UX Research · Accessibility
Designing for the people most likely to be forgotten by design
Role
Team
Duration
Methods (add to cms)
UX Researcher
3 UX Researchers
10 weeks
2026
TL;DR - 10 Second Read
The Problem
WA211's website made it nearly impossible for people with TBI to self-serve, pushing them to an already overburdened call center
Key Insight
Moderated usability study with 6 TBI participants across 4 tasks, paired with a heuristic evaluation against Nielsen + WCAG 2.1
Key Decision
Prioritize zero-effort entry points and reduce motion/density before anything else. Every extra click costs a person in crisis.
The Outcome
4 critical findings, 21 issues collapsed into an actionable roadmap, now feeding into WA211's mobile app spec
01 - Problem
WA211 exists to connect people in crisis to help. For users with TBI, it was making things worse
Washington's 211 helpline handles over 1 million calls a year. Behind every call is a person who couldn't find what they needed online. Our study asked why — and found that the website was systematically failing its most vulnerable users: people with traumatic brain injuries who depend on clear, low-friction digital access to housing, food, and crisis services.
5.3 million Americans live with a disability from traumatic brain injury. TBI affects memory, attention, vision, and information processing — exactly the capacities needed to navigate a complex web directory during a crisis.
WA211 asked us to evaluate whether their website — and by extension their upcoming mobile app — could actually serve users with TBI. The answer was uncomfortable.
2/6
couldn't find search
4/6 received irrelevant results
6/6 exposed to animation
02 - Context
Why TBI users as a design proxy
Designing for TBI is designing for the hardest version of the problem. TBI symptoms — cognitive fatigue, attention difficulty, sensitivity to visual motion, impaired working memory — are a superset of challenges faced by many users under stress, on mobile, or with lower digital literacy.
If we solve for TBI users, we solve for: people in acute stress, older adults, low-bandwidth contexts, and anyone experiencing a crisis moment. This isn't edge-case design — it's baseline product quality.
Our research team conducted expert consultations with DSHS, heuristic evaluations against Nielsen's heuristics + a custom WCAG 2.1 heuristic, then moderated usability testing with 6 TBI participants via Zoom. Sessions were capped at 20 minutes — a deliberate constraint to protect participants from cognitive fatigue during testing itself.
03 - Key Insights
Four findings that converged across methods
Each insight is synthesized across heuristic evaluation and usability data. None stands alone — together they reveal a system that compounds cognitive load at every step.
Severity - 3 Major
The entry point is invisible
The search function — the site's most critical feature — requires 3 steps to reach: Find Help → Search Online → type query. 2 of 6 participants couldn't locate it without assistance. 4 of 6 struggled with location filtering.
2/6 couldn't find search
4/6 struggled with location filters
2/6 unaware filters existed
What we learned
TBI users rely on recognition over recall. Once disoriented, they rarely find their way back — they call instead, or stop entirely.
What we designed
Persistent search bar in global header on every page. Placeholder: "Find housing, food, or shelter..." — one step from anywhere.
Why first
Low engineering lift, highest reach. Every other interaction depends on getting here — so this is where we started.