommodations. We assume that the
  majority of these accommodations will improve
  usability for all users.

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Aging Population

• The United States Census Bureau projects the
  number of people age fifty-five and older will
  grow by 73 by the year 2020.
• The over sixty-five population is anticipated to
  rise from 15.5 of the EU population in 1995 to
  22.4 by 2025.
• Every day 6,000 Americans turn 65

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More Facts

• There are half a billion people age 50 in the
  world today
• The worlds age 65 population is increasing by
  800,000 per month
• The number of the worlds 80 is growing more
  rapidly than the elderly population as a whole.
• The United States has more than 9.2 million
  citizens who are age 80
• Half of the worlds oldest elderly (80 years)
  live in six countries China, the U.S., India,
  Japan, Germany, and Russia
• In developed regions, 74 percent of age 65
  individuals are urban dwellers

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Opportunities
Consumers over 45 account for more than half the
total consumer spending in the United States

• Healthcare
• Retail
• Financial Services
• Transportation
• Telecommunications
• Government

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The Sad Truth
Designing for our future selves
As we age, our bodies start to change,
physically and mentally

• Vision
• Hearing
• Motor
• Cognitive
• Aging is a dynamic disability with each
  individual experiencing the effects of aging to
  varying degrees

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Vision
Disease and Age-related Decline

• Cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration
• Presbyopia beginning at the age of 45
• Lens becomes less flexible
• Lens yellows
• Less light passes through the lens
• Lowered visual acuity
• Increased sensitivity to glare
• More susceptible to fatigue and eyestrain

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Accommodations

• Larger text sizes (12-14 point) in static
  displays
• Moderate to heavier weights avoid kerning and
  condensed faces
• Easy access to changing size in dynamic displays
• Avoid violet, blue, light grays and green tones
• Increase contrast through higher brightness and
  saturation
• Avoid yellow in foreground (e.g., text)
• Avoid similar tones or variations of a single hue
• Maintain maximum contrast between foreground and
  background no background textures
• Avoid fine details in typeface or illustration

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Type Size
Allow easy re-sizing of type on the screen. In
fixed displays, use 13 points or larger. Use
heavier weights to increase contrast and avoid
type faces with fine lines
Type style and weight Contrast Background
Color
Type on a textured background lowers Legibility
for the elderly
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Auditory

• Slow decline in sensitivity to high frequencies
• Lowered ability to discriminate between tones
• More susceptible to masking
• Decreased auditory selection separating speech
  from ambient noise

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Motor

• Increased occurrence of arthritis
• Decline in fine motor control, eye-hand
  coordination
• Increased time to complete motor tasks
• Increase the size of buttons, targets, and
  sensitivity zone
• Provide tactile feedback to confirm action

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Cognitive

• Decline in working memory capacity
• Problematic in heavy workload situations such as
  decision-making, problem-solving, navigation, and
  learning
• Long-term memory is largely intact, barring
  disease
• Decrease in ability to differentiate between
  categories and complex terms

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Accommodations

• Limit information to the essential
• Integrate the users mental models
• Headings should trigger existing models
• In learning applications, make links to existing
  knowledge
• Provide all information necessary to support
  decision-making in a single eye-scan
• Avoid recall tasks
• Self complete operations whenever possible
• Provide confirmation and feedback
• Support navigation through simple and known
  information architectures
• Employ persistent concept maps
• Maintain consistency

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Conclusion

• Accessibility improves usability for all users
• Aging populations will represent a large,
  profitable market for technology products
• The design community should assume a leadership
  role in embracing and accommodating this
  population