Empathy Prompts(link is external)
Prompts to consider when making things for others to use.
This project is geared towards anyone involved with making digital products. It is my hope that this reaches both:
- People who are not necessarily involved in the day-to-day part of the process, but who help shape things like budget, timeline, and scope, and
- People who work every day to help to give these products shape and form
These prompts are intended to help build empathy, not describe any one person's experience. These prompts are not intended to tokenize the experience of the individuals experiencing these conditions. For further reading about disability simulations, please refer to Job van Achterberg(link is external)'s excellent presentation, The Imitation Game(link is external).
Table of Contents
About this page
You're on GitHub(link is external), a service that helps people build digital things. Projects are called "repositories", or "repos" for short. Repositories are collections of files managed by Git(link is external), software that helps people code and collaborate.
One file in this repo is called a Readme, which helps helps describe what the project is, why it was made, and how you can help out with it. GitHub takes the Readme for every repo and displays it on the repo's homepage for easier discovery.
To return to the prompt you were viewing, use your browser's back button.
Contributing
If you do not have a GitHub account, you can contact me via email(link is external). Please remember that requests submitted via email also need to conform to the project's contributing guidelines(link is external).
Suggest a prompt
To suggest a prompt, please submit a GitHub Issue(link is external) and follow the Issue template's instructions.
Please remember to:
- Keep the title, description, and examples brief
- Use simple, direct language
- Use as little jargon as possible
- Provide links to resources
Prompts will be considered and added on a case-by-case basis. Questions and feedback will be handled in the submitted Issue.
Language and terminology concerns
I'm striving to be as respectful as possible. If you feel the words or tone for one of the prompts isn't using the proper terminology, or isn't representative of the condition, please let me know either publicly(link is external) or privately(link is external).
Issues and Pull Requests
The best way to submit Issues (problems with the project) and Pull Requests (adding features to the project, fixing problems, or improving project code) is using this project's Issue tracker(link is external). Please make sure you read the contributing guidelines(link is external) before doing so!
Additional resources
Prompt formats
Links
- 30 Days of Accessibility Testing(link is external)
- Conscious Styleguide(link is external)
- Designing inclusively(link is external)
- Empathy Maker(link is external)
- Highlights from Drop-in Time & Local Tech Interactions(link is external)
- Microsoft's Inclusive Design Principles and Resources(link is external)
- Writing Accessible Content(link is external)
Resetting technology
Instructions on how to reset any of the technology a prompt makes you install:
Brightness
Mac
- Use the brightness keys (
F1
andF2
) to restore brightness to a level you find comfortable, or - Go to
System Preferences
>Displays
, and drag the brightness slider to a level you find comfortable
Windows
- Select
Start
>Settings
>System
>Display
, then drag the brightness slider to a level you find comfortable
Dyslexia simulator bookmarklet
- Right click on the bookmarklet on your browser's bookmarks bar and choose the
Delete
option - You may also have to refresh the page
High Contrast Mode
Mac
- Go to
System Preferences
>Accessibility
>Display
, then drag the slider forDisplay contrast
toNormal
Windows
- Use the
Left ALT
+Left Shift
+Print Screen
keyboard shortcut
Low Bandwidth
- Close the Chrome Developer Tools
- You may also have to refresh the page
NoCoffee Chrome Extension
- To disable:
- Click on the extension's icon
- Choose the
Reset all
button - You may also have to refresh the page
- To remove:
- Open Chrome's Preferences
- On the sidebar, select
Extensions
- Find the NoCoffee extension and either uncheck
Enabled
to disable the extension, or select the trash can icon to delete it - You may also have to refresh the page
Screen magnifiers
Mac
- Use either the keyboard shortcut (
CMD
+OPT
-
) or the mouse command (CMD
+Scroll Down
) until the screen stops shrinking
Windows
- Quit the magnifier program by pressing either
WIN
+ESC
or select the magnifying glass icon and then select theClose
button on the Magnifier toolbar.
Screen readers
NVDA (Windows)
- You can quit NVDA like any other Windows program, or
- Use NVDA's keyboard shortcut:
INSERT
+Q
VoiceOver (Mac)
- Use the
CMD
+F5
keyboard shortcut, or - Go to
System Preferences
>Accessibility
>VoiceOver
, then uncheckEnable VoiceOver
Zoomed Browser
Mac
- Use the
CMD
+0
keyboard shortcut to restore zoom to 100%
Windows
- Use the
CTRL
+0
keyboard shortcut to restore zoom to 100%
Thanks
- Wayne Elgin(link is external) and Dan McLaughlin(link is external) for JavaScript help
? - Scott Doxey(link is external) for Progressive Web App help!
?