almohannad.cx
Customer Experience

The Experience of People with Disabilities

9 min read Translated from the Arabic original

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with a herniated disc (slipped disc), and I was advised not to lift anything heavy so that my condition wouldn’t worsen. Around that time, while shopping at one of the global furniture retailers, I needed to load a heavy product from the self-service area. I explained my situation to one of the staff and was caught off guard by his complete indifference and an excuse that was uglier than the offence itself. The feelings produced at that touchpoint were extremely negative, and beyond the fact that I will never forget the bad experience, the question has stayed with me from that day to this: what is the experience of people with disabilities really like?

Introduction

Today, the 3rd of December, marks the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. To mark the occasion I wanted to share an awareness article about this important segment of our society. They deserve an experience worthy of them across all sectors and from all bodies, public or private.

According to World Health Organization statistics (2011 report), the share of people globally who can be classified within this group is no less than 15% of the world’s population. More than 450 million people suffer from a neurological or mental disorder. There are also more than 70 million people worldwide living with autism, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (a 2014 figure), about 1% of the global population. The most recent population census in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia covering people with disabilities was carried out in 2017, and its report is publicly available.

This group interacts with the world around them in a way that’s different from those whom God has blessed with good health. If we want to deliver them a fair experience, we have to see the world from their personal perspective, the way they see it and engage with it, and practise empathy to understand the challenges they face. From there, we can design services and products that help them overcome the barriers tied to their condition and make those services or products easier for them to use or consume.

Who Are People with Disabilities?

Before we can serve any group, we need a clear general definition. A disability is a condition that affects a person either from birth or later in life. It may be temporary or permanent, accompanying the individual for life. Some disabilities remain stable in their level, while others worsen and progress with age. As for their types, they are diverse and include physical, sensory, and intellectual disabilities.

How many people with disabilities have been deprived of their right to access services or products simply because the decision-makers didn’t consider them when designing those services or products? Decision-makers will often prefer a “one size fits all” approach because thinking at the macro level and tailoring a different “size” to each customer segment (the micro level) means more effort, more time, and more money.

At Work: How Can We Enrich the Experience of People with Disabilities?

As a business owner: the issue is much larger than providing a few designated parking spots. You need to make life easier for your employees with disabilities and put at their disposal every tool, policy, and procedure that will enable them to perform their roles fully. Build a culture across the company where every employee feels fairly treated, whether they’re able-bodied or not.

As an employee: you need to understand that your colleagues with disabilities don’t need your pity, and they don’t want you to feel sorry for them or apologise to them when you discover their disability. Apologise for what? You are not responsible for their disability (that would make them feel as if there’s something wrong with them), and they don’t want to feel that way or be reminded of it at all. As a general rule, if you ever notice that a colleague doesn’t seem “normal” to you, there’s no need to seek a direct answer from them to confirm your observation. Set aside the urge to be nosy. Don’t ask the colleague directly; you can ask someone else who knows them later on. If you have colleagues with disabilities, don’t help them before offering to help. If they decline, that’s their right and your kindness is appreciated. If they welcome your help, you haven’t violated their privacy.

Back to the employer: the employee with a disability shouldn’t feel awkward asking for things that help them perform their tasks. These are their rights, and ideally they shouldn’t even have to ask. Companies should take the initiative to provide them and seek them out, rather than waiting for the person with a disability to request them. It’s worth noting that some large companies have set up a dedicated unit to look after employees with disabilities. Attention and awareness shouldn’t be confined to a single day of the year, but should run throughout it.

As Citizens: How Can the Experience of People with Disabilities Be Enriched?

A substantial responsibility falls on governments to enact legislation and laws that guarantee equity for this group and secure rights they have been denied because of their disability, for example, the right to education and the right to access services (without assistance).

Even when many institutions provide them with designated parking spots or dedicated lanes, give them priority in being served, or send someone to attend to them, some may prefer to be treated like any other person and to serve themselves. Governments also play a major role in shaping a particular stereotype of this group by mobilising the media to run awareness campaigns aimed at changing any negative stereotypes or negative emotional associations connected to this group. Governments can also drive change through legislative or regulatory bodies (across various industries) to ensure people with disabilities feel a sense of fairness when it comes to accessing any service, product, or facility the state provides to its citizens.

Example: Federal Section 508 in the United States mandates that all electronic information and services be made accessible to people with disabilities. Take a simple example of one disability: colour blindness. One in every 12 people on this planet has the condition, yet the number of websites or apps that take this into account (in terms of interface design and colour choices) is very small. That’s the example for information accessibility, so imagine how it goes for the physical accessibility of places that simply cannot be reached because the paths haven’t been adapted.

In all educational institutions, how can governments fight bullying directed at this group? Many people with disabilities have either stopped their education entirely, or moved to home or remote schooling because of bullying or the demeaning attitudes they faced from their peers.

As Consumers: How Can the Experience of People with Disabilities Be Enriched?

In the restaurant sector, for example: some people are allergic to certain types of food. This is what prompted the Saudi Food and Drug Authority to require restaurants to flag allergens in every meal. But without intervention and guidance from regulators, you’ll find that restaurants rarely move on their own initiative (taking these groups into account), they do so out of a desire to seize commercial opportunities. For example, how many restaurants offer special meals for coeliac patients (those who are intolerant to gluten)? How many offer meals for people following diets such as keto or low-calorie regimens, or offer desserts designed for diabetics? These groups aren’t considered, simply because they represent minorities and therefore aren’t viewed as a sales opportunity worth the investment of developing such tailored products. By contrast, specialist restaurants emerge to meet the needs of these groups and capture the lion’s share of this neglected market.

In recent times, many startups have emerged with business models focused on minorities (niche markets) and have succeeded spectacularly, because what they offer meets a need that wasn’t being met by larger companies. This means there are untapped needs in the market, and business owners who view business models through a purely quantitative lens (the language of numbers: profits and losses) can find opportunity here and create value with their decisions.

Efforts Worth Applauding

There are, no doubt, many success stories at both the local and global levels, but the room for innovation and contribution for this group remains very wide. I was struck by the news that sign language has been included in the family education and life skills curriculum across all stages of general education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. These are efforts that deserve our gratitude and praise, and better is to come, God willing. I was also drawn, while looking for official sources, to a Saudi government site that lays out the rights of people with disabilities in detail.

A case study from the private sector: in a case worth applauding, Olay’s decision-makers reviewed a set of feedback from women customers who were having difficulty opening their skincare cream containers. They reflected and came up with a simple solution (a modification to the lid design) that enables women with various disabilities to open the container with ease. More details about the product and the campaign can be found online.

Before I close, I’d like to extend my sincere thanks to Roa Al-Rajjal, who has long inspired me and continues to do so, and who helped me with this article from the perspective of her own personal experience. Since childhood, she has lived with a rare genetic condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa Syndrome, which causes a gradual deterioration of vision. I met her at a Toastmasters club in Riyadh.

In Closing

Between capability and possibility lies a fine line. Between judging someone because of their disability and generalising their inability to perform some task, and seeking out the enablers that create the possibility for that very same person, there is a vast gulf. If the desire to enable this segment of society exists, the appropriate solutions will be created with it, closing the gaps that allow people with disabilities to live with, and adapt to, their disability without any feeling of deprivation or hardship.

And from this platform, I ask, as an advocate for customers of every kind: has the media done enough to shape a healthy and accurate stereotype of this group? Have private sector owners invested enough effort and money in designing services and products that fit the needs of this group? Have governments done enough to mobilise systems, legislation, and policies in service of this group?

The time has come to draw on people with disabilities to help drive the economy and to view them as an active element in society that contributes to the gross output, not as a burden on the state that drains its financial resources.

And with God lies the right path.

Additional Sources for Those Who Want More

← Articles MOC