NEWS AND INSIGHT

Enhancing Accessibility in Digital Payments with a Practical Framework for Inclusion


21 October 2024

Enhancing Accessibility in Digital Payments with a Practical Framework for Inclusion

1. Introduction

The push for accessibility has gained momentum globally, with initiatives like the UN’s Disability and Inclusion Strategy and Canada’s Accessible Canada Act aiming to eliminate barriers and promote inclusion for individuals with disabilities. Canada's commitment to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (“CRPD”) includes developing standards that ensure accessibility across sectors, including digital payment systems and potential Central Bank Digital Currencies (“CBDCs”). While physical accessibility has been a focus, cognitive accessibility is becoming increasingly vital, given the aging population and the diverse needs of people with cognitive disabilities, such as attention, memory, and learning challenges.

Cognitive accessibility addresses the barriers that people with cognitive disabilities face, offering solutions like simplified interfaces, slower processing speeds, and clear communication. This is particularly important for digital payment systems, where complexity can deter usage and create risks. Research indicates that cognitive disabilities are prevalent in Canada, affecting about 5-10% of the population aged 15 and older. The aging demographic intensifies these challenges, as older adults often face cognitive decline and continue to rely on digital payment systems for their financial transactions. Simplicity in design can benefit not only those with cognitive disabilities but all users by reducing errors and enhancing user experience.

However, digital payments also introduce complexities that can make them less accessible, especially without proper support systems like live agents. Users may adopt workarounds, such as relying on caregivers, which can create security risks, including unauthorized sharing of account details. Despite the availability of general accessibility guidelines, cognitive accessibility remains underrepresented in research and practice. While standards like the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (“WCAG”) attempt to address these issues, challenges in implementation and consensus show that cognitive accessibility requires more attention. Addressing these gaps is crucial to ensuring that digital payment methods are truly inclusive, balancing ease of use with necessary security measures.

2. A Framework for Cognitively Accessible Digital Payments

This framework focuses on creating specific guidelines to improve cognitive accessibility in digital payments, including potential CBDCs. Recognizing that existing general guidelines may not directly address the unique needs of digital payment systems; it uses a structured five-phase process (ranging from a review of best practices to prototype testing and user feedback) to adapt and refine these principles for this sector. Key focus areas include usability, accessibility, security, privacy, and user adoption, ensuring that accessibility improvements do not compromise critical security measures like user authentication. By addressing these areas, the framework aims to make digital payment systems more inclusive, encouraging broader user adoption through enhanced ease of use and accessibility.

2.1 Measures and Sub-Measures for Digital Payment Systems

The framework for assessing digital payment systems is built around two primary categories: measures and sub-measures. The first category, measures, includes system learnability and cognitive workload, which are essential for understanding how users interact with digital payment systems. System learnability focuses on how quickly users can become proficient with a new system, particularly important as more people transition from cash-based to digital transactions. Cognitive workload, on the other hand, assesses the mental and temporal effort required by users to interact with these systems, aiming to ensure that digital platforms remain accessible and user-friendly for all, including those with cognitive challenges.

The second category, sub-measures, provides a more detailed evaluation of these broader measures. For system learnability, sub-measures include learnability on first use, which looks at the ease of initial interactions, steepness of the learning curve, which measures how quickly proficiency improves, and efficiency of the ultimate plateau, assessing the maximum efficiency users can achieve over time. For cognitive workload, the sub-measures encompass mental demand, temporal demand, frustration, and performance. These sub-measures allow for a nuanced understanding of user experience, guiding targeted design improvements to reduce barriers and make digital payment systems more accessible. By refining these aspects, the framework helps balance user ease with security needs, ultimately supporting broader user adoption and compliance with accessibility standards.

3. Case Study - Voice Payments and Design Adaptations for Cognitive Accessibility

The framework for cognitive accessibility was applied to a voice payment prototype, chosen for its widespread use and potential to assist users with visual impairments. This technology was tested with 29 participants with various cognitive disabilities, such as dementia, brain injuries, and neurodivergence, using an iterative method to refine system learnability and workload measures. Participants performed key payment tasks, and their feedback was used to identify challenges and opportunities for improvement. This process highlighted the need for adjustments to enhance the usability of the voice payment system, aiming to make digital transactions easier and more intuitive for users with cognitive challenges.

Based on participant feedback, several specific adjustments were implemented to improve the system. These included enhancing visual cues by adding color to assist with navigation, recognizing the response "I don't know" and incorporating additional command options, and extending the time allowed for user responses to reduce time-related pressures. Additionally, confusing password requirements were removed to streamline access. These changes illustrate the delicate balance between maintaining security and creating a user-friendly experience, ensuring that the system is both secure and accessible. The iterative design approach demonstrated that targeted adjustments can significantly improve the usability of digital payment technologies for individuals with cognitive disabilities.

4. Conclusion

The framework aims to improve cognitive accessibility for digital payment systems, including a potential CBDC, but can be applied to various electronic payment methods. It helps assess product suitability for different user groups and provides design recommendations to enhance usability. The Bank of Canada will use this framework to create guidelines for more inclusive payment solutions and support stakeholders in designing accessible technologies. Involving people with cognitive disabilities in the design and testing phases is essential for identifying barriers and refining solutions. While initial testing, such as the voice payment prototype, has shown the framework’s effectiveness in evaluating system learnability and cognitive workload, further validation is necessary. Future efforts will focus on security-critical processes like onboarding and expanding testing to other user groups, such as elderly adults, to ensure a comprehensive approach to accessibility. Ultimately, this framework is part of a larger user experience strategy, recognizing that cognitive accessibility is one aspect of overall accessibility and user experience.