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IMPROVING USER ACCESSIBILITY

More than 70,000,000 Indians are visually challenged. We made the Ola app more accessible for them. 

Business objective

  • Improve accessibility of the Ola Android and iOS apps for visually challenged users 

  • Resolve the various usability challenges faced by visually challenged users on the app in a phased manner

 

Business case
We identified the 'Total Addressable Market'. Some facts that we unearthed were:

  • 70,000,000 disabled in India

  • 15,000,000 people have purchasing power

  • Cabs are a very useful service for the visually impaired

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Adding instrumentation

Instrumentation to measure the number of sessions with ‘screen-reader enabled’ or ‘accessibility mode ON’ was added to understand the current usage from this user group

User testing 

We invited a few volunteers to help us understand how they interact with the app. We saw them engage with the app to find rides and make bookings. I listed down the major issues faced by them in hearing the app copy.

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My process

  • We split the whole exercise in 2 phases (sprints).

  • I worked with the developers to understand the focus limitations and alt-text behaviors.

  • I worked with the developers to ensure that all the icons and images had an accompanying alt-text.

  • Ensure that the focus management flow followed a structure. This ensured that left and right swipes followed a script.

  • I worked with QAs to ensure that all the focus management edits and edge cases were fixed.

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Phase I: Hygiene edits and core booking flow

 

We categorized and made the following edits in the first phase:

Button labels: All interactive controls on the app screens were given proper labels/alt-text.

Images: All images and icons were given alt-text.

Pickup and drop: Ensured clear voice callouts for pickup and drop locations. We focused on search result suggestions and provided proper focus management on both pickup and drop menus.

Choosing ride category: Improved focus-management on the category selection panel and ensured that the selected ride category was clearly called-out.

Track ride module: Complete panel read as a single control. OTP, ETA and cab details (post booking) were made screen-reader friendly.

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See below the sheet with the copy suggestions and hint text that I shared with Android and iOS developers:

GAAD.png

 

 

 

Phase 2: All remaining changes

 

Overlay: A lot of custom menus were ‘hidden’ yet were shown on top of the visible UI, thereby causing confusion for users.

Title: Page title was announced on loading of the page. These call-outs were previously silent when sending booking requests.

Drop-downs: Interactive controls like drop down menus were not in proper focus for the voice-over screen reader on iOS (e.g. payment instrument, drop search suggestions, Personal/Corporate profile picker, etc.). 

Error messages: OS was unable to read error messages (pop-ups, toast messages etc.) earlier. We ensured that the users could hear what the error message was and what they could do about it.

Popups: Focus management on pop-ups were fixed. We added an announcement tune to the pop-ups.

Booking confirmation: We started announcing driver name, cab details, OTP and ETA after booking confirmation.

Recharging Ola Money: Proper labeling and focus management made recharging the company's wallet easier.

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