Combining Usability and Accessibility Testing

The problem

Accessibility testing is often seen as an additional, time-consuming and expensive ‘bolt-on’ to accommodate people with disabilities.  Yet accessible media has benefits for people of all abilities.

The solution

At System Concepts, we encourage our clients to ‘design for all’ by integrating usability and accessibility testing.  This approach saves time and money by using disabled participants to identify both usability and accessibility issues.  We have an extensive database of users who can help us with testing, giving us easy access to people with a wide range of abilities and disabilities.

The client

Ouch! is a website from the BBC that reflects the lives and experiences of disabled people.  The development team wanted to improve the usability and accessibility of the site and to understand and improve the Ouch! user experience.

The method

We ran:

• Usability and accessibility testing of the site to with disabled participants to identify issues that needed to be addressed within the redesign.
• Focus group sessions to explore potential design ideas and concepts for the future of Ouch!  All of the participants had a link to the disability community, including people with disabilities (visual, motor or cognitive impairments), carers and youth workers.  The sessions were designed to be engaging, interactive, inclusive and fun.  Each session involved discussion, demonstrations, rating activities and creative exercises.

The results

We presented the Ouch! team with material about potential users of their site and the different contexts in which it might be used including:

• A high level report 
• Prioritised user requirements 
• A set of persona cards 
• Wireframes 
• DVD recordings

The client’s view

We were impressed with the way in which System Concepts led a group of very diverse individuals, enabling their discussions, appreciating their varied access needs, and guiding them through the complex ideas not only of Ouch's current proposition, but also the ideas we have for future developments. The results of the focus group have been invaluable in influencing the direction of the project.

Vaughan Simons, Assistant Content Producer, Ouch!

Application to other projects

This combined usability and accessibility approach is applicable to most projects, not just those aimed at people with disabilities.  By recruiting perhaps a third of usability testing participants from people with disabilities, usability findings can be strengthened and accessibility findings added with only a minimal increase in cost.