community advocates 4 you.
PROVIDING A VOICE THROUGH SELF - ADVOCACY
problem
The Individuals With Disabilities Act (IDEA), is incomprehensible, inaccessible and overwhelming. Parents and advocates of children with disabilities need a way to quickly access already synthesized law on the go.
solution
A mobile app that organizes the IDEA into easy-to-digest sections that can be pulled up on-the-go. Users can compare the law on federal and state levels and read up on cases where the law has been used in the past.
result
An app that empowers users to have a knowledgable voice allowing them to use the system to their advantage and getting their children the necessary attention, care and help they deserve.
summary
Community Advocates 4 You is an organization determined to foster self-advocacy and bridge the gap between the parents of children with disabilities and the school system.
It came to our attention that there was a lot of confusion centered around the Individuals Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) causing a lot of frustration when it came to Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and 504 programs.
Using empathy and human-centered design we designed an app that provided users the ability to see and understand the law in a way that made sense to them. By providing explanations and uses cases, we empowered our users to advocate for themselves and their children.
team
Rachel Morin, Lina Silverman, Meaghan Taylor
role
Researcher, Information Architect, Prototyper
who are we talking to?
USER INSIGHTS
— User B
“I will say this, for parents who have a child with a disability, whether its educational, emotional, or physical disability, it can be a very frightening process to go through...there is no doubt about it. And because there are so many regulations and so many steps to go through, it becomes overwhelming...In education we hope to make it easy to navigate, but that’s not always the case.”
— User A
“Picture yourself at a meeting where you’re a parent, you’re a lay person… you don’t know about IEPs or special education or the laws as they apply to your child… you walk into this meeting and you have 12 specialists around a table and they’re all speaking a foreign language full of acronyms and jargon and talking right over you.”
— User C
“The main thing is parents need to feel empowered and parents need to feel prepared and parents should do their research before they walk into that room.”
“You need to know which rocks to look under, which things to reference, and what your rights are.”
— User A
sandra, 40
Leads a local advocacy group with other mothers of special needs children, which she wants to make nationally recognized, but funding and awareness is a constant struggle. She has a 15 year-old boy with severe depression, and as a result fights to make depression more acknowledged by school systems.
She likes to stay up to date with how state and federal laws are changing in regards to special education, but is easily frustrated by ‘lawyer speak’. Due to the sensitive nature of these topics it is difficult for her to separate from her emotions.
lisa, 42
Works from home as a consultant in order to make time for her family. She has a son with autism and an adopted daughter with Down Syndrome.
Attempting to balance her children's needs and basic chores is hard on her mental health, but she stays strong for her family. She is an organized and prepared person, planning backup options when possible.
She appreciates collaboration with teachers and doctors rather than being told what to do; finding it insulting.
tony, 37
Special education teacher, specializing in mental and emotional handicaps who often feels overwhelmed with the amount of IEP and other paperwork he has to complete.
Part of two local advocacy groups for special education, which makes him feel more supported, but finds it difficult to balance the stance of the school with the needs of the children at times, especially in the face of particular parents
what do they need?
FEATURE PRIORITIZATION
high impact, expected
Glossary
Divided by Federal, State and Analysis
Community Advocacy
FAQs
Bookmark Functionality
Accessible
how do we make this happen?
WIREFRAMES, ITERATIONS & USABILITY TESTING
information architecture
iterations
Originally, within each section of our design we put interpretations and expansions within the IDEA, but in usability tests we found that users did not understand how certain sections related to one another.
We also found that users did not read the tutorial we provided in the on-boarding process and said they usually skip and prefer to figure things out for themselves which lead us to reconsider it.
After conducting more usability tests we concluded that our original hierarchy did not make sense. We looked to Peter Wright's Special Education Law, for inspiration in the research process. Peter Wright is an attorney specializing in special education. We used the structure of the IDEA to inform our layout creating a more natural flow. We organized it by US Code, Code of Federal Regulations, Code of Maryland Regulations, Analysis and Commentary and Case Laws.
Lastly we decided to separate the sections even further into its subsections, and add the commentary and analysis of the Board of Education as well as case laws. This design decision allows users to see how these laws were interpreted, how they have been used in the past and how they could get it work for them.
we brought it to life.
PROTOTYPE
