(Cory Joseph) My name is Cory Joseph,
and I’m a user experience and usability designer.
(Chris Higgins) And what does that mean?
(Cory Joseph) I make technology understandable.
To get here today, I used Uber
just like anyone else would.
But on top of that, I also used another app
called BlindSquare.
I entered in the address to Uber and called my ride
just like anyone else would.
But I also entered my destination into BlindSquare.
And BlindSquare will notify me of major intersections,
major points of interest, and major address changes
as we’re moving along, via voice.
So while I’m in the Uber and we’re riding along,
I don’t have to just rely on the driver knowing
where we are.
I actually knew where we were as well
because BlindSquare was announcing major points of interest
and intersections.
And when we were at Burnside and MLK,
I knew where we were as well.
I wasn’t at the behest of the driver.
For example, getting here today,
I actually went into the dance studio
that’s two buildings over.
Walked in. Asked the person at the desk,
“Hey, is this the right location?”
And I was told, “Nope. You’re two blocks shy.”
And that’s how I got to where I needed to be.
I went to the wrong place.
Sometimes it’s a little bit of trial and error.
This concept of trial and error
is just such a base part of my life.
To figure out how to take a math test
when I was in grade school.
We didn’t get it right the first time we tried.
And we didn’t get it right the third time.
It wasn’t until I was older and going more through school
that I knew what to do.
There was a lot of figuring shit out.
Of course I go to the movies.
I really enjoy movies.
Throughout high school and college,
going to the movies with friends
was one of the most common things I did.
Because, hey, why not?
There are movies that I haven’t been able
to enjoy as much as others.
Let’s take something like Avatar, right?
There’s elements of the visual experience
that are just lost on me.
But, of course, it’s more than just
the visual experience.
There’s the sound, there’s the dialogue,
there’s the plot.
There’s being there with your friends
and being able to talk about the things that happened.
There’s a lot that goes into the movie experience
more than video and visuals.
There are movies that I just don’t get to enjoy.
Take something like Pan’s Labyrinth that’s in Spanish.
Even though I know multiple languages
and can see movies in Japanese or Chinese
or German and stumble my way through
listening to them, something in Spanish
… can’t do. Can’t enjoy at all.
And Pan’s Labyrinth would be a great example of one that,
hey, it’s award-winning. My friends have seen it.
They talk about all the things that happened.
And I’m totally at a loss because I can’t read subtitles.
I couldn’t go see it.
I can’t download a movie that’s subtitled on iTunes.
And if I do download a movie that’s subtitled
and I didn’t know it, well, that’s five bucks I’m out.
It’s one thing to acknowledge, oh, yeah,
blind people want to read my blog.
It’s another thing to actually make your blog
readable by blind people.
It’s one thing to say yes, people in wheelchairs
want to shop at Walmart.
It’s another thing to actually figure out
how and where to put the ramp,
what incline the ramp needs to be,
where’s the best place to put the door
that the ramp goes to.
These are two very disparate areas,
in my point of view.
There’s the consideration; then there’s the actual
implementation in design.
You design for accessibility, and you build for usability.
These two distinct areas cross over,
where there’s all of these details
that we need to consider as designers.
But as creators, we have a responsibility
to create in a way that takes all those considerations
and actually brings them to life.
Ten years ago, if I wanted a phone
that I could use as a digital assistant,
it required a special phone, with special software,
that cost over $1,000 just for the software.
Now, ten years later, we’re at a point
that I can walk into any cell phone carrier
and buy nearly any phone and be able to use it
right then and there.
As a visually impaired person, I use a screen reader
on my phone called VoiceOver.
I also sometimes use an Android device,
and I use TalkBack on that.
For this example, I’m going to show VoiceOver.
[iPhone beeps]
(VoiceOver) Messages.
(Cory Joseph) Once my phone’s unlocked,
I’m told that I’m on the Messages icon
on my home screen.
I can navigate through the home screen
to my Messages area.
(VoiceOver) Spotify, iTunes Store, Clock,
FantastiCal, Photos, Messages.
[iPhone clicks, beeps]
(VoiceOver) Messages. To: text field, is editing.
Character mode: insertion point at start.
(Cory Joseph) Let’s send a text message
to Chris Higgins, the director of this movie,
to let him know we’re running five minutes late.
(VoiceOver) C. Charlie. H.
[iPhone clicks]
(VoiceOver) Chris Higgins, work,
503-555-0156.
[iPhone clicks]
(Cory Joseph) I just double-tapped
on the name that I want to send this to.
So I’ll swipe to the text area
to put in my message.
(VoiceOver) Chris Higgins. +1 503-555-0156.
Button: Add Contact. Button: Attach Media.
Button: Message. iMessage: text field.
Insertion point at end.
(Cory Joseph) The double-tap
let the phone know I want to enter text
in this area.
To make this easier for this demonstration,
I’m going to use the voice-to-text function.
[iPhone ticks]
(VoiceOver) Caps, cap—dictate.
(Cory Joseph) Hey, Chris.
I’m running 10 minutes late.
(VoiceOver) Attach done.
Inserted: Hey Chris, I’m running 10 minutes late.
Space. Return.
[iPhone ticks]
(VoiceOver) Send, button.
[iPhone clicks]
(VoiceOver) Send, dimmed.
Chris, text field, is editing. Character mode.
iMessage, insertion point at start.
[iPhone chimes]
(Chris Higgins) I got a text message!
(VoiceOver) Chris Higgins is typing.
Message received from Chris Higgins:
No problem. See you soon.
Chris Higgins stopped typing.
(Cory Joseph) And now we’ve sent
a text message.
Of course, like all technology,
there’s a time and place for everything,
and speech is great for most of how I use
my mobile device.
But when I’m on a meeting or on the bus,
or on the train, or at a coffee shop,
there’s a lot of times I don’t want to use speech
or have to wear headphones to listen to that speech.
So I use a device called a braille display
that will show what would normally
be spoken in braille along a braille display.
I can even operate the entire device
by keyboard command, just like I would
on a standard PC with any other screen reader.
(VoiceOver) App Store. Settings.
iBooks. OneNote.
(Cory Joseph) So my watch is actually
really unique because it’s tactile
in a way that, as a visually impaired person,
I can read it with my fingers
by feeling the marble on the front of the face
and the tick marks,
and the marble on the side of the bezel
and the tick marks, to read minutes
and hours, respectively.
It’s really unique because it was a design project
from a military vet that actually wanted something
that looked unique, was durable,
and was tactile for someone who is visually impaired.
The idea for this watch is really straightforward:
it’s something that looks good and is usable by everyone.
I’m not asking for something special
so that I can use the thing.
I’m asking for the thing to be usable or accessible
from the get-go.
I think developers at a base level
know what accessibility is.
I don’t think they know that they have to do
anything differently to make something accessible.
It goes back to when we were first learning
how to handle data privacy and data security.
There was a time when personal data was stored
as plain text in databases.
We had to learn that these things
couldn’t happen like that because it wasn’t secure.
Same thing with accessibility.
We have to learn the best practices
that makes what we’re building accessible from the get-go.
And right now I don’t think developers are taught
that accessibility is something they should be concerned with
from a very early point in their education.
From a basic human perspective,
we have rights to access that information
and manage that information.
This goes all the way up to government legislatures saying,
“Yes, you have access to your health information.
“Yes, you have access to your financial information.
“Yes, you have rights to manage all this information,
and organizations are responsible to enable that.”
Well, when we’re talking about all this information
that’s, by its definition, electronic and managed
electronically, we have to make sure
that everyone can access that information
as a human right.
It makes access to information the human right.
You know, someone who’s really cynical
in this conversation might say that
the call to action is to give a shit.
But, in reality, if you’re making something
or creating something, of course you give a shit.
What I would ask people to do is ask themselves,
as they are creating, making, building, developing:
“Can I enjoy this if:
“if I’m a little slower to use this,
“if I’m on a slow internet connection,
“if I’m blind, if I can’t hear,
“if I’m on a 10-year-old BlackBerry,
“if flashes hurt my eyes and give me migraines,
if I’ve never used a website like this?”
Ask yourself: “Can I use this or enjoy this if …?”