The digital life of vulnerable users: Designing with children, patients, and elderly

Abstract

Vulnerability is about being at risk and it is often understood as the effect of limited physical or cognitive capabilities, such as age, frailty or illness. Vulnerable people are frequently excluded from the design of technologies that could in fact support them in tackling these risks. This paper explores designing with three vulnerable groups: children with special needs, chronically ill teenage patients, and isolated, or afraid of being so in the near future, elderly adults. We choose three distinct groups in order to show the breadth and variations in the ways in which people may be vulnerable. We looked at their digital lives and possible new risks and dependencies created by the use of digital technologies. Designing with vulnerable people is practically, methodologically, and ethically challenging. We show how methodological and reflexive sensibilities help to address these challenges and keep the design process on track.