There is something really special about clipping your fingernails. You line up your nail under the nail clipper and push down with your other hand. You hear the tiny pop of the clipping. You feel some small tactile bump. Sometimes you see the little nail crescent fly off.
A blind person could have almost the same experience cutting their nails. After they press down with their other hand, they would feel the bump and hear the pop. A deaf person would feel the bump and see the crescent. Someone with nerve damage like me would still get the pop and crescent.
In the design world this is called redundant feedback. An instantaneous signal that the task was accomplished is given in a bunch of arenas. For the average person redundant feedback is useful or pleasurable. For people with disabilities it can be essential.
As a general principle feedback itself is what makes a tool a tool. If we do not know if the clipper is working, we cannot cut our nails. Designers of electronic devices need to think hard about the feedback because there are fewer physical components than you can perceive working. Think about pedestrians pressing the button to change the light. Designers build a bunch of feedback into the system in the way of a beep or a small LED light to tell you that it registered your action and you know you can just wait for green.
Although at some point I may need a specially “adapted” keyboard, right now I can leverage feedback. My mechanical keyboard gives me that feeling of tactile bumping that lets me know that my fingers press a key. A sound clicks. I have my keyboard set up so that there is light that emanates from each keystroke.
Imagine using a traditional keyboard but wearing Mickey Mouse gloves. Also for the sake of the thought experiment, that you’ve had several Fuzzy Navels. It would be very hard to type in this situation because not only do you lack the feedback from knowing that your fingers pressed the keys but also the proprioceptive feedback of knowing where all of your fingers are.
I am like that mouse, four drinks in but doing his best. Ambiguity slides in when there is a gap in perception or proprioception; good tools meet you where you are.
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