Disabled and Elderly Persons
¨Can't the Needs of Disabled and Elderly Persons Be Handled Separately or As Exceptions?
–Many small groups together represent a large portion of the population.
¨Is it both economically and practically feasible to include disabled and elderly persons in the design process for mass market products?
–Aging wealthier population.
–OS&H considerations and employee comfort.
–Discrimination suits.
Although the total number of elderly or disabled persons is large, each individual disability or impairment area represents only a small portion of the population. We are therefore not dealing with one large group of people but with many small groups which together represent a major portion of our population. This raises a question as to the most effective means of addressing these problems. Is it better to design everything so that it is accessible to most persons, including those with disabilities? Or is it more effective to design for the able bodied population and create special designs for persons with specific types of disability?
I heard recently about a large screen large key cashregister system that was placed in a supermarket chain specifically for the more mature employees, it turns out that all employees preferred these units as they were “easier” to use
Some things are built in to standard systems eg sticky keys, this allows key combinations to be entered sequentially such as alt h, for people with mobility problems.