Summary
Did you know that the SUS creates biases in your research, affecting one in five people? That’s right! People with disabilities, especially those who use assistive technology, are not considered by most of the questions in the SUS. As a designer, this could lead to you making design decisions that don’t take into account 20 percent of the visitors to your website. When the SUS was invented, the author encouraged people to change it to suit different needs. In this talk, Samuel Proulx from Fable will discuss how Fable adapted the SUS to work for assistive technology users. Drawing from over five thousand hours of research and testing involving assistive technology users, we created the Accessible Usability Scale (AUS). This presentation will include trends in AUS responses since it was released in December of 2020.
Key Insights
-
•
The Accessible Usability Scale (AUS) is an adaptation of the traditional System Usability Scale (SUS).
-
•
Assistive technologies like screen readers and magnifiers have distinct usability challenges that must be acknowledged.
-
•
Inclusion of users with disabilities in usability research is critical for producing effective digital designs.
-
•
Current research methods often do not accommodate the unique needs of assistive technology users, leading to cognitive load and frustration.
-
•
A simple modification to survey questions can significantly improve the relevancy of research for users with disabilities.
-
•
Breaking tasks into manageable chunks during usability testing helps reduce cognitive load for users employing assistive technologies.
-
•
Participants often experience increased challenges with usability labs due to travel and accessibility issues.
-
•
Understanding the limitations of existing methodologies is essential to improving engagement with users of assistive technologies.
-
•
Feedback from assistive users is crucial for refining accessibility tools and increasing their adoption in research.
-
•
The AUS aims to provide more accurate usability scores from people using assistive technologies.
Notable Quotes
"As accessibility evangelist, I've been working to involve people with disabilities in all aspects of accessibility practice."
"Assistive technology is any kind of software or hardware that assists someone in using a computer."
"Screen readers are crucial for users who cannot see, allowing them to navigate digital products effectively."
"Customization of assistive technology is essential to meet individual user needs."
"Using assistive technology adds to the cognitive load during usability tests, which can impact the results."
"Rather than narrating experiences in real-time, breaking tasks into chunks can ease cognitive load."
"The Australian Usability Scale (AUS) aims to better reflect the needs of assistive technology users."
"Usability labs often prioritize research convenience over accessibility, making it harder for users with disabilities to participate."
"When asking users if they need technical support, we need to ensure we're not framing the question in a way that overlooks accessibility issues."
"Most users of assistive technology prefer fast robotic voices to efficiently navigate through content quickly."
More Videos
"It's vital to remind people in power that those they perceive as powerless often hold significant insight and influence."
Jennifer Strickland Lesley-Ann NoelFireside Chat: How Design Addresses a World on Fire
March 18, 2022
"The Boy Scout approach applies: you're done when you can't take anything else out."
Jaime CreixemsBest Practices when Creating and Maintaining a Design System
June 7, 2023
"How do we ensure our research improves the lives of community folks?"
Uday Gajendar Rachael Dietkus, LCSW Dr. Dawn Emerick Dawn E. Shedrick, LCSWLeading through the long tail of trauma
July 13, 2022
"Half of the trust signals tested had a statistically significant positive effect on overall trust in Thumbtack."
Katie HansenExperimental research: techniques for deep, psychology-driven insights
March 12, 2025
"Resiliency is our ability to recover from obstacles and challenges."
Dave MaloufTheme 3: Introduction and Provocation
January 8, 2024
"Design thinking and cloud computing profoundly changed my approach to work."
Jeff SussnaWhat DesignOps Can Learn From DevOps
November 6, 2017
"The value of design is in the verb, in the designing."
Dave MaloufClosing Keynote: Amplify. Not Optimize.
October 24, 2019
"An external organization having the last word on the study findings represents a critical power dynamic."
Sarah FathallahA Typology of Participation in Participatory Research
March 28, 2023
"When researchers only recruit by participants, they fail to capture the very real impact of discriminatory social institutions"
Alba VillamilStereotyped by Design: Pitfalls in Cross-Cultural User Research
March 30, 2020
