Open Inclusion has designed and conducted a daily diary study with a small cohort of participants with very different lived experiences of disability and age. Here we share the

1. 1
www.openinclusion.com
@openforaccessPresented 22 May 2020
Insight from an inclusive diary study
How is life changing for disabled and older individuals in the time of COVID19
User insight on what’s changing, challenging, helping and hindering in these unusual times.

2. 2
Q&A
What next
Page 32
Key actionable insights
Pages 26-30
2. Some key take-aways
Two initial themes
Pages 10 - 24
Participants involved
Pages 8 - 9
Research goals and format
Pages 3 - 7
1. Our research
Content. What we’d like to share with you today

3. 3
We live in extraordinary times. What is the impact on members of our society who are
more impacted or in vulnerable situations and circumstances through this period?
In the midst of the imposed lockdown and the COVID-19 crisis in the UK, Open Inclusion
devised a diary study centred on customers with a range of lived experiences of
disability and/or older age to better understand these and other questions.
We asked 13 members of our research panel to keep a video diary 5 days a week over a
6 week period. What stood out to participants over this period? What (if anything) has
changed in the way they approach daily tasks? What gaps and opportunities can they
help us identify? How are they feeling and what is standing out that they would like to
see addressed or retained in the future?
Open leveraged our pan-disability and older consumer insights panel of over 500
people across the UK. We conduct qualitative research with the panel including in many
formats (currently all offered remotely) from focus groups, diary studies, in-home
ethnography, co-design, mystery shopping and usability testing.
About this research

4. 4
Specifically, we hope to better understand:
• Changes, challenges and adaptations faced by people with
a wide range of access needs, ages, and life circumstances
• New opportunities that are appearing for organisations to
help in response to changing needs.
We are focussing on the additional needs of disabled and older
people and impacts on these communities
The aim of this qualitative research is to better understand the impact of the UK’s coronavirus lockdown
on members of our society who are more impacted or in vulnerable situations and circumstances.
Research goals

5. 5
• We initiated a daily diary study
• With 13 participants
• Longitudinal, qualitative research
• Very diverse participants – all live with
one or more long term health
conditions, identify as disabled and/or
are specifically at risk of COVID-19 due
to age
• 6 core themes
• We are,
§ Watching (or reading) daily diaries
§ Thematically analyzing content
§ Capturing direct insight (quotes,
photos, screenshots)
§ Determining design guidance and
tips from the insights
We live in extraordinary times. The speed of change (still ongoing) is remarkable.
How do we know who’s being excluded, in what ways, how they’re impacted and what we can do?

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Food and basics Health and Fitness
Work Finances Leisure and Entertainment
Communication
We structured the research around 6 core themes

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Leisure and Entertainment
How are we keeping ourselves
amused?
What are we doing to stay
entertained and have fun? At
home activities from gaming and
streaming to cards and puzzles.
What’s keeping us / our families
entertained. What can’t we do?
What’s easier or harder to do?
Finances
How have our personal finances
been impacted or may be?
Has income been impacted? If
so, positively or negatively. Have
costs of living increased or
decreased? How have banks or
others such as the government
helped personal finance
management or made it harder?
Work
Who is still working and how has
our work changed?
How have the new restrictions
changed the manner of work
and our ability to do work
effectively? Balancing kids at
home, remote work, home
space, and tools? Also who is
working more, less or not at all?
Health and Fitness
How is our health? How is our
fitness within this period?
Has anyone fallen ill with COVID-
19 or anything else or supported
others in poor health? How’s the
health system managed prior
our changing needs? How is our
mental health? How are we
keeping fit? What’s working /not?
Food and basics
What are we buying? How are
we buying it? Delivery and use.
We all still need to eat and buy
household essentials. How are
we getting food and other
basics? Challenges in ordering
online, delivery or shopping in
store. What do people do? Food
preparation and nutrition also.
Communication
How we communicate, what we
are communicating and to who?
How we are engaging with each
other while physically isolated.
Includes phone, email, social
media, web conferencing, online
collaboration tools and more.
What issues are arising and
interesting new styles emerging?
Each day participants touch on any and each of these topics as relevant to their day
1 theme is the “priority theme” each week to allow a deeper dive into it and ensure insight from all

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8%23% 8% 8% 8%
Screen reader
Electric
Wheelchair /
scooter
Hearing
aid
BSL
communication
Manual
wheelchair
8%
Service
animal
Assistive
technology and
adaptive tools
23%38% 15% 15%
NeurodiversityDexterityMobility
31% 23%
Hearing Sight Mental health
Access
needs
Participant’s access needs and adaptation approaches, the balance across our 13 participants

9. 9
6 / 46%
0
1 / 8% 1 / 8%
3 / 23%
2 / 15%
0
1 /8%
Live with
partner /
spouse
Lives with
partner
and kids
<11 yo
Lives with
partner
and kids
12-18
Lives with
partner
and kids
18+
Lives with
parents
Lives alone Lives with
others
(friends,
other
family)
Lives in
community
(uni, care
home)
2 / 8%
1 / 15%
0
1 /23%
5 / 31%
2 / 8% 2 / 15%
Employed
(F/T)
Employed (P/T
/Casual)
Furloughed Unemployed Self-employed F/TStudent Retired
Participant demographics, employment status and living situation, 13 participants
Gender
77% 23%
10
Females
3
Males
“Disabled”
85% / 11 15% /2
“Just getting older”
Age Disability / Just older
Do you consider yourself to have an impairment,
disability or long-term health condition?
Where no, participants consider themselves “just
getting older”
Lives with… Employment status
30-49
50-69
15% / 270 +
31% / 418 – 29
23% / 3
31% / 4

10. title style
Themes from Week 1 and 2
1. Communication
2. Getting food and basics
10

11. 11* European Centre for Communicable Diseases. Report dated 24/4/2020
• Cases of COVID-19*
§ Globally 2.7m cases and 190,229 deaths reported
§ In the UK there were 138,078 cases reported and 18,738 deaths. The UK is
now predicted to have the highest number of deaths of countries in Europe,
somewhere between 26,000 and 66,000.
• One World: Together at Home concert was broadcast over the
weekend with 80+ international music stars performing from home to
support frontline healthcare workers and the WHO
• The shortage of PPE for NHS staff was becoming increasingly critical
and noted in mainstream media. The Health Secretary Matt Hancock
asked NHS staff “not to overuse PPE” as the British Medical
Association noted that staff were being asked to take unacceptably
high risks and the Royal College of Surgeons found 57% of surgeons
have faced shortages in the past 30 days.
• UK borders were all still open in contrast to many countries now
having shut their borders. 15,000 passengers are still arriving each
day the FT noted.
• The government furlough scheme came into force on the 20th April
What was happening in the UK more broadly at the beginning of this fortnight

12. 12
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Happy
Frustrated
Thankful
Fearful
Angry
Stressed
Surprised
Sad
Valued
Key emotions felt
Week 1
Week 2
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Food
and
essentialsHealth
andfitness
W
ork
Com
m
unication
O
ther
Leisure/entertainm
ent
Finances
Most commented-on themes (weekly comparison)
Week 1
Week 2
Key theme
week 1
Key theme
week 2
• Health, work and communications were the consistently most
important themes across the two weeks. Talking about finances
is probably impacted by a reluctance to share personal financial
challenges or concerns as openly as other categories.
• Emotions By week two participants were feeling less emotional
with fewer expressions of happiness, thankfulness, fear, anger
and sadness all lower in diaries. COVID-19 and the lockdown
were beginning to be spoken about as “the new normal”
• Enough bad news already! By week two one reason emotions
may have reduced was that many people were consuming less
daily Coronavirus news. Some limited the time of day they would
read the news to better manage their mental health. Positive
stories and moments such as the “clap for carers” helped also.
• Getting used to lockdown The early difficulties of transition to
lockdown were being adjusted to by individuals and
organisations. Businesses like supermarkets and banks were
responding to the initial explosion in demand and adaption to
new individual solutions were a few weeks in now. Some things
like the need for haircuts was building though!
How were people feeling overall and what changed between the first two weeks?

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Some key insights that emerged under the theme of communication
• There is a deluge of new approaches to learn and use
• Many tech-enabled formats are more accessible than they are usable with access needs
• Old formats are providing new connections
• Of course remote engagement is possible… now everyone needs it!
• Masks also mask visual communication such as lipreading and emotional expression
• People are reaching in and reaching out to others more than normal
• Adapting to abnormal is more normal to disabled people and their households
• A desire for remote engagement options to stick beyond the COVID-19 period
• Communication can be too much, too little or just not as wanted
• It can get hard – isolation, mental health and fears impacting communication
How we communicate, what we
are communicating and to who?
How we are engaging with each
other while physically isolated.
Includes phone, email, social
media, web conferencing, online
collaboration tools and more.
What issues are arising and
interesting new styles emerging?
Communication
Communication – the focus of Week 1

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1. A deluge of new tools to learn (us and them)
• Many participants are using new tools; Zoom, Google Hangouts,
Facebook video, Skype and WhatsApp now being used for work, social
and practical communication
• Participants and instigators of the sessions are still learning these
formats – e.g. our screen reader user read a book on how to use Zoom
with VoiceOver and then trained other blind colleagues.
• Captions are exhausting to read all day and not always available or
accurate.
Communication - the focus of Week 1. Key insights illustrated with specific stories
Communication
• Although tools are mainly accessible for use by people who adapt
content visually, engage or interact with it differently such as via
assistive technologies, they’re often not easy for disabled people to use,
especially for long periods each day. This includes setup.
• A dyslexic /dyspraxic participant finds it very confusing when needing
to both listen and engage with or read the chat / Q&As
• Broadband connectivity challenges hugely frustrated our BSL
participant as his screen kept freezing making communication
impossible “I felt like an outsider”
• Zoom audio was noted as particularly unintuitive by a student with a
long-term health condition who did her exams on Zoom
3. Old formats for new connections
• Old fashioned communication options such as chatting with neighbours
over a fence have also been noted by some participants, especially the
older ones. Phoning a friend is a respite from video calls for some.
• One participant swapped a home-grown cabbage for a bottle of
chardonnay with her neighbour
• Another noted she should remember to put her hearing aids in when
out walking if she is wanting to chat to neighbours
• Some participants noted that now everyone is at home many
alternative formats for studying or working from home that they have
asked for (and been rejected) in the past have been made available to
them.
• They hope that this will be maintained as this crisis passes as it could
help them be better included and able to engage in education, socially
and provide broader work opportunities
4. Of course it’s possible… now we all need it!
2. Tech tools are more accessible than usable

15. 15
Hear it directly from the participants
[Working on Zoom] is annoying cause people
send links and chat, and the Zoom call
finishes and then I can’t find the links cause
the chat is gone, so you have to actually open
the links while you are in the meeting. That is
quite frustrating. It’s a challenge, it will
always be, probably because of my dyslexia.
Female, 40s,
dyslexic/dyspraxic,
lives with partner Female, 20s,
Low IQ/ADHD,
lives with parents
I find it hard communicating with
friends because now that my
friends are not doing anything
such as working or going out or
doing things, it's very hard to call
them. Because when I call them
there isn't much to talk about.
Normally, if we go out, there is
more to say.
I want this to be over
to also be able to
talk to people again
[face to face].
Communication

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I got frustrated today because I
rely on BSL when communicating
with others via video
conferencing system.
When people talk over each other
or the broadband breaks down it
makes it difficult for me to see
what my interpreter is signing
(video freezes). I felt like an
outsider not being able to
participate fully.
Hear it directly from the participants
Male 50s, Deaf BSL,
Lives with partner
The online singing classes are
a great way of keeping in
touch with members for
social reasons and to combat
loneliness.
Female, 60s,
Multiple Sclerosis,
Lives with family
What I learnt through this
experience is that I'm probably
quite antisocial, I'm an introvert,
I quite like to have time on my
own. I can't face another
videocall and sitting over the
laptop again.
Female, 40s,
dyslexic / dyspraxic,
lives with partner
Communication

17. 17
Hear it directly from the participants
I don't listen to daily bulletin,
I can’t face that anymore!
I'm dismayed at prospect of long
and slow return to normality and
continued social distancing.
Airpods are really good for calls or
video calls on my mobile phone.
For when the video is on my hair is
getting a bit crazy from the angle I
hold my phone though! It may be
easier if I could get something like
a selfie stick to hold the phone
higher up.
Video calls are better on the laptop
but harder for me to manage.
Female, 60s,
Multiple Sclerosis,
Lives with family
Female, 80s,
lives alone
Communication
Male 30s,
Wheelchair user and limited dexterity,
Prefers using a mobile phone to a computer
Lives with partner
I don't need to know
how many people
are dying… It really
doesn't help me.
My helper came over
and we had a lovely
chat while maintaining
social distancing. It
was great to connect.
Female, 30s,
Chronic pain and
wheelchair user
Lives with partner

18. 18
F, 60s with Multiple
Sclerosis worried
about the impact of
stress on her MS
She was
communicating with
neighbours by
putting teddy bears
in her window
No lipreading:
Masks worn by
staff at a local
Waitrose made it
impossible for
our hearing-
impaired
participant to
understand
assistants
We asked each participant to fill out a “mood
map.” The dips were caused by frustration over
broadband issues on video calls, meaning their
BSL interpreter kept freezing
Images and mood maps – communication

19. 19
Some key insights that emerged under the theme of buying food and basics
• For those self-isolating, there is increasing reliance on fewer carers and friends / family
• Keeping to social distance guidelines is hard for some people with disabilities
• Initial heightened fears of getting basics are beginning to dissipate reducing problems
• It is still taking more time and effort to manage getting the basics
• Many are learning to make do with less
• Being defined as “vulnerable” is creating new divides (between brands and individuals)
• Some people have no option to remain independent in their shopping due to various
combinations of factors, exacerbated by long delays for online deliveries
• Inaccessible websites are (as always!) frustrating but now these have bigger impacts
• New foods are being cooked. Increasing creativity and interaction in the kitchen for some
• If going to a shop, participants are more often choosing smaller shops closer to home
What are we buying? How are
we buying it? Delivery and use.
We all still need to eat and buy
household essentials. How are
we getting food and other
basics? Challenges in ordering
online, delivery or shopping in
store. What do people do? Food
preparation and nutrition also.
Food and basics
Food and basics – the focus of Week 2

20. 20
• Freezer meals are offering more buffer between needing to go
shopping
• New foods being created. Some have been cooking more from scratch
as they have time and wish to keep healthy reducing their risk. One
young neurodiverse participant of our cohort baked bread in a crock
pot. Her mum helped simplify the recipe for her.
• Others have been getting more family help as the family have more
time to support in the kitchen.
4. Making do and getting creative
• Getting acknowledged as a “vulnerable” customer is very helpful to
some of the participants. This is defining their shopping habits as some
supermarkets have processed and confirmed the status. Others haven’t
• When orders arrive on time and as expected it is very strongly
appreciated. For some this is building deep brand loyalty.
• Cleanliness and early hours for vulnerable customers were noted as
appreciated by a Waitrose customer
• Another shopper noted great service and support with regular
deliveries from a local store who know she has specific needs
3. Specific support is highly valued and appreciated
• Communicating in the supermarket is difficult for deaf customers
especially with masks covering faces of assistants and muffling sound
• Putting things in the bag at the supermarket is hard for some yet they
need to go alone so can’t have someone help them
• One-way customer flow systems are very challenging to some such as a
dyslexic/ dyspraxic customer of a large store that had instituted this
• Anxiety increased for some as many other consumers didn’t seem to be
respecting social distancing guidelines or weren’t wearing masks
• Hard to get specific required foods like gluten or dairy free
2. Differing difficulties
• Many people are excluded from shopping independently in person
(self-isolating, inability to wait in queues without seating, inability to
maintain social distancing, difficulty getting there/back safely)
• Only some are classified as “vulnerable” and qualify for priority online
delivery slots. Even those classified don’t always get the slots they need
• Others are needing carers, friends or family to fill the gap and do the
shopping for them. For most it is harder and taking more of their time.
• For those self isolating and at significant risk, they are trying to keep
this to a small support network and may reduce other care demands
1. Reliance on others for helping to get the basics
Food and basics – the focus of Week 2. Key insights illustrated with specific stories
Food and basics

21. 21
Female, 20s, Living with Crohn’s
disease, full time student
Getting food for those like me is
an area where the government
has been quite lacking …
I don't know what I would do
without my friend because
there are certain things like my
dairy-free butter, dairy-free
low-fat cheese… vegan… things
that are specific for my Crohn's
related diet that the local
producers themselves don't do.
Sainsbury’s got in touch
with me, which I’m over
the moon about.
They acknowledged I’m
a vulnerable customer,
which is absolutely
amazing!
Female 20s Student with Motor Neuron
Disease. Mobility/dexterity needs, poor health.
Her family is doing the shopping just once a
fortnight to limit the risk of exposure.
It is slightly disappointing
the the government did not
manage to cover everyone.
[in the vulnerable customer
database]
However there is not much
to be done and we are
coping none the less.
Hear it directly from the participants
Food and basics

22. 22
Female, 40s,
dyslexic / dyspraxic,
lives with partner
Inside the store, we were meant to
follow a one-way system, where you
went up one aisle and then down the
other. But I don't necessarily shop up
and down every aisle.
I found I kept going the wrong way. I
couldn't get the hang of going the
right way at all.
It was also not clearly signed posted
where to go to the checkout.
Female, 50s, deaf,
uses a hearing aid.
Lives alone
It's quite an expedition these days going to
Waitrose.
Being deaf it is hard to hear behind those
masks, and I can’t see so that's not easy.
Female, 50s, Blind, lives with family
13-year loyal weekly Ocado customer
Ocado stopped the app pretty soon
after lockdown. Then the website
would take hours of waiting to get
onto was failing also. I was ordering
food between 3 and 5am. As I didn’t
know the website well it also took me
ages. Since then I have been put on
a priority list due to my past loyalty
I’ve been very lucky for being loyal
but no-one as acknowledged my VI
difficulties even though I can’t shop
independently in a supermarket.
Hear it directly from the participants
Food and basics

23. 23
F, 20s, Living
with Crohn’s
disease, student
When everyone was stock piling there were
restrictions on things like microwaveable
rice, so you could only buy two or three
packets at a time. This meant I wouldn't get
the serving that I would normally need to
get me through a week.
Female, 20s,
Low IQ/ADHD,
lives with parents
Her mum helped
simplify a recipe for
her so she could
bake some bread for
them all
Normally, I would struggle to
concentrate [with recipes] having
to read it once and remember it.
Then I would have to read it out
loud again before cooking. This
time, the steps were simple, so I
knew what I was doing.
Female, 50s,
Blind, lives
with family
BBC Good Food is
really useful and very
accessible, and I'm
mostly using Alexa for
recipes… it make my
life so much easier.
Male, 40s,
Mobility/dexterity
impairment, lives with
partner
He has limited his usual
care team from three to
just one and his partner.
It's great to have someone
who provides my care and
gets some groceries, who I
also know and trust to be
careful about not interacting
with too many people.
I got a a slot with
Waitrose and did
my first big shop
since the start of
lockdown (on 24/4)
Hear it directly from the participants
Food and basics

24. 24
The Great British Bake Off!
From men in their 70s (scones) to
women in their 20s who learn
differently (bread) or are partially
sighted (home made pizza).
Cooking bread in a crock-pot. Her mum
simplified the recipe for her. It made her happy
Using freezer food as a buffer
between shops
Categorised as “vulnerable” if very helpful to those
who need shielding and have got it. For others it has
been frustrating if they have not yet been included.
Images and mood maps – getting food and basics
Food and basics

25. title style
Key take-aways
25

26. 26
“In today’s complex and fast-moving world,
what we need even more than foresight
or hindsight is insight”
Napoleon Bonaparte

27. 27
Exclusion and its impacts are changing…
• New characteristics of exclusion: personal
characteristics and circumstances
• New impacts of exclusion
• Digital exclusion (due to accessibility,
usability / skills, tools, or connectivity) has
deeper impacts
• Mental health, social and financial
exclusion is shifting in reach and impact
• A little insight regularly is better when
uncertainty is high, and change is ongoing
so dated insight is no longer as relevant
x x
x xx
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Hearing
Vision
Mobility /
dexterity
Cognition
Digital
access /
skills
Advanced
age
Health
conditions
At risk
professions
Communication
access needs
Financially
vulnerable
Start at the edges as they provide more insight per participant and deeper actionable insights.
Inclusive design is universally valuable, whereas designing for the centre excludes many.

28. 28
5. Assess and adapt
• Review impact on
customers, staff and
the business
• Review changing
context and
environment
• Cycle back through the
inclusive design
approach to reset
priorities
4. Act to make changes
• Empower the leaders
and teams to make
changes
• Remove barriers to
rapid change delivery
• Embed capability to
maintain improvements
3. Set the priorities
• Reduce risk of causing
any harm to customers
or staff
• Use the business
capabilities and
resources to offer new
value
2. Ask the people most
impacted
• People with disabilities
and long-term health
conditions
• Older consumers
• Health professionals
• Emotionally less
resilient
• Financially less resilient
1. Determine critical
areas for review
Start with critical and core
“Jobs to Be Done” and
needs to be met
• Learn from customers.
Their priorities?
• Determine staff jobs and
functions that support
these customer priorities
An overall process for fast moving, uncertain times such as this pandemic has provided us.
Design with people not just for people with diverse needs.
© Open Inclusion

29. 29
In-person communication
• Masks: Consider how masks hinder
communication and provide
alternatives such as written signs
or use digital apps (text based)
• Don’t assume, ask: Train staff to
understand a range of individuals
abilities or personal contexts may
drive behaviours. Assume less, ask
more. +80% disability is invisible.
• Visual communication: Provide
alternatives for people who may
not perceive or understand visual
communication (enhance &/ or
alternatives such as tactile floor
tiles to support one-way flow)
Digital tools
• Chose a tool that is accessible
and usable for all users
• Build inclusive communication
skills in your team / group
• Act to be accessible prior to
and through the session
• Assess: ask and learn from
those with diverse needs
• Vision: verbally describe all visuals
you wish to communicate
• Hearing: Captions, sign language,
cameras on and lighting
• Cognitive: One thing at a time.
Clarity, breaks and check ins
A few inclusive design guidelines based on these insights - communication
Tips to communicate in a way that includes all customers

30. 30
In-store purchases
• Specific times for people with
additional vulnerabilities. Share
data on higher volume periods
• Entering: seating for people
queuing (with ticket system)
• Wayfinding and flow: consider
visual and cognitive difference
when defining any new flows
• Staff service: More empathy
less judgement. Ask, “how can I
help”. Less assumptions.
• Payment: Reduce new checkout
challenges from clear screens
(VI) to bagging (dex/mob) or
cashfree (cognitive, POS access)
Digital purchasing (App / website)
• Understand the current extent and
points of digital exclusion for customers
• Provide layered customer service
support. Design with diverse customers.
• Load and stress robustness and stability
• Prioritise core journey accessibility
• Build / buy accessible to standards
• Embed end-end, design to delivery
• Test with diverse users (remote now)
• Prioritise improvements with an end-
to-end perspective (onboarding, find,
select, checkout, support, account)
• Delivery options. Understand how
deliveries impact customer experience
Tips for supporting diverse customers getting food and basics
A few inclusive design guidelines based on these insights – food and basics

31. 31
title style
What is next?
31

32. 32
We have 4 more weeks of research and themes, more voices and stories to share
• 4 more themes to go, which are sure to bring more great insights
§ Health and fitness
§ Work
§ Finances
§ Leisure and entertainment
• The UK has seen significant changes to lockdown in the past few weeks
as some restrictions have eased while others remain in place. Our
participants are sharing their experiences of these ongoing changes.
• The end of our 6-week diary study will likely correspond to a period of
more change as lockdown eases further, schools reopen etc.
• We look forward to presenting more insights from our participants in
our next Insight Session.
Please contact us at contact@openinclusion.com if you or your
colleagues would like to attend the next session
• We also welcome interest in using this pilot as a base to resolve your
business’ current needs with tailored work identifying relevant insights

33. Contact us at contact@openinclusion.com to discuss how we can help
Are you interested in learning more?
Would you like us to share insights from the study with your organisation?

34. Thank you for your time!
contact@openinclusion.com
openinclusion.com@openforaccess
better for all