How to do a usability test with deaf people in the Brazilian context

Most deaf people in Brazil communicate using Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) and, when they learn Portuguese, they consider it a second language. However, most hearing people don’t know how to communicate in Libras, because it isn’t taught in regular schools. This forces the use of a Libras’ interpreter throughout the whole process of communicating with deaf people. In this talk it’s presented the process used in Hand Talk to make a usability test, showing a little about recruiting, planning, execution and data analysis focused on deaf people.

Transcript

1. How to do a usability test with
   deaf people in the Brazilian
   context
   Livia Gabos
   

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2. Hi, I am Livia Gabos
   ● Live in Brazil
   ● Afro-Hispanic
   ● Bachelor and Masters degree in Computer Science
   ● Almost fifteen years working with Accessibility
   ● Worked as both tester and programmer in different languages
   ● Recently as UX Designer and UX Leader
   

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3. Now
   ● Chapter leader of Ladies that UX in São José dos Campos/SP
   and sometimes hostess in podcast LTUX in Portuguese.
   ● Working in Hand Talk as Accessibility Product Owner.
   

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4. Context about Brazil
   Hand Talk
   Back in 2021
   Context of Usability Test
   Pilot test
   The new test
   Results
   Conclusion
   

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5. Context about Brazil
   ● Population 216 million people
   ● 18.6 million (8.4%) have disabilities
   ○ One out every four elderly people has some form of disability
   ○ 3.4% have a visual disability
   ○ 3.8% have a physical disability
   ○ 1.1% have a hearing disability
   

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6. Hearing disability and deaf people
   ● 2.3 million (1.1%) of people have a lot of dificulty hearing
   or they can’t hear at all.
   ● 2.9% of people who are eighteen or older don’t have basic
   education.
   ● 0.5% of people with university degree have some type of
   hearing disability.
   

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7. Libras – Brazilian Sign Language
   ● In 1880 the Milan Congress (Second Internacional Congress on
   Education of the Deaf) declared that oral education (oralism)
   was superior to manual education (sign language) and passed
   a resolution banning the use of sign language in school.
   ○ 164 representatives of which only one is deaf.
   

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8. Libras – Brazilian Sign Language
   ● In 2002 (122 years later), Libras was officially
   recognized as a legal means of communication.
   ○ In 2005, it became a regular curricular subject in schools.
   ● In 2010 (8 years later), the profession of Libras
   interpreter was regulated.
   

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9. Libras – Brazilian Sign Language
   ● In 2015, the Brazilian Law of Inclusion of People with Disability
   regulated bilingual education with Libras and Portuguese.
   ● Libras means Língua Brasileira de Sinais (Brazilian Sign
   Language)
   

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10. Resume of the Brazilian Context
    ● 1.1% of the population has a hearing disability or is deaf.
    ● Libras was recognized only in 2002.
    ● Before that, the majority of deaf people had two choices:
    ○ Try to become oral individuals by learning to read lips and forced
    vocalization.
    ○ Be apart from society with no access to education and almost no
    rights.
    

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11. Resume of the Brasilian Context
    ● Out of 1.1% of people with hearing disabilities or who are deaf
    ○ 61.3% are fluent in Libras
    ○ Libras is their primary language, while Portuguese serves as their
    secondary language.
    ○ Most deaf people have difficulty to access bilingual education.
    

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12. Resume of the Resume
    ● Deaf people may or may not:
    ○ Know Portuguese
    ○ Use Libras as their primary language
    ● Most education institutions don’t have the resources to hire
    Libras interpreter.
    ● Most extra courses, such as for learning UX Design, don’t have
    a Libras interpreter.
    ○ However, design events are becoming more accessible day
    by day.
    

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13. Hearing people know
    nothing about Libras
    

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14. Let’s talk about
    usability testing
    But before....
    

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15. Hand Talk
    ● The company has less than 100 employees.
    ● In the Product team, we have less than 25 people.
    ● In Artificial Intelligence, we have 15 people.
    ○ Within this team, whe have a linguistic team.
    ● We have two main products:
    ○ Hand Talk App – Libras/Portuguese and ASL/English
    ○ Hand Talk Plugin
    

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16. Hand Talk
    ● This two products are an assistive technology that uses
    avatars to translate text into two sign languages:
    ○ Portuguese text into Libras
    ○ English text into ASL
    ● Currently, the HT Plugin is available in version 8
    

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17. Back in 2021
    

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18. Hand Talk in 2021
    ● In the Product team, we have fewer than 15 people.
    ○ UX Design team started that year with 3 people.
    ○ I was a UX Leader, alongside the other 2 team members.
    ○ one of which is deaf and communicates using Libras.
    ● In Artificial Intelligence, we also have less than 15 people.
    ● Hand Talk Plugin was in version 4, but was changing to version
    5.
    

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19. The Project
    ● Main Goal:
    ○ Improve the user experience of people who use Hand Talk Plugin
    in their cellphones.
    ● Main Problem:
    ○
    We lacked information about the users.
    

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20. We have created a
    functional prototype for a
    usability test with users.
    

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21. “Poor woman, she wasn't thinking straight”
    ● My team and I are creating everything from scratch.
    ● We have some hypotheses, but we need more information.
    ● The main product feature must work during testing.
    ● Maybe, we will be recruiting deaf people who aren’t the
    currently users.
    

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22. Context of testing
    ● My first usability test with deaf participants
    ● It was the first usability test of the deaf team member and the
    linguistic team
    ○ Me and the other team member had previous knowlegde about
    this test
    ● All communication had to be conducted in Libras
    

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23. Usability Test
    ● We started the planning like others tests
    ● We thought we would have double the work for this particular
    test
    ● We did some class to interpretes about what they can’t and
    can do in usability test
    ○ In Libras is common for an interpreter to contextualize
    what the other person is saying.
    

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24. Pilot Test
    ● In usability test it’s commom doing a pilot test to know if the
    participant are understanding the tasks.
    ● This pilot was made with two deaf people who work in Hand Talk, but
    in others areas, not releted to Product team.
    ○ They know about the product
    ○ They dind’t know about the new interface
    

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25. The pilot test goes wrong!
    

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26. Pilot Test
    ● The communications wasn’t working.
    ● Main problem was because the script was adapter from Portuguese
    to Libras.
    ○ In Libras the structure of senteces are much more simple
    ○ The grammar of Portuguese is much more complex
    

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27. Revised Usability Test
    ● We created a new script with base of what we learning from
    the pilot test.
    ● All people related to this test helped to create the new script.
    ○ Me and the hearing UX Designer said what we needed to say
    ○ The interpreters and the deaf UX Designer tried to create a better
    sentence in Libras
    

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28. Revised Usability Test
    ● We all revised the senteces to be sure there weren't any tips in the
    questions.
    ● After that, we create translate from Libras to Portuguese
    ○ This made it easier for the interpreter as to not confuse the sign.
    

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29. The big day was come!
    

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30. The new test
    ● The deaf UX Design was a observer during the tests.
    ● Me and the other UX Designer took turns in moderating the tests.
    ● We always had two interpreters during the test so they could take
    turns.
    

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31. Problems happening...Always!
    ● The biggest problem was the participants had use two screens during
    the test.
    ○ Deaf people need to see the interpreter all the time.
    ○ For the test they needed to share a screen, use the Hand Talk
    Plugin and continue to comunicating with us.
    ○ Therfore using a cellphone to complete all tasks as impossible.
    

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32. Problems happening...Always!
    ● Some people didn’t have two cellphones available during the
    time of test.
    ○ We asked them to use a cellphone and a computer at the same
    time.
    ● Other people only had one cellphone and no computer.
    ○ We reschedulled the test for when they had a computer
    available.
    

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33. Problems happening...Always!
    ● Sometimes even when a computer was available the
    participant was not able to split their screen.
    ● Because the participants had different levels of tech
    knowledge, it was uncertain how much they could use
    cellphone or a computer well.
    

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34. One more Brazilian context
    ● 62% of the population have access to internet using
    exclusively through their cellphone.
    ● 80% of houses in Brazil have access to the internet.
    ○ 82% in urban areas
    ○ 68% in rural areas
    ○ 16% share the internet with the nearbors
    

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35. We finished the test!
    ● Was difficult, but everything working.
    ● We discovery we had to change all the first idea of the
    interface.
    ● We had some difficults with buttons and interactions
    ● We continuos doing improvements in interface every sinces.
    

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36. Learnings and Conclusions
    ● We do many others tests with other products
    ● We learning how we have to conducted tests with
    deaf people
    ● The legal terms we continuos to use and improve in
    others tests
    

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37. Learnings and Conclusions
    ● All the interpreters know kow to do a usability test
    ● And most important: All the people in design team
    knows Libras
    ○ Some developers knows too, but they learning more slowly.
    

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38. Learnings and Conclusions
    ● We understain with the correct communication is
    the most importante thing in design
    ○ Learning how to do a better communication is essencial, no
    matter the language.
    

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39. CREDITS: This presentation template was created by Slidesgo,
    including icons by Flaticon, infographics & images by Freepik
    Thanks!
    www.liviagabos.com ou
    medium.com/liviagabos
    @liviagabos
    @liviagabos
    

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