Special Focus (ELDERLY USERS)

Take one. >> Hello all. Welcome back to our course on digital accessibility and today we will have a discussion deeper discussion about elderly users and the accessibility issues that they face. So elderly users accessibility issues are multifaceted. They stem from age related decline in uh physical motor skills, dexterity etc. sensory declination like uh vision loss or dec decline in vision, decline in hearing uh as well as cognitive abilities such as uh hindrances in understanding long workflows, hindrances in attention deficits, hindrances related to um concentration for longer durations etc. as well as there may be memory related issues as well uh with which kind of decline with age as well. So we will have a deeper discussion in today's session about all of these difficulties and how in our accessibility attempt we can try to be inclusive for these special users. So these uh aspects of physical, sensory and cognitive decline can create significant barriers in their physical environment where which relates to public spaces, transportation, housing etc. navigation, all of those things. Independent navigation particularly uh as well as digital interactions which includes their web uh visits or mobile apps or using uh home appliances which may have digital interfaces such as a microwave or a washing machine which is automated etc. So uh which may require some buttons may have small text and logos icons all of those things. So uh let us uh begin from that perspective. So first of all let's ask the question why we should accommodate older users. Right. So one is of course the ethical as well as uh the responsibility aspect of it that better accessibility for older people is also better for all of us from an inclusion perspective. Um other than that estimates now show that over 60 population will double over the next uh you know few decades to two billion and triple to over 3 billion by 200 2000 right in the next 70 years or so. So that means we are looking at a projection or a world where the number of elderly people is going to increase. It is already begun a lot of um uh European as well as Japanese and all of these other economies the number of young population the percentage of young population in their demographic has become considerably lower than uh aging demographic. So um it is already there and u uh for right now Indian economy and Indian demographic is not suffering from that uh mismatched ratio. But of course we we also have a big number big percentage of elderly users who are also potential consumers. Right? So it is also good for our business perspective and uh we should not chuck them out of uh uh the uh use cases uh altogether because they there are a lot of products which cater particularly to uh persons who are elderly such as pension related websites or um you know there may be travel websites which are particularly catering to elderly users. There are a lot of apps which are uh you know talking about healthcare and accessibility in general right to uh access to information as well as spaces. All of these aspects are also present uh in case of people who are above 60. This is the fastest growing demographic globally and it is uh not possible to ignore it any further and uh its members rely more on ICT products because uh to some extent the um the social aspect or uh physical navigation becomes even more uh reluctant or uh uh hindered uh by the time you uh you cross uh that 60 um demographic. So plus they also have a significant buying power which is also very crucial to um think about this demographic because I mean they have uh the money to buy assistive technologies if they have the awareness to do so and uh that is a significant aspect when it comes to uh any product or any technology development or any economic IC uh intervention for that matter in uh existing technologies. So everyone all companies and all managers will always ask you okay what is what is the uptake here? What is the benefit that we get if we make our application a website accessible for this particular group of people. So I think that is it is a well-known uh statistical fact that uh demographic above in the elderly category in the geriatric category have way more buying power because you know they have worked so many years they have accumulated some wealth and they have that buying power and also it is the fastest growing demographic. So these are two very important aspects about why we should um accommodate uh persons who are elderly in our accessibility discussion itself. So today it's it's till today it has never been more critical to improve accessibility for older users but now maybe it is more than ever uh important to do so. So then let us talk about the economic or the business aspect of catering to older users. Right? One is of course which we discussed in the previous slide is uh that they have a higher buying power. So there are some uh statistics from the US because it was there in uh one of um uh the reports which was a census report. Probably we'll be able to share some more recent data when our uh Indian census also gets published in the next year. The current data is uh from 2011 which is quite old. So next year we'll have the recent demographic data. So probably we'll update you regarding that currently this statements are talking about the US economy. So consider this older adults account for over 50% and this is a very important number 50% of US consumer spending but just 5 to 10% of marketing budgets focus on winning their businesses. Right? So there's a huge market gap which uh one can look at if you are an entrepreneur, if you are an innovator, if you have products which are consumerf facing products which are ICT consumerf facing products, uh this is a demographic probably you're missing out on. You can expand to expand into it or look at the problems pertaining to elderly users and maybe address that. So that is their younger demographic may be among the most followed uh social influencers but their older counterparts have an edge on the financial and the economic influence. This is also very important. Most government projects in the US. So ARP is an organization uh from the government. So they are now putting massive spending uh for 50 plus consumers. There is over almost a 200% growth in financial insurance services. There is almost 300 three times growth in the tech sector. There is a lot of there's almost double search charge in travel and uh surge in travel and leisure. There's more than 260% increase in the health care sector and it is evident that uh Gen Z or the younger adults have 86% and this is a very important statistic very less purchasing power than baby boomers did in their 20s. So also this is important that uh today with the um not so much flourishing economy uh and of co of of course the inflation the purchasing power of um young adults is comparatively lesser than uh people who are now in their 70s or 60s had their had in their 20s which was um more economically flourishing times for the US economy particularly which was the 60s and the 70s. So let us now uh so this kind of puts into perspective why uh we should look at geriatric users uh older adults as a separate and important demographic whenever we talking about inclusion and accessibility particularly for ICT information and communication technologies be it website oriented interfaces Be it apps that you are developing or you are looking for some new potential gaps or problems where existing solutions are not able to help. This um uh this demographic can offer a lot of gaps as well and a lot of economic opportunity to function and expand your business and ideas into. So now let us talk about uh the different kinds of barriers which are experienced by older adults in their interaction with the environment. So now let us talk about the different kinds of barriers that people with um older adults or people who are elderly face when they're interacting with their environment on a daily basis. So let us start with some physical and architectural barriers. Though they are not directly in alignment with our focus of digital accessibility but it is important to discuss these issues because many a times there may be some possible gaps which can be filled by an ICT technology right so you can see it as an opportunity as well uh mobility limitation so of course difficulty with stairs High curbs, slippery floors, uh narrow doorways make navigation challenging both in public spaces as well as in their own homes. Then there can be transportation access related barriers which includes uh suitable equipment to board buses at bus stops. Difficulty in boarding or coming um down from buses or alllighting public transport like trains, buses or any other form of transport. uh and a lack of reliable affordable transport option particularly in rural areas. So public infrastructure may be lacking in serving the special issues related to people who are elderly. So many public buildings and health facilities lack essential age friendly features such as handrails or sufficient benches or seating, proper lighting, uh accessible restrooms, all of those uh may be not there. um in their home environment itself. There may be some common challenges like uh difficulties uh with transferring in and out of bathrooms or showers or bed coming out of bed or lying down uh on the bed without help. Reaching to high storage areas in the household. Managing home maintenance activities like gardening or cleaning etc. that require physical strength or bending down like awkward postures like bending down beneath the bed etc which they're not able to do because of other kind of uh skeletal issues. Then there can be health care and service access related issues. So information gaps particularly. So for example, older adults often struggle to find information about available community care or how to access them leading to missed opportunities for support. This can be an important area where ICT um innovators can uh probe. You can look at this problem and kind of try to deliver a solution. how to uh make information related to support systems available uh to people who are elderly. Affordability uh even when care is physically accessible there may be uh higher costs or may uh which can be a major barrier. There may be lack of specialized care available in their in their region particularly the supplies for rural areas where uh specialty hospitals or has specialty geriatric care specialty wards are not available uh or health care programs or professionals related to geriatric issues are not available in those areas. So they have to go to you know bigger cities or otherwise to um get those healthcare uh attention. Then comes our digital and technological barriers which is our primary focus of the discussion. You can go through the above uh mentioned challenges. Again if you are looking at uh identifying gaps where ICT technologies or emerging u media can help and intervene. Uh but these are the technological barriers which are uh there in the current technology. So due to vision impairment um there may be technological barriers and accessibility issues. physical dexterity. We will talk about each one in detail u because this applies directly to our accessibility um subheadings of pur principles and what are the different resources available to ensure accessibility of uh digital and technological products. So vision impairment can result in uh reduced contrast sensitivity, poor color perception, difficulty with near focus. So um what like reading uh length, reading distance, uh it is it is very difficult to read at a reading distance or small text uh small fonts they're unable to read because of near focus issues. Low contrast designs may cause uh accessibility issues because of uh lower contrast sensitivity or other um uh vision related uh aspects like or other vision related aspects like catact I'm sure you might have heard or a stigmatism um which is like tunnel focus. So uh those then they can be or tiny targets on websites etc. and apps that make it hard to use the apps themselves. Then there can be physical dexterity related issues. So diminished fine motor control can make using a mouse or clicking small buttons or typing accurately on touchscreens very difficult. Hearing loss. So uh this is also commonly occurring uh um capacity loss in persons who are aging. Um and difficulty in hearing highpitched sounds is something which also happens. Separating speech from background etc. to understand audio feedback or audio content it becomes a little bit difficult. Cognitive decline. Uh there may be reduced short-term memory. There may be difficulty in concentrating. There may be difficulty in um uh maintaining concentration for longer durations through multi-step processes. Uh and non-intuitive interfaces uh may cause problems to use. There may be lack of information. Significant barriers often lack of awareness about existing technologies. So um if we try to understand these barriers through a lens of PUR our um accessibility digital accessibility principles we can see it through that lens as well. And if we talk about perceivability issues then as we talked about the vision impairment related issues. So reduce contrast it is a very well-known WAG guideline and I think we should try to uh adapt to it and there may be poor color perception. There may be difficulty with near focus uh elements which which have small fonts etc. Low contrast designs uh tiny targets. So of course tiny targets on websites and apps which make it hard to use. Uh especially you might have seen uh with ad ad pop-ups that the the button to switch it off is so small that it is very hard for um even people with very good fine motor skills to actually switch them off. uh if you reduce dexterity then it becomes even more uh even a bigger issue and they're also uh not made not to be visible right so uh the cross the cross itself is um you know kind of blending into the background kind of a color or it may be very um fine font it's not a bold font and that's why it's not differentiable from the background. Then uh in terms of other perceivability issues that may be hearing loss so difficulty in hearing high pitch sounds. So audible range of um uh the pitch reduces with age and uh high pitch sounds may be suddenly inaudible. Um separating speech from background may also become an issue. So if there is high background noise, uh it may be difficult for uh people who are aging to separate speech and coherently understand the meaning of the audio content if they're not able to separate speech from background. So interventions in these may be um you know AI based interventions which can um help in separating uh speech from background can be um used then there can be operability issues. Uh so when we talk about operability it should an accessible ICT product should enable the uh users to interact with the system in the best way possible. So but uh diminished fine motor skills can make uh it difficult to operate like uh using a mouse may be difficult, clicking small buttons may be difficult. Uh typing accurately on touch screens may be difficult. Uh smaller response windows can be problematic. Then there may be other dexterity issues like shaking or reduction in fine motor skill. So you might have noticed older people have their hand like there's some vibration and shaking of hand which may also uh result in uh hindrances. Then uh reduction in tactile acquity of fingertips is also one of the aspects. So the fingertip themselves uh reduce their acquity because of this skin issues maybe and uh the sensors on the fingertips being uh depreciating or the uh nervous system itself being depreciating. So uh that results in uh uh lesser activity in the fingertips. So wherever it is a touch-based interaction probably it may feel like you need to touch with a heavier hand or which more with more pressure in order to ensure um correct touch. So smaller targets can make it even more difficult to do that. Then there can be understandability relation related issues which relate to cognitive decline. So reduce short-term memory can uh uh hinder you know access to multi-step workflows uh or remembering OTPs remembering what was previously fed in the previous step um cross-checking if the feedback is not itself available in the screen itself then reduce longerterm memory also can impact so maybe they don't remember passwords for example example uh it they may face difficulty in concentrating uh being easily distracted. So these can make complex navigation systems, multi-step processes and non-intuitive interfaces problematic to follow and use. Then there can be language barriers also. Then there can be language barriers also. So maybe a bigger chunk of the demographic they do not uh um understand English. If your most of your products are based on English language then apart from these beyond uh the accessibility and um um uh you know interaction related barriers is a definite lack of awareness. So lack of information about um significant barriers and about available accessibility and assisted technologies, lack of training how to use available access assist assisted technologies uh or support about the same. uh then there may be accessibility features on the device which is available to them already but then they still don't know how to use it because of lack of information and lack of information also many a times you have seen that stems from denial. So many times you've seen elderly users do not want to accept that uh they are in the elderly category and that they are facing issues uh and they don't seek help uh because it may hamper their u you know uh pride or independence. So that aspect is also that emotional and aspirational aspect is also there. So we have be have to be uh as designers we have to be sensitive about this aspect. So how can we improve digital accessibility for older users? So try to implement adjustable text sizes. Uh allow users to adjust sizes uh so they can read content com comfortably without straining their eyes. provide larger fonts uh to uh remove inclusivity. Use proper color contrast. This cannot be emphasized um you know more than enough color contrast which is a very basic uh aspect very easy to implement in any ICT product is something which is being neglected the most and um uh so providing good contrast between foreground text icons and the background um and all interactive elements against the background. It is very important to make sure that they have a good contrast from the background to make sure uh that they are readable for older adults and for best results follow the WAG requirements. Simplify navigation. So minimize the required amount of mouse clicks to access desired features. So even we have seen that this doubleclick feature etc. many a times uh people fail to use because this double click has to happen very quickly. Uh and uh so for example I've seen my mother uh struggling to open a file. But if you I'm sure you you are aware right that double click uh when it happens quickly in succession opens a file but double click if it happens after a bit of a gap it makes you rename the file right uh so so I've seen my mother also struggle with this that every time she wants to open a file because the uh the timing between those two consecutive clicks is a little bit more it every time goes into renaming doesn't open the file. So even uh you know as basic as this like we not even talking about elements or reading and all of those things just opening the file as basic as that is is a challenge. So it is very important that uh we should be sensitive to all of the needs of our potential users. Uh use clearer labels, use u user-friendly menus to prevent cognitive overload. Try to keep items on one screen. Uh be it your app, be it your web page, try to keep items uh as minimal as possible. Make sure that the action items are highlighted. Uh use affordances in the concept of affordances. You uh refer to the uh session on affordances in order to avail that information. Um and of course we have the WCAG guidelines also to help you in understanding how uh uh to uh make navigation more simple. Uh there's always a tradeoff between uh number of steps and the amount of information which is there in one step uh in any workflow. So we have to try to optimize it and the optimization can happen only with uh continuous user feedback of the specific demographic as well. If this is uh um an important demographic for your ICT product offer touchfriendly design uh incorporate larger targets and spacing elements for users with diminished fine motor skills. Enlarging navigation elements with screen magnifiers enable older users to navigate touchscreen devices more comfortably. So larger navigation elements, bigger spacing, uh it is all of these aspects are there in WAG as well. Let us try to follow that provide alternative input. to offer alternative input methods such as voice commands or keyboard shortcuts etc. These options empower people with mobility and dexterity impairments. So wherever possible try to incorporate multimodal input and output uh methods. Um in one of the following sessions we will also talk about the variety of input and output devices which can be utilized and which can cater to a variety of users. Um and what are the specific aspects which one should keep in mind when incorporating those input output devices. So for example, voice command has become quite popular uh with PE persons who are elderly because uh typing on the screen if you want to search something on YouTube if you are even navigating your on your something navigating the menu on your smart TV or something. it is very difficult to you know kind of go to each letter on that keyboard on the TV uh using your TV remote and click and type something on the TV right so um audio control has become very much uh an accessible option for people who are elderly they can and I think everyone uses it rather because it's much uh easier to do and much uh uh offers is a higher level of usability and better experience saves time as well. Then other part is offer enough white space. So try to avoid clutter because it can be overwhelming. It can cause distraction from the actual action items. Provide plenty of space between lines and blocks of text. Use hierarchy. Use different indentations. Use all of those elements. Um uh to help users track text horizontally, read and comprehend the text more easily if it if it is annotated properly. add form fields. So, uh fields like uh heading labels, prompts, etc. Uh please follow the related best practices to ensure uh you to get it right. Use text instead of text images. This is again like under the WAG guidelines. text images blur when magnified and cause slower download speeds when enlarged. Also, uh it is better for SEOs to use text with relevant keywords whenever possible. So, your pages will pop up in the search more easily and more effectively. Use proper headings. Use headings and subheadings in the outline pages. do not skip the heading levels because they help the screen reader users, search engines to better understand the page organization. It also visually makes uh readers to understand the content better if it is layouted and formatted in a very proper manner. Use a JavaScript accessibility uh widget using existing accessibility widget sometimes streamline productions and ensures better accuracy. On the other hand, in an in-house approach is also cost prohibitive drain on resources. So you can use existing uh open-source elements to make it more accurate and more um productive. what WAG uh resources has to offer. So I have added a link and they have a separate page on older users and web accessibility meeting the needs of aging web users. Uh you can read through different types of compliance issues, different types of uh different kinds of needs which we have kind of already discussed but maybe you can refer to this resource as well. There are more pages and videos which can be read. Other than that there is there's a set of guidelines and other standards particularly for older users. So developing websites for older people how web content accessibility guidelines W CAG 2.0 applies. So uh this is another resource from W CAG where they're talking about developing uh how developing websites for older people and how to integrate WAG guidelines, accessibility guidelines uh in your uh development. So again it is divided into our same PUR setup and if we go through there they are written in a slightly different format as compared to WAC but they are referring to similar criteria but they are talking about some of the issues which are more commonly occurring for older users like text sizes, text style and text layout color and contrast, multimedia, text to speech, capture. So for example, if we go to text size um so under the guideline 1.4.4 there is resize text. There are there is a set of techniques which you can use. So many old people require uh larger text due to declining vision uh including text in the form fields and other controls. Similarly, textile and its visual presentation impacts how easy or difficult it is uh to read. as we talked about formatting and layouting of the information. So you can read the visual presentation guideline as well, line spaces, um paragraph spaces, contrast and color. Contrast and color is again one of the important most important aspects. So there are different WCAT criteria which are there which talk about contrast and color and there are different techniques in order to how to fix it. There are also literature references given in this resource uh where they're talking about vision decline with aging uh user studies of web users with specific disabilities. If you can uh see these statistics and data points. So if you see spatial frequency and contrast uh sensitivity uh there is in 80 year olds it is much lower the contrast sensitivity is much higher in 20 year olds. Similarly, if you want to read about other aspects, you can read go through all of these elderly users, age related literature of these aspects. Then there are there are guidelines about multimedia all of the different uh WCAG guidelines which align to uh the use of multimedia in your web page and how you can make it accessible for uh users who are elderly. Similarly, text to speech capture. Older peoples with dep declining eyesight may not be able to discern characters in a capture, especially visual capture. Uh so one way of doing it is that you uh incorporate audio capture or other ways of doing it or um um there can be other types of capture which is uh with which you can identify yourself uh as a human. So yeah in terms of operability also there is a there are a set of uh challenges like links uh empty links and particularly clear and identifiable due to declining vision and cognition navigation and location. Many older people need navigation to be particularly clear due to declining cognitive abilities. Use of mouse. We have we had a discussion about it in the slides. You can go through this resources. It talks about all of these aspects in much much detail and all of the criteria here. You can see all of the criteria which are there in WAG. Uh so here also you can if you want to read more about it you can just click here and it'll take you to the W CAG document which we have already uh discussed in couple of previous sessions uh to read more about it and so in this document they've kind of compiled and summarized it for particularly older users. So this is a good reference starting point reference for you if you are particularly designing for users who are old. sufficient time uh is something which we also discussed about to read longer text or complete transactions uh so or entering OTP because there's always a clock going. So you have to make sure that uh if it involves a three-step OTP recognition. So once you receive a message, you open the messaging app, you open the message, you read the number, you remember it, then you come back to this main screen of your app. Uh click again on the bar and then you enter. So this workflow analysis needs to be done and make sure that there is sufficient time assuming that there is a lower cognitive ability or a lower vision available then will the person be able to do it in the required amount of time. Then under the understandability head page organization and headings and labelings is something which is very important. Language is something which we need to look at. Abbreviation, unusual words, reading level, consistent navigation and labeling, pop-ups and new windows. So this this is a very big issue. Uh but with ad and add uh based revenue, it is hard to uh um you know kind kind of do away with it. But we can we can be uh at least understandable to users who are elderly. So page refresh and updates then instruction and input assistance. So uh it is difficult for some older people to understand the requirements of a form or transactions. So of these different techniques are also given how to uh incorporate these uh things. How to what are the different criterias which comply with this error prevention and they talk about in the robustness then uh older equipment some older people use older browsers that might not be as capable or fall tolerant as uh current releases. So your um your ICT or your app or your website should ensure uh full compatibility your passing in order in order to meet uh the compliance. So I think this is an important resource which you can go through. This page um talks about all of the different research and um what are the different uh statistics and published literature around decline of um decline of um vision, hearing, motor loss, cognitive uh defects, motor skill diminishment, vision def decline. There's a lot of literature here which is mentioned and it is like compiled for your reference and why it makes sense to look at this demographic with a particular eye. So to summarize uh better accessibility also creates a better experience for all customers regardless of the ability or the background. So embracing digital inclusivity is also to provide distinct business advantages particularly when we talking about demographies such as elderly who have a good uh paying power but they have their own special needs which needs to be catered to um by addressing specific barriers like small text, low contrast, simple navigation or reliance on fine motor skills, we can create a more inclusive online experience for the senior citizens. And uh you can uh you can actually go and have a look at uh specific websites. Maybe we uh we even we can uh see a specific uh website uh such as uh like the pension yoja or the NPS website or um uh all of those where uh the users are primarily uh elderly users. Are they accessible? Are they following WAK guidelines? and are they looking at the special needs of the elderly? So that can also be a good case study uh for students of accessibility themselves. Understanding special needs and motivations can help in creating better products. So and I've already shared WCAG guidelines and special resources which are particularly catering to uh elderly use cases. So that's all in this session. Thank you for sticking around and we'll see you in the next session.