Lecture 8 – Reflections, blind and use the ATM

I have been watching the youtube clip How blind people uses the ATM by Tommy Edison. And there is a couple of things that I find poorly designed and stigmatized.

It seems to be an ATM inside a looked room with the line to the ATM outside that room. So why does he have to bring his own headphones? It should be possible to have speakers on the ATM since it is in a small room, so that blind people can use it even if they forgot their headphones. The biggest problem Tommy has is to find the headphone jack and plug the headphones in. If the ATM had speakers this problem would be eliminated.

How does a blind person interpret the direction of seven a’clock? The directions that are given by the ATM is not very good. The description of the location of the keypad is relative to the headphone jack that was hard to find and it is strange that the ATM does not use the regular system to enter an amount according to Tommy.

The voice of the ATM is not pleasant, why isn’t there a nice pleasant voice?

 

ATM:s and visual impairment

I thought a lot about the ATM-machine seen in the video. I think there are several solutions to the problem. One solution, which I mentioned in an earlyer blog post is yet again standardization. Edison had a real problem finding the hole where hole would put the plug for his earphones. If the position of the hole were standardized to, lets say, the lower right corner, the problem would be much smaller. Other things like the position of the buttons, could also be standardized to help him.

Another thing I noticed was that he tried to withdraw too much the first time. A simple voice saying “You want to withdraw X dollars and Y cents, to confirm, press enter” would help very much in this case. Now he have to guess that he has gotten the correct amount of money.

Another solution could be to implement a speaker that gives the instructions whenever you press any button without inserting the bank card first. This way, the machine could either tell the user where to put the headphones or just give all the instructions through the speaker. I think that due to stigmatization, this would only be a complement to the written instructions that were shown in the video. This way the user would have possibility to choose how to use the system.

Reflecting on Design for Elderly

Of the conveniences of modern life in a country like Sweden, I find that Automated Teller Machines are a godsend.  My grandfather would argue differently.  To this day, he still doesn’t use ATMs, especially with his deteriorating memory.  He prefers actual bank tellers and rarely goes to the bank alone.  Old age aside he also lives in Thailand which is a far cry from being a country on the bleeding edge of technology.  He was a mounted policeman (when they still existed), complete with sword and all the regalia, for crying out loud.

So what kind of problems does he have with ATMs?

Well for one, it is due to his deteriorating memory.  He can remember things just fine, the process just takes longer, very much so.  That he has to take the time to learn how to operate some new-fangled piece of technology is a waste of time to him.  That he’d rather deal with a person, since they are more accommodating to him without having to learn the process of inter-personal communication since he already knows how.

Even with a mobile phone, the concept of which he could grasp, he would rather have someone else help him out.  This is also probably another thing, the cultural difference.  The mindset is different and the elderly are quite alright with the knowledge that they can rely on their family to aid them when they become incapable of doing something without difficulty (if at all).

These two problems serve as a reminder that it is quite important to consider the context of where the solution to a problem will be deployed.  Who knows, maybe when I’m old enough to have grandchildren, I’ll have them use the inter-planetary social network service for me since I already hate Facebook so much.  I only hope I’ll also have an actual sword to wave around as well.

Reflection on Principles and Practices Lecture

I really liked the idea of having a standard process that designers can use in order to reach an adequate solution to a problem. But it is important to consider that the process suggestion is not usable in all situations, and it is important to measure the usability of this process before using it. Another thing that I personally liked is how the article “Universal Design: Process, Principles and Applications” states how making a product accessible to people with disabilities often benefits others. This might be another motivation for designers to design a product in a way that would be simple and useful for everyone, without excluding anyone. One thing that I felt was missing from the Universal Design Principles is the cost. Cost plays a great role in the design principles, as designing something useful by everyone without excluding anyone is great, but we need to consider that everyone should be able to afford it in some sense. According to the UN, 85% of people with disabilities live in developed countries, and therefore are doubly disadvantaged by poverty and disability. This is not  something that should hinder the creativity or usability of a design, but still it needs to be considered as well.In this lecture, one of the things that caught my attention is that I started thinking that the ATM and many more machines are not made to be used for the blind, and why is that? The guy in the video clearly shows how difficult it was for him to put the headset inside the headset jack. Wouldn’t it be better if the designers of such ATMs added a tangible obvious object that can easily be found by the blind person in order to direct him or her where to put the plug? This person had an extreme difficulty in dealing with the ATM, and that’s just sad to be honest. As the interface that’s specified for the blind shouldn’t be complex and intricate, it should be direct and simple.

Regarding the Ramps video, I was quite surprised with the dangerous ramps that can be found everywhere. These can seriously cause a great damage to those who use their wheelchairs on them. It is very vital that architects, engineers and designers consider the needs of disabled people like a person on a wheel chair, as it’s not only about designing something that does the job, it’s goes far beyond that.

I don’t want to go off topic but reading this lecture made me think about my country, Jordan. Despite the fact that Jordan is considered as a leader among Arab countries for recognizing people with disabilities, what I notice there is that when it comes to disabled people, the major problem that exists in Jordan is how people view them, people view people with certain impairments not being able to study, work or do anything. And frankly, this is a major problem. For instance, Maha Barghouti, a 50 year old woman who won three medals in the wheelchair table tennis constantly hears the words “poor lady” when she uses her wheel chair outside.