Covid-19 Home Tests Pose Accessibility Problems for People With Disabilities

When Chancey Fleet, a blind technology educator, opened an at-home Covid-19 testing kit earlier this winter, she realized it would require vision to use the product correctly.

“We need to look at the Covid testing process, break it down into component parts of the process and figure out how to make those more inclusively designed,” Ms. Fleet said in an interview. That can range from examining test prices to gauging the legibility of their instructions, she added.

For people with disabilities, securing at-home tests is only part of the challenge: Many of the kits are difficult or impossible for them to use on their own. Some use colors to convey information, making it difficult for users who are colorblind to conduct the test correctly; lack online audio or video supplements to their written instructions; or require physical precision and dexterity to administer.