The Understood Blog

Understood.org’s new homepage aims to elevate user experience by increasing accessibility and ease of navigation.

As Understood employees return to the office in New York City, the team will reunite in a new headquarters and workspace that was designed with accessibility as the top priority.

When a company wants to drive revenue through compelling digital experiences, they’ll often use design thinking — a philosophy that centers the needs of the user. Talking to users to uncover and solve their problems is a best-practice way to build products that people will consume.

At Understood, we believe that compliance isn’t enough when it comes to supporting the 1 in 5 people who learn and think differently. We strive to go above and beyond accessibility standards, in particular for our digital design and marketing efforts. Everyone benefits when we make our resources more accessible and inclusive, whether it’s a busy working parent or a college student with dyslexia. Not to mention, enhancing accessibility standards puts our creativity to the test in the best possible way.

November 11 is World Usability Day. It’s a day to celebrate progress toward equal access to digital technology. It’s also a day to set goals to improve access. For 2021, the focus is on designing the online world for trust, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

The product team at Understood is responsible for building digital experiences like websites and mobile apps. But we have an even greater responsibility. It’s our job — our mission — to make our products fully accessible for people with disabilities.

One in five people in the US has a learning and thinking difference, like ADHD or dyslexia. But many designers don’t realize the ways they might be letting this substantial user base fall through the cracks — sometimes to the point where they can’t use a product at all.

I am 25 and have been disabled my entire life, and will be disabled for the rest of my life. While I can take confident ownership of my identity as a disabled woman, I have yet to take pride in my disability. Pride is difficult to conjure when the stain of ableism colors the reflection I see in the mirror and corrupts the image of the woman I see when I turn my gaze inward.

Many people think of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as something that’s been around since the civil rights movement or before. But actually, it only came into law 30 years ago, in 1990, under President George H.W. Bush.

If you want to help out with a local fundraiser, you have many options depending on your strengths and interests. You might write the notice for the local newspaper if you’re a strong writer or deliver the welcome remarks at the event if that’s the best way for you to get ideas across.

While the coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly caused extreme hardship and trauma for many people, we also have been forced to find new ways to work together, to collaborate, and to accommodate.