Persona Co-Design for Improving Digital Accessibility

Abstract

This paper examines approaches to developing authentic accessibility personas that can help improve the design of products for persons with disabilities. Personas have been a controversial empathy-building tool that have been shown to have potentially harmful effects on the design of accessible products when they are not well-made or used appropriately. In this study we describe a nested co-design approach that involves personas as product and tool, and that includes persons with disabilities at multiple stages and in multiple functions within the design process. These approaches are used in the context of the improvement of digital accessibility teaching and learning materials at higher education institutions.