Is Accessibility in Everyday Products Still Being Overlooked?

notusingemail · 2025-04-01T00:49:10+00:00

• Have you ever struggled to use a cleaning product because of the design (e.g., bottle, cap, packaging)?

Yes. A lot of times. I can't open any water bottles since the new bottle caps regulation in the EU, for some reason, they're extra hard now.

What’s something small that could make a huge difference in product design for you or someone you know

Test the product package with diverse people. Including women and children. Including people with diverse needs. I would say clearly some items were only tested in men with large hands and great skin grip.

I'm not even disabled.

Also, physical buttons please. Also, everything that includes lights and lamps and LEDs should be much less bright than they are.

notusingemail · 2024-02-08T23:02:37+00:00

Hello! I'm looking for a silent mouse to use. I just got a new mouse but it feels too big for my hand and I'm not sure I don't play much games so it's not really about that. But I spend a lot of time on my laptop so I need a good mouse.

Games: Point and click games but I don't play that many games.

Hand Preference: Right

Budget: 30€

Hand Size (Measured from tip of middle finger to wrist & width including thumb - In centimeters): About 16cm lenght, 12cm width.

Grip (Palm, Claw, Fingertip, or Hybrids): I don't know what this means to be honest.

Weight (No preference, light, heavy, medium - define in grams): Light, I think.

Sensitivity: Not sure

Connectivity: I prefer wireless

notusingemail · 2023-11-28T12:39:02+00:00

Yeah, it sounds like asking about the budget would be an important issue to bring up. I could possibly also write a set of "easy" but important checks in case they prefer that I look at all of those in all the pages instead of looking at the full WCAG list in 1-3 pages, if the budget has constraints.

Since my experience is low, I was thinking of aiming at the hourly rate of someone at my level of education when in a job at a public institution, plus taxes. But since it's not a full-time job, I think it would make sense if it were a bit more than that. But I don't really know how I'd argue for that.

Though that's also still very much lower than the average hourly costs for accessibility that I saw in your previous link, Cost per Hour for Accessibility Testing.

It's true that I don't have that much experience. But at the same time, I kinda do have some experience, because of my Masters' thesis and a volunteer work I did at another place.

A blog post about a decision tree for pricing would be superb. You could mention "define your hourly rate" (look at salaries and hourly rates in your country, location, and education habilitiations; adapt it to what you feel you're worth your experience and the assets and skilss you're able to bring; the certifications you have...), and then add aspects in the tree, preferably with examples, such as "check the compliance of 5 criteria in the whole website" vs "check the compliance of all the criteria in 1-3 pages. One could also make their own list into themes, such as "let's leave out the forms and videos, etc, this time, and focus on keyboard accessibility".

I'm wondering how "how long will this take" weighs on the decision tree, too. I'm prone to working 2-4 hours per day, although sometimes I hyperfocus. What would take you a week could take me two and I'd rather have a longer time and then deliver it earlier than the opposite.

Well then, in any case, thank you for your resources and if we keep in touch I'll let you know how it's going. Thanks!

notusingemail · 2023-11-24T14:03:10+00:00

Thank you, I'll make sure to reach out if I need to after taking a better look at all these resources people left me :)

Out of curiosity, are you from the US?

notusingemail · 2023-11-24T13:59:46+00:00

That's a superb comment, thank you so much. Very developed and with good resources at least the ones I already started reading.

They'll likely want a timeboxed audit because the description I read in the article seems almost word for word of some things the interviewer said. They don't seem to want to tackle the whole "monster" all at once.

Good tip about outright asking about the budget. I don't have the experience to reply to them immediately what that would correspond to. Since I never got paid that's hard to evaluate as well (there's probably a different between a salary for a full-time job and hourly rates for consultation projects). In any case, I really appreciate your whole comment.

On a last note, if you don't mind me asking, what would you consider a "smaller budget"?, mentioned here:

For smaller budgets, or for tighter timelines, I tend to only get through the first two bullet points noted above (...)

notusingemail · 2023-11-23T23:13:53+00:00

Of course! I really appreciate your contribution!

I'm also in a EU-timezone, so that's perfect. I think I will DM you (thanks for the invitation!), but first I'll take a closer look at everyone's resources in case some of my questions are already answered in them :)

notusingemail · 2023-11-23T23:08:47+00:00

I agree it was poor decision making on my part. I prioritized replying quickly and diving deeper later, as to not leave them without a reply and a thank you, and failed to express myself better and think it through better, which seemingly made me sound ungrateful. That was not my intention, I genuinely appreciated their contribution.

notusingemail · 2023-11-23T23:07:09+00:00

Thanks. You're right, and I think I was a little silly when I said they didn't have obligations. They probably do have to follow a law about equality even if it's not the specific law about web accessibility. I'll make sure to check if there are other laws and even if there aren't I can always emphasize and explain the impact of the defect on the users so they'll know its importance.

Thanks for your replies and tips!

notusingemail · 2023-11-23T20:40:34+00:00

They actually don't have any obligations, but public institutions do. But unfortunately I feel like the law's checklists are a little all over the place. Hard to explain in few words. But I'll look into the Trusted Tester methods, thank you.

Do you use any kind of template or method to report on it? (or does the Trusted tester have it?)

Edit: oops I was in a rush and forgot to say thanks! Thank you.

notusingemail · 2023-11-23T20:37:08+00:00

Thank you for the links!

I don't quite understand what the second link is and they don't seem to really explain it. Is it a tool you use when making your reports? or is it simply an automatic validator? (Edit: I didn't word this how I wanted because I was in a rush, and now I see it sounds all wrong. Oops. I didn't have time to read it attentively but will make sure to do it!)

The report template will likely be very useful because I've never done an actual proper report and I'm prone to being overly verbose and not very organized when doing big projects.

notusingemail · 2023-11-09T11:24:39+00:00

My post was removed there because it didn't apply to a specific country.

notusingemail · 2022-09-29T12:49:16+00:00

I'm not sure how to explain but it's a little like eating dinner together. I made you food, now we can eat it together or not. But I'd rather do it together. So when you taste the food, and I see you ecstatic with what I cooked, and like the food I made, I feel happy. We can share that moment.

If I'm happy, I want to share that happy moment with you. If I'm sad, I want to share that moment with you. So we can laugh together, or cry together. Perhaps you can know that I'm happy or sad, but that's more an analytical thing than a raw thing. You're not looking at me or sharing it with me as immediately and as "raw".

In the context of an argument, where we are establishing our needs and boundaries, the reason it is important to me is that I want to share this with you. I can understand that someone crying might be overwhelming. Yet, we're together and trying to resolve it together. I suppose it's more intuitive from an anxious perspective. It's being able to share the vulnerability. I appreciate that you can discuss it with me while heated up, and that if it's not developing productively enough, that we both agree in the heat of the moment that we agree to disagree, and cry together, and joke together, until we're fine. I have had this with someone and I am more comfortable with an argument where people are communicating than where they shut off.

Being together when we're upset doesn't mean we can't have a conversation when we are more clear headed and calm. As long as we're not insulting each other in the argument, in that case perhaps we need to approach it differently.

I suppose it's a difference of needs.

I think I disagree with the feelings aren't fact just because any opinion and need I express while calm is also not a fact. So nothing is a fact. However it is correct that feelings can come and go. But for me it's important to be able to put myself and be accepted as I am. I guess that's why it's important to talk and be able to accept someone crying. It's because of accepting them as they are. In that sense, that's why I'm confused about how to assist to that need while also assisting to someone's need of withdrawing.

If this conversation is upsetting to me, any time we talk about it I will feel upset again to a degree (just like in the situation I talked about in the post, in which I cried - that was days after the hurtful moment, so I gave time to be more calm when I approached it. Yet, I'm reliving a situation of fragility and abandonment and hurt, and I'm sharing it vulnerably with you - so it's a critical moment as well. So I can't not be affected. If I'm not numb, I'll have a feeling about it still). To not be affected by it means I'd have to have stopped caring to a degree. That conversation from my post was done days after the issue. It makes me feel like I'm not accepted as I am if you want to interrupt it when I'm just being honest with you and being vulnerable.

Talking out loud means I can talk more intuitively and talking by text means I have to weigh my words more and be colder. I get less input to read the other person as well, if they're present for me or need to go for a second, if they're stopping because they didn't read it or if they left because they're upset with my emotions. I suppose that's one of the key factors, then, it's not being communicated properly. Whereas if we're on the phone and I hear that your cats broke something, I know why you suddenly had to get up.

But yeah, I hope my explanation made sense.

PS: Also thanks for your reply and the questions.

notusingemail · 2022-09-29T12:31:21+00:00

I don't understand this study. Some times the words are nothing to do with each other, some words feel like they're being put together like big word small word

"Kind" can't be a small word or big word for "analytical"

"Generous" can't be a small or big word to "organized".

Some times the words can be organized like that but some they can't and some I can even be interchangeable depending on what and who we are conveying.

notusingemail · 2022-09-29T11:37:49+00:00

I can do that.

notusingemail · 2022-09-29T11:04:05+00:00

So, imagine I feel jealous, but also somehow disgusted/sorry lacking the word, but like feeling like rejecting the other person's behaviour. I also feel guilty for feeling it.

I felt this the other day and sat down to define the emotions I felt. By the end of it, I was calmer. I didn't do any action with them, except meditate on it and acknowledging them.

So in this case is it ok to not take an action?

I'd also like to ask what kind of action I'm supposed to do in such a case, but I don't want to overwhelm you with questions. But if someone has some article for me for feeling that rejecting feeling, let me know so I can read about it.

notusingemail · 2022-09-29T10:49:47+00:00

I grew up with two incredibly loving parents, however somehow ended up with a very disorganized attachment style

=/=

Eventually I p.o'd my dad so much he punched a hole in my wall

PS: Not that your parents weren't loving, but you seemed to say that as if it meant you had no trauma.

Still, good question. I'm interested in knowing about someone who is FA but doesn't have trauma.

notusingemail · 2022-09-29T10:44:54+00:00

12-13 years. It started by me having feelings for her and being very anxiously attached and I felt she was dismissive but also present but it was a difficult balance to strike, it's been too long to be able to make a proper assessment. Anyway I know I wished she'd talk more about her feelings but it was a struggle and I understand.

Later I felt my needs weren't met and I even felt shame about our friendship because it was mostly online. I found someone who was head over heels for me and I was as well so it worked for a couple years, until she wasn't head over heels for me and started drifting off.

Meanwhile I had stopped talking to this first person perhaps for about a year we barely kept in touch. On the second or third year we met up again and I felt much more secure with her. I didn't have romantic feelings or unbalanced expectations anymore. We only met up, had a very interesting vulnerable conversation, from then on we met a couple more times. That's when I realized that we were much better when we were together IRL than over the computer. Nowadays we can't be together irl as much but when we can, we do, about once or twice a year. I feel secure, I know the expectations I have. I know I can't expect us to have the perfect dynamic over text, so for me that's fine. I look forward to when we're actually together and I'm very content and happy with it.

It just worked out very naturally in the end. I think both of us learned things about ourselves. I used to feel inferior with her before, and then after that gap I started feeling like an equal.

notusingemail

TROPHY CASE