Hexagon Hackathon: Accessibility

How can we create an internet that is more accessible and easier to use?

Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis struggle with visual impairment and limited motor skills that makes navigating user interfaces more difficult. So how can we design the internet that is more accessible and easier to use?

☀️

Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic, typically progressive disease involving damage to the sheaths of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms of MS include double vision, sensitivity to brightness, and impaired dexterity skills that affect scrolling, clicking, and typing.

Our Solution

EAGL: We’ve created a plug-in that makes it easy for users to toggle settings for accessibility.

The features include:

Increasing or decreasing white space, font size, and contrast.

Singular toolbar for use with decreased mobility.

Settings Display applied to the most used/basic apps

01 Our Approach

We began with questions and framing a specific problems.

How accessible are the solutions that are currently available for people with MS?

02 Research

>> Personal Stories

Although we've made attempts to the nearest MS center for a quick user test, we weren’t able to conduct a thorough research session. However we did our best w with what we had. We gathered as much information from Brittany’s personal experience

>> Communal Knowledge

Reddit was a great resource to research other voices in their personal experiences. We heard and saw stories and understood how MS affected their experiences using the web.

>> Facebook Support Groups

Support groups in Facebook offered insights as individuals with MS discussed about their experiences, asked for help, and offered help.

>> User Testing Baseline

Due to lack of resources, we couldn’t have an actual individual with MS to see how they were using the web. We decided to use ourselves as the baseline. Our task was to find the settings and improve visibility.

<07 insert video>

It took us 6 minutes as able-bodied individuals. We can imagine that it would take specially-abled people even longer.

03 Insights

From our research, we discussed our findings:

💥

Low visibility and varying dexterity limited technology use

💥

Visibility and motor skills varied from day-to-day

💥

Precise hand movements and small button size limited tech use

💥

MS folks easily fatigued by the brightness of screens

04 Opportunities

For someone like Brittany’s mother, simplifying scrolling through emails was exhausting. Based on our research, we identified opportunities to improve the internet experience.

💥

Accessibility adjustments should be more easily scalable

💥

Allow for real time moment-to-moment, case-by-case changes