This week is dashboard week for DS44 and for day 1 we were tasked with creating a dashboard that is accessible for a specific user. My brief required me to recreate a dashboard that a user with dyscalculia would be able to use. Along with this I attempted to cater to other neurodivergent users, which was one of the more challenging parts of this task.
The Experience
Retrofitting an existing dashboard provided an opportunity to identify and rectify elements that were not easily digestible by a broader audience. For instance, for a user with dyscalculia specifically, an excessive amount of numbers shown on a chart can cause difficulty reading a dashboard, therefore reducing the number of figures on the overall dashboard and only including important numbers not only makes it easier to read for neurodiverse users but also increases readability for all users.
This is the same for the number of marks shown on a chart, using a metric switch parameter to only look at one measure at a time makes it much easier to digest what the chart is telling you. However, this conflicts with how I would normally approach building a chart that looks at multiple metrics/measures, as I would usually try to show these measures at the same time to allow for easy comparison. In this instance, I decided to priorities accessibility.
I did find it interesting that there was often cross over between the best practices I've already learnt and how to make a dashboard more accessible. For example, clearly explaining how a user would interact with filters and charts, as well as not assuming that your end user is aware of all terms in your dashboard and giving context for everything.
Challenges
One of the biggest hurdles was balancing the needs of different audiences. Catering to multiple neurodiverse users often led to conflicting requirements. What was ideal for someone with ADHD sometimes contradicted with what was ideal for someone with dyslexia.
For example, users with dyslexia find it difficult to read words with high contrast, however low contrast creates difficulty for other users to read.