Understanding User-Heroes Segmentation
with Gareth Ford Williams
JOIN US for an incredible exploration into Data, Users and UX with Gareth Ford Williams, who will deep-dive on how to use data to further the engagement and accessibility of Brand and UX.
Having acted as Head of UX Design and Accessibility at the BBC, after almost 17 years of impactful projects, Gareth has also founded ab11y.com — a startup that focuses on accessibility and inclusive design data for all.
About the Webinar
A user’s medical diagnosis can be of limited use when discerning how to help them navigate your site. This is because diagnoses do not accurately convey the needs of a user. They tell designers very little about capability, which can also be determined by access to assistive technology, experience, knowledge, learned strategies, socio economic or language factors, how they are impacted by their condition, and transient factors such as their environment and energy level.
People with disability and/or neurodivergence are a very diverse group. It is estimated that over 30% of society is impacted by a range of conditions, sometimes multiple ones. Using statistics publicly available from the UK, EU, US governments and the World Health Organisation disability and neurodiversity groups breakdown as expressed as percentages of the population, are as follows:
- Deaf or Culturally Deaf (sign language first) <0.5%
- Severely Vision Impaired or Blind <1%
- Significantly Vision Impaired 4%
- ASC or Learning Disability 5%
- Upper Body Motor Disability or Limb Difference 8+%
- Significantly Hearing Impaired 12%
- Neurodivergent (Dyslexia, ADHD, ADD…) 15%
Note: ASC Autistic Spectrum Condition,
ADHD Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder,
ADD Attention Deficit Disorder.
Because of the diversity and the variables that impact on user ability, to be meaningful, evaluation data collection needs to be carried out at scale, not just with users who self-identify as “disabled” but everyone who experiences barriers. Many people don’t identify as disabled, or might instead identify as culturally deaf or neurodivergent. Some people, especially those who have hidden disabilities, might not be aware of them or have a diagnosis, or others might simply do not want to declare their condition because they consider a declaration a privacy issue.
To resolve this problem the User Heroes’ segmentation model focuses on users’ needs rather than medical diagnoses. This avoids issues with the data being medical, and also needs are often shared by multiple user groups. When groups are combined using a shared need in this way the numbers show a more accurate picture of the impact of any product design decisions on the whole audience.
JOIN US on April 28th to explore how this model can help increase User Accessibility!
Speakers
Gareth Ford Williams
Topic
Meet the Speaker – Gareth Ford Williams
In 2005 Gareth founded the BBC’s Digital Accessibility Team. Over the course of the first 3 years the Accessibility Team worked as an integral part of iPlayer’s core Product Team ensuring BBC iPlayer V1.0 launched as an accessible product. The accessibility team became part of UX when the BBC’s UX Design Team was founded in 2008. He went on to found the BBC’s UX Design Research team in 2010.