ABSTRACT
Inclusive design is a design philosophy that aims to consider the needs and capabilities of older and disabled users in the design of mainstream products and services . In order to achieve this goal, designers require data on the sensory, cognitive and motor capabilities of disabled populations, together with a supporting framework for evaluating their designs . In order to examine the role of user capabilities in interaction contexts, an empirical study was conducted using four consumer products used in activities of daily living. 1 9 older and disabled users were recruited, and their sensory, cognitive and motor capabi lities were evaluated using objective capability tests . Users then performed a task with each of the products while being videotaped. Difficulty ratings were collected for main actions after task performance. The results were analysed to determine how well the capability measures correlated with rated difficulty, via a series of graphs showing quantified product demands on user capabilities . The results suggest that measures of low-level visuaL cognitive, and motor capabilities in general do not correlate strongly with outcome measures such as time, errors and rated difficulty. It i s
suggested that alternatives to reductionist methods for describing human capability in disabled populations should be investigated and compared.
