Accessible eCommerce

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Front-page of Accessible eCommerce
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Selecting the waist rise in the filter to select clothing
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Selecting the closure filter and AFO support filter
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Selecting the fit filter and footwear size filter
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Selecting the waistband filter
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Selecting the container type filter and hair-dryer handle filter
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Selecting the contrast and dyslexia setting from UserWay tool

Inspiration

As a person with disability I get to meet other folks from my community. I conducted a survey among them about the problems they face when buying fashion and beauty products from eCommerce stores.

I have created a functional mock fashion & beauty eCommerce store to address our problems.

What it does

Accessible eCommerce is a functional mock fashion & beauty e-commerce store optimized for accessibility. It offers various filters, tools and policies to make this e-commerce store inclusive to all.

Front-page of Accessible eCommerce

Achondroplasia

I have Achondroplasia, A disease which affects my limbs making it small so I need dresses with shorter length but with high waist rise as the disease doesn't affect my hips or crotch.

Filters to select the length and waist rise would help me find clothes which fit me easily.

Selecting the waist rise in the filter to select clothing

GNE Myopathy

A friend with GNE Myopathy, A rare disease which causes weakness of skeletal muscles told me that they have difficulties with clothes which have buttons.

So having a filter for closure can help them find clothes which are easier for them to wear.

They also said how difficult it is to find shoes which fit Ankle Foot Orthoses, So having a filter for AFO support helps them to find a suitable footwear easily.

Selecting the closure filter and AFO support filter

Spinal Muscular Atrophy

A friend with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, Another rare disease which causes muscle weakness and makes muscles smaller told me about their preference for loose fitting clothes as it could be worn by themself.

Accessible eCommerce store has filters for fitting through which one can easily find loose fitting clothes.

They also mentioned how SMA patients tend to have small and wide feet and its hard to find a good fitting footwear. So accessible eCommerce store includes even small sizes for adult footwear.

Selecting the fit filter and footwear size filter

Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy

A friend with Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, A disease which causes weakness and wasting of muscles in the arms and legs told me that they prefer dresses with elastic waistband as its easier to wear and so accessible eCommerce has a separate filter for choosing the waistband type.

Selecting the waistband filter

Muscular Dystrophy

Friends with various forms of muscular dystrophy, Which causes progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass told me its difficult to open certain cosmetics containers and so accessible eCommerce has container type filter.

They also told me how its difficult to hold hair dryers and so accessible eCommerce has filter for handle types.

Similarly, Certain fragrance dispenser mechanism could be easier to operate for those with muscular dystrophy than others and so accessible eCommerce has a filter for that too.

Selecting the container type filter and hair-dryer handle filter

Visual & Focus Impairment

Friends with visual impairment told me that the product descriptions needs to be highly detailed and readable. So accessible eCommerce comes with several user adjustable tools to make the store more readable to those with visual and focus impairment.

Selecting the contrast and dyslexia setting from Userway tool

Returns

The store banner reads free returns for users with disabilities as we often have to return the items we purchase due to improper fitting.

Highlighting the store banner

How I built it

I conducted a survey in the disability groups I'm part of, Regarding the problems they face with Fashion & Beauty eCommerce stores.

I built a mock accessible eCommerce store to address those problems using medusaJS, Gatsby, Userway, PostgreSQL and Redis.

Challenges I ran into

Finding images for clothing, cosmetics and appliances for my accessible eCommerce store was a challenge, I overcame this challenge by purchasing licensed clothing, cosmetics and appliances images.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I'm proud of being able to participate in the hackathon for a cause closer to my heart and something which affects me directly.

I'm also proud of being able to create a functional accessible eCommerce store within the stipulated hackathon period.

What I learned

Before participating in this hackathon I was under opinion that fashion and beauty are not a priority to folks with disabilities like myself, But during the hackathon I witnessed firsthand the effort which folks with disabilities put to make themselves look pretty and how much it helps them emotionally to overcome their daily struggles.