Hi again! Want to hear a fun fact? One of the first curb cuts in the U.S. was installed in Michigan in 1945. You've probably used a curb cut yourself. A curb cut is the name for the slope of the sidewalk that creates a ramp with the adjoining street.
Curb cuts are usually found at intersections. Thanks to curb cuts, people with wheelchairs, leg braces, or crutches can navigate their neighborhoods with a lot more freedom. But, funny thing, the benefits of curb cuts extend to everyone, from people pushing strollers to bicyclists, movers, and elderly people.
Chances are, curb cuts have helped you too. Curb cuts have become such a popular example of designing for accessibility that there's now a whole concept named after it. The curb cut effect is a phenomenon that describes how products and policies designed for people with disabilities often end up helping everyone. Let's check out some more examples of this effect. Today, most crosswalks in major cities across the United States come equipped with signals that indicate that it's safe for someone to cross the street.
There's a visual signal, like a symbol of a person walking. There's an auditory signal, like a series of beeps. The auditory signals even speed up to let people with vision disabilities know that their time to cross the street safely is ending.
And there's a tactile signal, like the bumpy blister paving on the sidewalk's curb. The physical sensation of the tactile paving indicates that they've safely made it to the next sidewalk. But these signals help everyone. Think about a sighted person who is focused on something other than the crosswalk.
like a new text message. The sequence of beeps and the textured ground designed to help people with vision disabilities will help the distracted person too. Or consider this. If you've ever broken your leg, you know how challenging it can be to do everyday things like go down a flight of stairs.
When you design features for someone with a permanent limited mobility, like elevators, power lifts, or wide aisles to accommodate wheelchairs, you'll end up helping an even broader range of users. Similarly, if you're a sighted person who has tried to watch a breaking news story on TV in a noisy bar, chances are you've been helped out by closed captioning. You don't have to hear the news anchor as long as you can read what they're saying. Since closed captioning is multilingual, users who aren't fluent in the language being spoken, can understand what's being said, by reading closed captioning in their native language. Now, let's think about products and services that are inaccessible.
As a security measure, many websites automatically time a user out if they haven't been active for two minutes. However, we live in a world full of neurologically diverse people who might need more time filling out a form or reading text. Designing for inclusivity and accessibility may mean removing or lengthening this time window. If you do that, you'll help people with neurodiversity, multitasking parents, senior citizens, and even the folks who need more time to find their credit cards. All these people would benefit from either removing the timer, extending the amount of time allowed, or a timer that prompts users with a visual or sound notification when their time is running low.
To wrap up, Let's recap what you've learned. As we consider the experiences of users with disabilities, we discovered how designing for people with disabilities can benefit everyone. Coming up, you'll learn how to define a problem statement.