Inspired by the Service Design Global Conference 2024: Accessibility is for everyone

The emphasis of the Service Design Global Conference was on achieving practical and future-forward outcomes over mere processes. Many talks highlighted this shift, discussing the importance of using service design tools to create real value.

What came across strongly from most of the talks was, however, that creating impact is all about people; it’s about communication and making sure all the stakeholders are having the right conversations with the right people. It’s about relationships over solutions. At its best, a conference like this offers just that: networking and meaningful exchange of ideas and contacts that may become lifelong business relationships or friendships.

In this article series, we cover inspiring takeaways from the Service Design Global Conference 2024. Accessibility is a crucial cornerstone in developing services and products that everyone can use, so it is only fitting to start by diving into inclusive design.

Don’t forget to read part 2 which discusses designers as the drivers of sustainability, and part 3 on complexity science.

Marie van Driessche: Inclusive Design, more than you hear

The opening keynote was held by Marie van Driessche, who is a Deaf UX Researcher and Designer at Unc Inc. in Amsterdam. She made us realise that, for example, in Finland, the official language (either Finnish or Swedish) is, in fact, a second language for the deaf because their first language is sign language.

We learned that the structure and grammar of Finnish sign language are very different to the standard written and spoken Finnish. This makes it hard for the deaf to read standard Finnish fluently. Basically, this means that the services we assumed are accessible to the deaf are actually far from being accessible unless there are video versions of the content in sign language. Only very few public sector services in Finland are up to that standard. 

Marie van Driessche’s presentation illuminated the narrow scope of our current approach to inclusiveness and accessibility. Although many international colleagues praised Finland for being ahead of other countries, significant efforts are still needed to make digital services accessible to people with diverse disabilities and cognitive challenges.

Accessibility is for everyone – and it comes with a business case

Marie shared eye-opening statistics, such as 1 in 6 Dutch people struggling with reading or writing, including common challenges like dyslexia. The figure is even more staggering for the deaf community, with 70% being illiterate.

Across the EU, 27% of the population, equating to 101 million people, experience some form of disability, and 71% of these individuals leave a website if it is not accessible. This makes us think about all the 6%-10% of the Finnish population who speak Finnish as a second language, making accessibility even more critical.

Marie also emphasised the big possibility from a business point of view – in the UK alone, this is a 10-billion-pound potential. Imagine the impact and the great difference it makes for a person to be able to use your service.

Everybody benefits from more accessible services, and we should stop thinking that accessibility is only for small special groups. The data and numbers Marie pointed out should resonate with the business stakeholders as well.

Marie also showed us examples of products and services that were designed and built for the deaf based on people’s false assumptions of disabilities and personal biases. Her message was clear: we must design with them, not for them. We also need to include test users with versatile disabilities to make our services truly inclusive and accessible. 

Marie’s examples resonate well with Nitor’s approach to creating accessible services. We believe that accessibility is integral to the future of digital products and services – it cannot be just an afterthought.

Embedding accessibility into the core of product development, design systems and continuously improving the accessibility skills and maturity of the teams and the whole organisation is the key. Read more about our thoughts on creating products and services that are inclusive, more accessible and usable for everyone.

Remember to tune into our next article inspired by the Service Design Global Conference 2024, where we discuss sustainability and talks from Alessandra Moldenrings-Enriconi, Gaelle Le Gelard, and Anna Kholina.

Are you looking for a partner for inclusive design? Learn more about our human-centric design services.