One of the most common ways to approach product and service objectives is to create personas and conduct research based on 'average' target users. But this approach falls apart when you consider that every person has a variety of shifting needs, identities, and contexts of use.

In my talk, "There is no average person. Why it's critical to design with intersectionality in mind", I highlight the research behind prioritizing individuals over averages and how inclusive research practices can grow the impact of your work. 

You'll leave the talk with an improved understanding of markets, new approaches to opening up market access, insights on how to deliver products and services that better serve increasingly diverse markets, and an understanding of the ROI of inclusive design practices.

Interested in bringing this talk to your organization?

Hi, I’m Lee. And I’d like to tell you about my talk, “There is no average person. Why it’s critical to design with intersectionality in mind.”

My motivation behind the talk stems from a sweeping, industry-wide problem we need to address.

Looking at websites alone as a lens, we can see that well over 90% of websites do not meet basic accessibility objectives. And accessibility is only part of the story.

The result of our industry’s collective inability to deliver products and services for all means that 90% of websites actively limit access, usability, and content engagement.

This industry-wide problem doesn’t begin and end with websites. It’s a part of how we work in developing any products or services.

We design for the average and avoid the edge cases.

My talk highlights the flawed methodologies and the real data that shows there is no average to target or edge case customer to avoid.

You’ll have the evidence you need to bring this discussion back to your team members.

With practical considerations around customer markets and segmentation, product and service planning, and the ROI of inclusive design.

That way, you’ll be able to turn discussions from “why would we invest in serving edge cases” to “why aren’t we serving our whole market.”

In my talk, I highlight the research behind prioritizing individuals over averages and how inclusive research practices can grow the impact of your work. 

Understanding why it's critical to design products and services with intersectionality in mind

Inclusivity

Let’s explore in this video the three main ways the accessibility and inclusion landscape has advanced over the last three decades, and why we’ve never been closer to access for all than we are today.

As the Americans With Disabilities Act turns 30 we find ourselves at an exciting inflection point in history.

There are three factors that are together building towards the most accessible, most welcoming, most inclusive world we’ve seen over the course of humanity.

As awareness of individuality continues to grow and reach acceptance, as the differences between all of us and our intersectional and shifting needs are considered and as we see an increase in acknowledgement of marginalized communities and the systems that limit access and opportunity, all of this collective progress and ongoing change has helped those of us who are responsible for designing products and services, find new ways of working that better serve people.

Our collective efforts towards access and opportunity for all are supported by legislation, such as the Americans With Disabilities Act, or ADA alongside AODA, which is an equivalent legislation here in Ontario, Canada, as well as many other global and regional accessibility compliance and human rights requirements. This legislation has helped raise the profile of accessible solutions and the cost of noncompliance.

All of this applies to our physical world as it does to digital, but it’s 

technology, especially digital channels that are the third factor.

Over the past 10 years, a combination of computer power, software, and interaction models in web browsers, apps, and other connected devices have made it easier than ever to engage with content.

As an example, 15 years ago, screen readers that help translate interfaces on screens into words that are spoken aloud costs thousands of dollars. Now they’re built into your smartphone in ever more intuitive ways. You can see this yourself if you turn on VoiceOver on an iPhone, or TalkBack on Android.

This combination of access to previously expensive technology that is now a default part of the most widely used devices in the history of humanity changes everything, but this is also why it’s so important that all designers take the time now to build accessible and inclusive practices into their work.

It’s easier than ever to access content if we designed for access and it’s easier than ever to design for access, because the tools are available to all of us.

Let’s work together to realize the impact of this inflection point and ensure access for all.

Are you ready to try out VoiceOver on iPhone or TalkBack on Android?

We mentioned in the video two different screen reading technologies: VoiceOver and TalkBack, for iPhone and Android respectively.

Looking at your website and the content you promote through these services is an excellent way to understand how capable these services are and if you have any gaps in how you’re sharing content that may be limiting your access to market.

Here’s how to enable these accessibility tools:

How to enable screen reading on an iPhone (VoiceOver)

VoiceOver is a screen reading accessibility feature on iOS that reads content on the screen aloud and enables gesture control of the device.

You can turn on VoiceOver on an iPhone using the following steps:

1. In your phone’s settings, tap on the accessibility section

2. Once in the accessibility menu, VoiceOver is the first option under “Vision”

3. In the settings for VoiceOver, there is a toggle switch to turn on/off VoiceOver, and other options to customize things like reading speed, speech, and commands.

 How to enable screen reading on an Android device (TalkBack)

Similar to VoiceOver on the iPhone, Android devices on the newer editions of the Android operating system have a screen reading feature called TalkBack.

You can turn on TalkBack using these steps:

1. In the phone’s settings, tap on the “Accessibility” option

2. Once in the accessibility menu, tap on the “TalkBack” option

3. From there, you should get a pop-up window asking if you want to enable TalkBack on the device. Once you confirm, TalkBack will be turned on and activated.

Whether it’s apps, websites, or web apps, determining the accessibility of these digital products is best done 

through real testing with accessibility tools and the people who use them.

accessible research, design, and testing processes

 into your team’s workflow from the start, saving time and money by avoiding future reworks to meet usability and 

Need help improving accessibility and inclusion in your products and services?

Get in touch to learn how inclusive design can help your team can open up access to markets by delivering more usable, accessible, and inclusive products and services.

We find ourselves at an exciting point in history where three factors have made our world more accessible and inclusive than ever before.

What’s next for accessibility and inclusion in products and services?

Let’s talk about the business case for “hiring thinkers and not activists”.

I’m reading from a new job board I found out about yesterday called Unwoke.hr.

That’s the header on their website: “Hire thinkers. Not activists.”

“Don’t hire ideologues whose only agenda is to use your business to further a radical cause.”

I’d like to know, on behalf of all business leaders:

What radical cause is growing your operational excellence?

What radical cause is bringing new insights and accelerating innovation?

What radical cause is growing your access to market and building authentic connections with consumers?

These are all hallmarks of businesses that excel. And the data shows these are the hallmarks of diverse corporate cultures.

What is made clear by this homepage is that the anonymous founders of this job board know very little about business, and a whole lot about ideology.

Still not convinced? Let’s take a look at the “important message to business owners” which is anchored to the top of every page of the website at Unwoke.hr.

“Let them fill their diversity quotas.”

Any responsible and capable professional in HR or those professionals working on diversity, equity, and inclusion know that diversity quotas are not the path to build an exceptional workplace culture. Belonging isn’t a mandate. It’s not a number. Implying diversity quotas are the sum total of how inclusive cultures are created highlights how little the anonymous people behind this job board know about employee culture.

“Let their employees walk on eggshells in their bubble wrapped offices.”

There is no more welcoming culture than an inclusive culture. The suggestion that you have to walk on eggshells in an inclusive workplace environment shows a complete lack of understanding of how to engage with and support employees.

“Watch your competition implode as they do their hiring based on identity rather than merit.”

Every recruiter who is building an amazing talent pipeline understands that diversity plays a significant role in bringing capability to a team, especially a homogenous team. Finding diverse talent is about seeking out, supporting, and engaging with the best and brightest talent. Suggesting otherwise is a sign of intellectual and operational laziness. And it highlights how much of a disservice this job board will be to any business as they limit themselves to just a sliver of the talent they could otherwise attract.

As seems to be typical of people who completely misunderstand the topic they’re speaking about, and willfully ignore the data and evidence that contradicts their approach to business, the anonymous people behind Unwoke are stating the exact opposite of the outcome that will be achieved by businesses that pursue intentional and authentic diverse workplace cultures.

So cheers to those of us who understand the business value of workplace diversity and embracing diverse markets.

As they say, ”don’t interrupt your competition when they are making a mistake.”

Well, that summarizes this whole endeavour. It’s just one big mistake after another.

Simply put: there is no business case for this service.

In this video, I talk about why the approach to HR described by this job board is going to be a big problem for businesses that use this service.