The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is the leading non-profit organization dedicated to the fight against Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Many people living with MS experience nerve damage that causes visual, dexterity and/or cognitive challenges. To take a truly inclusive approach to user research, the tools we use must be designed with accessibility front and center.
Kris CarafelliDirector of Experience Design & Research, National MS Society
Required: recruiting for inclusivity
Navigating a website while experiencing vision, fine motor and cognitive challenges is a daily reality for many people with MS. While redesigning the nationalMSsociety.org website, Kris Carafelli, Director of Experience Design & Research at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, conducted inclusive user research to better understand the experience for all users.
Kris had three requirements when it came to the tool she used to facilitate research sessions:
1️⃣ Managing her own panel with full ownership and privacy
2️⃣ Highly customized screeners with accessibility for all assistive devices
3️⃣ Detailed support at every step from EthnioMS doesn't discriminate, and neither should our online experience.
Creating an accessible website requires more than just coding best practices. It starts with inclusive research methods that understand the specific needs of users with MS. Traditional recruitment methods often miss the mark, relying on generic participant pools that don't account for the unique needs of the MS community, including people who rely on assistive technologies.
On top of this challenge, the screening tool itself must be accessible.
Tools for screening often claim compliance, but can they deliver a seamless experience for participants using screen readers or other assistive technologies?
The solution: empowering inclusive research
Building a targeted recruitment poolWe needed a platform to directly recruit our own constituents impacted by MS. Their invaluable insights would guide an accessible site redesign.
Ethnio allows you to build participant pools based on specific criteria, such as demographics, disabilities, and even technical skills related to using assistive technologies.
Kris and her team leveraged Ethnio Pool to build custom participant pools tailored to their exact research requirements for the redesign project and beyond. This ensures that the voices traditionally left out—and potentially those most affected by barriers—are included and the Society’s digital properties are designed for all.
Accessible screening for targeted recruitment
Details matter here. Tab states, required text, HTML labels. There’s a wide range of claims made about accessibility. There’s basic compliance, but then there’s the actual user or participant experience. Those two things are not the same. You can do your audits for base compliance, but without actual research you won’t know how exactly accessibility is being addressed.
Faced with another company’s screening tool that wasn't accessible with a screen reader, Ethnio went above and beyond to make the improvements needed.
This includes features that automatically adjust content size, provide clear descriptions for images (alt text), and offer customizable color contrast for truly accessible participant UX.
Ethnio’s customer support was equally impressive. Assigned an enterprise support rep, Kyle, addressed all concerns for a smooth research experience.
Streamlining research operations for maximum efficiency
From conducting validation studies to scheduling online sessions and incentivizing participants, Ethnio's user-friendly interface streamlined the entire research process for Kris and her team.
There’s so much more efficiency in using Ethnio, and it’s letting us scale in a way we just couldn’t do as a small UX team. Before, we only had Excel. Our whole pool was in a spreadsheet.
The impact?
With Ethnio's help, the Society successfully recruited participants for their research studies at every stage of the design process. They sent targeted emails, scheduled research sessions, conducted validation and usability research, and paid out incentives – all through the user-friendly platform.
The Society leveraged Ethnio's capabilities for usability testing, including assistive technology users to help build an inclusive site experience. The new nationalMSsociety.org website launched in April 2024.