Elevating Voices
Design for
Inclusiveness, Social Equality
Year
2020-2021
With sign language as a unifying element of culture and community, Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) people usually do not identify themselves as disabled but as a linguistic minority.
For many, their local sign language is their native language and thus reading, and writing skills of spoken languages are additionally acquired as foreign languages. The literacy levels of DHH people vary greatly, and often, reading texts involves increased effort and strain, because reading text means to read in a foreign language. As most access to (digital) information requires either hearing or reading abilities, digital services pose severe barriers for DHH people. In the context of travel, information gaps or inaccurate information severely restrict the autonomy of DHH individuals.
Together with members of DHH communities, we have developed a service for German travel information systems that aims to reflect the heterogeneity of DHH people by offering different information formats. The service improves the visual communication of current travel information systems, provides information in sign language and support of staff through a video relay service.
Cooperation with the German design studio Ergosign GmbH and the AVASAG research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Images Sign Language Avatar: © Charamel GmbH – Sign Language Avatar AVASAG-Project
Insight
How did this project impact you as a designer moving forward?
Collaborating with Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing people for this project has taught me to challenge current approaches to inclusive design and accessibility as often the answer to inclusion is much more complex than expected. In the design industry, accessibility of products, services, or systems is often considered as a “nice” feature or add-on if the budget allows. But in fact, everyone benefits from inclusively designed products, services or systems as they greatly improve the user experience.
What was your biggest takeaway learning from this project?
The current (travel) information systems need to be redesigned for all people to have equal access to information.
What were the key methods that you used for this work?
The project is based on a collaborative design approach using human-centred design methods. To ensure an inclusive research and design process, some of the primary research was moderated in sign language and feedback or workshop sessions were accompanied by a sign language interpreter.
