1. Accessible Design Course by Intopia
February 2018
Looking after your family’s future - accessibility for an ageing population
Andrew Arch
Senior Digital Accessibility Consultant
creating an inclusive digital world
intopia.digital

3. Some facts

4. Fact: Australia’s population is ageing
Year
65+ years
80+ years
2010
14%
1.8%
2020
16%
2.1%
2030
19%
2.4%
2040
21%
3.5%
2050
22%
4.4%
In fact an 8yo is now estimated to have a 50% chance of living to 105
Source: ABS Population Projections, Australia, 2012 (base) to 2101 For a dynamic view see the ABS Population Pyramid 

5. Fact: other countries are ageing faster
In fact an 8yo is now estimated to have a 50% chance of living to 105
Source: Population Pyramids of the World from 1950 to

6. Fact: older people increasingly online
Source: ACMA - Digital lives of older Australians (Aug 2016 )

7. Fact: older people do similar things online, just not as frequently
Percent of users undertaking activity in 4-week period in June 2015
Source: ACMA - Digital lives of older Australians (Aug 2016 )

8. Fact: age brings disability
In 2015, 18.6% of females and 18.0% of males had disability 51% aged 65 and over have a disability, compared to 13% under 65
5 to 14 years (males 12.0% and females 7.0%) 65 to 69 years (males 39.7% and females 36.0%). 90+ years % of females had a profound or severe limitation cf with 51.2% of males
Source: ABS Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings, 2015 

9. What are age-related disabilities?
How can we accommodate them?

10. Ageing and hearing loss
Impact:
Audio can be difficult to discern
Higher pitch sounds can be missed
Prevalence:
47% of people 61 to 80 years
93% of people years

11. Ageing and hearing loss
Solutions
Captions
Audio contrast
Image:

12. Ageing and vision decline
Impact:
Decreasing ability to focus on near tasks
Changing colour perception and sensitivity
Decreasing contrast sensitivity
Prevalence: (significant vision loss)
16% of people years
19% of people 75 – 84 years
46% of people years

13. Ageing and vision decline
Solutions
Larger text
Higher contrast
Off-white background
Avoid florescent colours
Underline links
Reflow
Image:

14. Ageing and physical decline
Impact: (Motor skill decline can result from many conditions including arthritis and Parkinson's Disease)
Difficulty using mouse
Including hand-eye coordination for some
Difficulty clicking small targets
Strain from non-ergonomic tasks
Prevalence: (Conditions most commonly reported)
Arthritis
At least 50% of people over 65 affected
Essential tremor
Affects up to 20% of people over 65
Parkinson's Disease
Approximately 4% of people over 85 affected
All heard about the IT support experience of “point your mouse at the XX”?
Mouse use – also hand-eye coordination

15. Ageing and physical decline
Solutions
Target size
Clickable labels
Pointer gestures
Pointer cancellation
Visible focus
Image: Copyright Andrew Arch

16. Ageing and cognitive decline
Impact: Navigation, comprehension, and task completion can be affected by:
Short term memory problems
Difficulty with concentration
Distraction from movement or irrelevant material
Difficulty coping with information overload
Struggle adapting to change
Prevalence: (Conditions most commonly reported)
Dementia:
1.4% of people yrs
24% of people 85+ yrs 
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is more common:
Around 20% of people over 70 years are estimated to experience MCI

17. Ageing and cognitive decline
Solutions
Clear headings
Error prevention
Error identification
Error suggestion
On focus and change of content
Pause, hide, stop for movement and animations
Image:
Image:

18. Engage early – during design

19. Create User Stories Components Writing User Outcome Value
As a user, I want outcome
As a user, I want outcome so that value
In order to get value as a user, I want outcome
Ref: How to Write User Stories for Web Accessibility

20. Example User Stories
As an older person with poor hearing, I want captions on videos so that I can understand the dialogue
As an older person with cataracts (blue and green is harder to see), I want links underlined so that I know where to click to find the information I need
As an older person with Parkinson’s disease, I want large clickable elements so that I can navigate more easily
As an older person with concentration issues, I don’t want animations autoplaying so I can read the article I selected

21. Web accessibility matters

22. Accessible Design Course by Intopia
February 2018
‘Accessibility is just the beginning. It is usability that makes the difference.’
Patti Moore UX Australia keynote 2016
Which includes ‘readbility’

23. Look after your ageing family 
And the ageing you 
Image:

24. Let’s continue the conversation
Accessible Design Course by Intopia
February 2018
Let’s continue the conversation
 Intopia  amja 
creating an inclusive digital world
intopia.digital