Abstract :
It is argued that whilst human factors approaches offer support for design of generally usable systems, these approaches are either not applied, or are applied in a manner which focuses on the average user, thus ignoring those users with special needs It is proposed that design activities should generally consider special needs since ageing and disabled people form a significant part of society, and since regulations now place greater emphasis on the health, comfort and wellbeing of employees regardless of their physical, sensory or mental competence. Whilst regulations now address some of the design issues arising from consideration of special needs, and whilst they propose a proper deployment of ergonomic approaches to design, there are design issues not yet particularly identified in their schedule, and this emphasises the need to utilise a human factors approach to the design and selection of IT systems
Keywords :
ergonomics; government policies; handicapped aids; human factors; systems analysis; user interfaces; IT design; IT systems; ageing; average user; comfort; design activities; disabled people; employees; ergonomic approaches; generally usable systems; health; human factors approaches; mental competence; regulations; society; special needs; wellbeing;
