Universal design (UD) and visual impairment: Can UD principles be applied for mobile sharing platform?

Abstract

Visually impaired people in Namibia are at greatest risk of being socially excluded as a result of poor access to information. At the same time designing for the visually impaired people requires different approaches and application of innovative methods. We have considered the Universal Design (UD) principles and the guidelines in designing a mobile sharing application. A sample size of 60 visually impaired participants from the School for Visually Impaired and the Namibian Federation of the Visually Impaired (NFVI) in Windhoek was considered. A series of activities were done together with the participants to understand and learn from them on how they would prefer a mobile sharing application to look like. The final application was tested with the users after incorporation of their feedback and participatory design activities for the prototype. The findings show that the visually impaired people engaged do not have a mobile application for sharing disability related information and had specific preferences and insights for mobile application design. In addition to this, the mobile application adhered to all seven Universal Design Principles when we evaluated the final design. We argue that the Universal Design Principles could be used and helpful in designing for visually impaired users.