Language as an accessibility challenge
Language as an accessibility challenge
Embedded Files
Challenges
Challenges
Accessibility can be understood with the following framework. Permanent, Temporary, or Situational. I worked on a project with Fenway Health, Massachusetts. They conducted a bilingual study on Latin American Gay/Bisexual men in the USA. The purpose of the study was to increase resilience through education and awareness. The participants were asked a series of 15 questions about their knowledge of HIV, contraception, and their sexual history within the last 30 days. The same participants were retested over and over again for the next 12 months.
The hypothesis was that the participants tended to practice safe sex just by increasing their self-awareness of their actions and habits. They wanted to replicate the same study in India in three languages English, Hindi, and Tamil with a local non-profit, Humsafar Trust. They were struggling to replicate results or have participants engage with the study even though the translation of the survey was done in all languages.
As a UX researcher at Partners Healthcare, I was expected to speak to the local non-profit and understand what were the struggles and pain points. After speaking to the stakeholders, caseworkers, outreach workers, and participants who were willing we summarized the following pain points
Concepts and words did not exist or translate well in all languages
Men who were engaged in the study were not of reading competencies in those languages
Men who were participating did not consider the act of sex with men as gay/bisexual
Men who were participating did not consider themselves gay if they were married and engaged in homosexual acts occasionally
Participants were closeted or disengaged with the center for several personal and occupational reasons (Truck driving, stigma, and so on)
"We designed the keyboard to look exactly like a calculator or a data phone handset since that is an interface they are completely used to. This results in participants finding it easy to use without any additional assistance, despite this being deployed on a tablet, which is a very new interface for them.
"We designed the keyboard to look exactly like a calculator or a data phone handset since that is an interface they are completely used to. This results in participants finding it easy to use without any additional assistance, despite this being deployed on a tablet, which is a very new interface for them.
After each question, users are asked to input their responses in numeral format. The number is read back to them immediately, to verify that they entered it correctly. This helps them hear the answer in full and redo/replay the question in case they do not agree.
Click on the video to understand how bilingual/tech barriers were overcome with design and function.
Click on the video to understand how bilingual/tech barriers were overcome with design and function.
The intervention was tested in India and Mexico, where participants did not always speak English. In India, this was further complicated by Indian languages not having easily-understood words to describe some of these concepts (like anal intercourse). Assessing the impact of the intervention was difficult unless we could create a language-agnostic, standardized way to ask participants these questions, and have them respond in very specific, finite ways.
Objectives
Objectives
To replicate the Latin American resilience study in the LGBTQIA population through education and awareness study in 3 languages.
Results
Results
With our work and design, we truly achieved the curb-cut effect coz this format was not only used in other languages as well but the study could now be conducted in communities with almost no sexual/reading literacy across the globe.
"Animations and graphics to explain questions. These were test questions for practice before the 15 research questions. This was used to get users acquainted to buttons and help them practice the navigation. "
The tool we created presented as an animation, along with a voiceover in English/Hindi/Tamil for each question. This resulted in avoiding any ambiguity around concept understanding, loss in translation, or cultural confounders.
The tool we created presented as an animation, along with a voiceover in English/Hindi/Tamil for each question. This resulted in avoiding any ambiguity around concept understanding, loss in translation, or cultural confounders.
Rapid prototyping to understand each page typical layout
Rapid prototyping to understand each page typical layout
Accessibility design opportunities
Accessibility design opportunities
Participants with no reading proficiency could see animation and visuals and a text-to-voice for each question
Participants with no reading proficiency could see animation and visuals and a text-to-voice for each answer response
Participants with no reading proficiency could see animation and visuals and a text-to-voice number response
Participants who do not come to the center now could be outreached by taking the tablet to their addresses
The image on the right shows the cultural concept of men with mustaches or without, boys of any age, and even partners who are married. These were some of the insights we got from participants who did not consider acts with men gay if they were active partners or married.
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