Accessibility and the art of Per Axbom caring for humans

@axbom What year did we get
 universal suffrage* in Sweden? *The right to vote, for all adult citizens (sv: Allmän rösträtt)

@axbom 1921 https://www.nordiskamuseet.se/artiklar/kort-historik-om-funktionsnedsattning

@axbom 1921 https://www.nordiskamuseet.se/artiklar/kort-historik-om-funktionsnedsattning

@axbom 1921 People who were disqualifed from adult rights or were assigned to poorhouses were not allowed to vote. People with disabilities were often disqualified from adult rights as they were deemed mentally incompetent when they were unable to care for themselves. 
 (sv: omyndigförklarad) https://www.nordiskamuseet.se/artiklar/kort-historik-om-funktionsnedsattning

@axbom 1945 Everyone who was in care by poorhouses were given the right to vote. https://www.nordiskamuseet.se/artiklar/kort-historik-om-funktionsnedsattning

@axbom 1989 The practice of removing adult rights from people with disabilities ended. https://www.nordiskamuseet.se/artiklar/kort-historik-om-funktionsnedsattning This was the first year all adult Swedish citizens were allowed to vote.

@axbom 1800s schools taught deaf children in sign language 1880s it was decided that deaf schools could no longer use sign language. Up until 1980s there were big institutions for people with disabilities. 1995. People with motor disabilities started getting their own housing and assistant. 1977. Public spaces to be built accessible from the beginning. 2010. Easily removed obstacles in public buildings and spaced should have been gone. experiments, lobotomies, sterilisation 1969. People with epilepsy were allowed to marry. 1981. Sign language recognised as a language by parliament. 1999. The first anti-anti- discrimination law. 1975. Law enforcing sterilisation removed.

@axbom 1800s first Braille typewriter 1870s Telephone. 1910. Silent film 1920. Radio 1950. Talking book 1970. Spoken newspaper 1980. Subtitles and Text-TV 1990. Internet 2000. Smartphone. Eyetracking. 2010. Voice assistant

@axbom Technology is an enabler for communication between people.

@axbom Technology is an enabler for communication between people. Unless we make it a disabler.

@axbom sender encoder channel decoder receiver noise message received message

@axbom sender encoder channel decoder receiver noise message received message FEEDBACK

@axbom Communication is circular As a designer you need to enable and empower the circular features of communication. You need knowledge to keep designing. listen design

@axbom accessibility

@axbom accessibility

@axbom accessibility

@axbom accessibility The design of products, devices, services, or environments for people who experience disabilities.

@axbom accessibility The design of products, devices, services, or environments for people who experience disabilities. Helping all people live their lives
 without being shut out from participating.

@axbom accessibility The design of products, devices, services, or environments for people who experience disabilities. Helping all people live their lives
 without being shut out from participating.

@axbom accessibility The design of products, devices, services, or environments for people who experience disabilities. Helping all people live their lives
 without being shut out from participating.

@axbom accessibility The design of products, devices, services, or environments for people who experience disabilities. Helping all people live their lives
 without being shut out from participating.

@axbom accessibility The design of products, devices, services, or environments for people who experience disabilities. Helping all people live their lives
 without being shut out from participating. Popup….

@axbom accessibility The design of products, devices, services, or environments for people who experience disabilities. Helping all people live their lives
 without being shut out from participating.

@axbom How do we ensure that the message reaches the recipient?

@axbom We listen.

@axbom Discover Define Develop Deliver We need to understand how tools steer us wrong.

@axbom Most projects keep building for the average person.

@axbom https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/female-dummy-makes-her-mark- on-male-dominated-crash-tests/2012/03/07/gIQANBLjaS_story.html?utm_term=.1c263f679e89

@axbom Ethics!

@axbom Ethics? Relativism - Absolutism Utilitarianism Kantian ethics Situation ethics Virtue ethics Deontology

@axbom Relativism - Absolutism Utilitarianism Kantian ethics Situation ethics Virtue ethics Deontology Altruism Asceticism Cognitivism Consequentialism Cynicism Deontology Egoism Epicureanism Ethical Naturalism Ethical Non-Naturalism Ethical Subjectivism Eudaimonism Hedonism Moral Realism Moral Relativism Moral Skepticism Moral Universalism Non-Cognitivism Utilitarianism Virtue Ethics Humanism Individualism Moral Absolutism Moral Anti-Realism Moral Nihilism Intent Outcome Ethics?

@axbom The “many” The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

@axbom

@axbom “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”

@axbom “Women are deformed males.” “A proper wife should be as obedient as a slave.” “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”

@axbom We talk a lot about empathy in design but we rarely talk about how empathy itself is prejudiced.

@axbom Reasoned compassion can be considered a much more reliable guide to moral behavior than empathy.

@axbom Reasoned compassion can be considered a much more reliable guide to moral behavior than empathy. This means that you encourage yourself to care for other people without having to feel empathy for them!

@axbom The Inclusive Panda

@axbom participants included excluded unwanted (non-participants) People who benefit from the solution but no effort is placed into designing for them. People you do not want using the solution. They could get hurt, or they could hurt others. People who manage to use the solution anyway but could be thrown out any time. People who manage to use the solution anyway, putting themselves and others at risk. The people you are intentionally designing for, measuring and following up on. A segment of the people you are intentionally designing for but who are still experiencing negative impact.

@axbom How often does a persona/ target group have one or more permanent or temporary disabilities?

@axbom Having a privileged average persona always means that you will fix accessibility ”later”.

@axbom If you as a designer listen to audio books but fail to realize why accessibility needs to be part of your work, how can I trust your ability to make sense of data that is right in front of you?

@axbom When we call it ethics we
 too easily mislead management. Ah, it has to be good for the MAJORITY..

@axbom When we call it accessibility we too easily mislead our teams. Ah, that OTHER THING we need to do…

@axbom What if we just call it caring for all humans

@axbom caring for all humans time Our goal is to maximise that compassion

@axbom caring for all humans time and put a spike in history. Our goal is to maximise that compassion

@axbom Seriously, it’s not that hard to love all humans. Human’s best friend.

@axbom axbom.se [email protected] Per Axbom @axbom