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We were privileged to speak with Nancy Piersma, Community Education & Advocacy Coordinator at Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services. Born deaf, Nancy’s perspective, experience, and insight are invaluable for any creators seeking to make their experiences more accessible.

Visual and Haptic Communication

While describing the impact of technology in her daily life, Nancy shared how both visual and haptic feedback serve as critical communication devices. Features like captions on videos or calls are essential. Seeing someone’s facial expressions and lips during a conversation is pivotal. Any reliance on sound instantly ensures the experience is not accessible to her as a Deaf individual.

(6:09) Nancy spoke about technology like apps, doorbells, video phones, and fire alarms that communicate to a Deaf person through visual information, flashing lights, or vibration. Some Deaf individuals have hearing dogs that alert them of people approaching and other environmental sounds. However, even technology meant to be accessible has barriers, such as the availability and cost of the technology or devices.

It’s also possible to have too much visual information. Nancy wishes that designers of digital experiences were aware that anything visual within an experience is a form of communication and to make sure the experience is focused and not distracting to Deaf individuals. When designing extended reality (XR) experiences, designers should be intentional about the lighting, visual noise, and background clarity and movement.

Extended Reality to Facilitate Human Connection

One of the most powerful applications of technology and digital immersion is to connect people with each other. Nancy noted that she often experienced technology as a barrier—at best, a lackluster tool—to facilitating conversation. She also described the challenges of communicating with hearing folks. Hearing people tend to talk over each other and must learn to be patient while communicating through an interpreter with a Deaf person.

In critical situations like medical settings, there is an irreplaceable need for American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters. Tools like video remote interpreters (VRIs), while effective in some circumstances, can put people who are Deaf and hard of hearing (HoH) at risk in ways hearing people are not and may not consider. (16:11) Nancy expressed concern with the growing trend of her young Deaf and hard of hearing students preferring online communication over in-person connection within the Deaf community.

One thing was clear: in-person communication cannot be replaced. ASL interpreters cannot be replaced. However, accessible technology can be leveraged to connect people to each other, especially when ASL interpretation is not available.

(9:39) Nancy was excited about new augmented reality glasses that create live captions visible to the wearer. While still requiring some vetting, she believed the glasses have the potential to make navigating the world more accessible to the Deaf community.

When viewing our XR concepts, Nancy expressed the benefit of the experience conveying where sounds are coming from and the idea of a digital experience providing dynamic and contextual information instantly. She also could envision a future where XR and image recognition technology could help hearing people understand ASL and better connect with the Deaf community.

The Power of Personalization

Ultimately, Nancy spoke to the rich diversity even within the Deaf and hard of hearing community itself. She emphasized that she alone could not speak to the experience of the entire community and other voices should also be heard.

“Don’t ever assume that all Deaf people are the same.”

(20:46) Each person, whether Deaf, Deaf Blind, hard of hearing, or any other diverse ability, benefits from the option to adapt an experience to themselves. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. (18:13) Nancy expressed that while she communicates using ASL, other members of the Deaf and hard of hearing community may not. (48:29) The way the older and younger generations within the community engage with technology is drastically different. For some Deaf and hard of hearing individuals, literacy is another barrier and can make features like captions and content within a digital experience difficult to engage with. The shorter the written content the better, along with avoiding jargon and keeping language straightforward.

(39:25) Granting our users the ability to adapt an experience to the way they navigate the world crafts the most accessible solution for each individual.

Throughout our conversation, we were struck by the many examples Nancy described of technology being designed solely for the hearing world, resulting in complete inaccessibility to her. We want to change that. As creators, we believe we have the opportunity and responsibility to change that.

Nancy’s incredible insight and experience will impact the way we approach, design, and build next-generation digital experiences at CARNEVALE. Accessibility and inclusion create better products for everyone. We acknowledge that we won’t get everything right the first time, but we’re excited to try, receive feedback, and keep pushing toward a more accessible future of technology.

To our community and users, we’d love to hear from you. How can we make our digital experiences more accessible to you?

Caitlyn Haisel joined CARNEVALE in 2019, and in her role as a Design Director, she’s a passionate advocate for accessibility in design.