S2 Ep 9. From Classroom to UX: Making Tech Accessible for All with Shaine Frazier

In today's episode, I explore accessibility in UX design with Shaine Frazier, a former special education teacher who now works as a UX insights professional in the insurance industry, discussing how teaching experience translates into building more accessible digital products.

• Accessibility in design helps not just people with disabilities but benefits all users
• Simple additions like subtitles in videos make content more accessible while improving overall user experience
• Special education techniques translate directly to UX—meeting users where they are and adapting content to their needs
• Teachers already have experience running meetings with stakeholders (IEP meetings) that mirror UX research presentations
• Less is more when implementing accessibility features—targeted improvements often have bigger impact than complete overhauls
• The future of accessibility in UX must balance AI advancements with human understanding of nuance around disability and diversity

Follow Shane on Instagram and LinkedIn to learn more about his journey from education to UX research.  Instagram: s.d.fraizer  LI: at Shaine Frazier  

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Bio: 

Shaine Fraizer was born and raised in the Bronx. He is former Special Education Teacher with a unique journey from education to web design, to user experience design, cumulating in his current role as a Digital Customer Experience (CX) Manager.

Shaine studied psychology at New York Tech, where he gained early teaching experience as a program facilitator with Changing the Odds, mentoring teens on mental health and positive sexual behavior. This sparked his passion for education.

After earning his degree, Shaine pursued Educational Psychology at Columbia University's Teachers College but soon joined the NYC Teaching Fellows, serving Bronx students for five years. During this time, he ventured into web design, creating platforms for his own short-term rental business and an e-commerce company, Science.Teacher.Mom.

His growing interest in UX design led him to complete Google’s Professional UX Design Certification on Coursera. Combining this knowledge

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to UX Teacher Prep Podcast
• 0:42 Meet Shaine: Special Education to UX
• 1:38 Accessibility in Insurance Industry
• 4:37 Teaching Skills Applied to UX
• 10:11 Translating Teaching Skills for UX Interviews
• 14:37 Advocating for Inclusive Design
• 19:12 The Future of Accessibility and AI
• 23:04 Episode Wrap-up

Transcript

Narrator: 0:00

Welcome to the UX Teacher Prep Podcast, the ultimate destination for educators who aspire to break into the field of user experience and product design. Your host, zee Arnold, a 15-year teacher turned UX researcher, is here to guide, coach and mentor you through every twist and turn as you make your career transition into tech. If you're ready for a more satisfying career and lifestyle and you want the balance to unleash your creativity, this podcast is for you. Now for the show.

Coach Zee: 0:42

All right, Shane, it is so great to have you back on the show. How have you been?

Shaine Frazier: 0:45

I've been good. Likewise, I appreciate you having me on again. For those who have not heard your first interview, can you just start by telling everybody a bit about your current role and who you are, which allows me to kind of or my position. I'm more so the one that does insights now, so I take the user experience and convert those insights into actionable business decisions.

Coach Zee: 1:16

Right Got it, and you've been in that role for how long now?

Shaine Frazier: 1:21

I just finished a year last month, so that's good on me.

Coach Zee: 1:26

Okay, congrats. And so we know that before that you were in the teaching space, right, and you were an educator teaching what subject?

Shaine Frazier: 1:34

Math and English. I was a special education teacher.

Coach Zee: 1:38

Okay, so today I want to talk about accessibility in UX, and for two reasons One, because I'm passionate about the topic and I know for sure that there's a connection between this type of work and the work that we did when we were teachers. And two, now that I'm in the design space contributing to student experiences, I deal with accessibility concerns every day and I'm curious what that looks like for people in other industries. So I'm in the education, educational technology space and you're in a different type of space, so I was just curious what that looks like for different people across other organizations.

Shaine Frazier: 2:15

I think more so for and when I want to say that my thoughts and opinions are of my own. Say that my thoughts and opinions are of my own. They are not representative of my company, but I will say that, within the insurance space, you understand that you're dealing with a different type of clientele, primarily Gen X, baby boomers. So they're really fucking their ways and they do things you know based off of routine. They do things you know based off of routine. So it's hard to think of accessibility for them, or it's hard to broach that topic with them, because for them it's like hey, I've been doing this for the past 25, 30 years. I don't understand why I wouldn't need to change anything. But what I do notice is that something that we start to implement some of the stuff that I've started to implement is just targeting things a little different and looking at the micro instead of the macro, and what I mean by that is that something as simple as like including subtitles.

Shaine Frazier: 3:21

Very small Subtitles are on the show that we watch. Now, you know, and it's not like I turned them off. Um, it's just there. You know the and so you turn them off, and that's something that we I, you know, I I brought up in some of the promotional videos that we we've employed, and although it's small, it it makes a huge impact because now people are not just following along with what's being said, they can actually read it and see it, and that's something that I used to do when I was in special education Kind of translate, try taking what's being said, looking at classes and trying to translate it to them in a way that's essentially like a subtitle. They could follow along what's being said, whether it's sort of a screen reader or printing a copy of the lesson and providing it to them so that they can follow along as they're feeding it in class.

Coach Zee: 4:16

I think one of the beautiful things about accessibility and design is just we're not only practicing to make our products and services usable for people with disabilities, but when we do that and when we focus on making things usable for people with disabilities, we then are able to reach even more people even without disabilities, right absolutely yeah and so I think that's really important.

Coach Zee: 4:38

And you know, I do encounter some people who are also stuck in their ways where you know they don't want to change things but it's and it's a lot right. It's a lot to kind of overhaul a product, especially when you're trying to meet some you know WCAG guidelines and things like that. So it's a lot to take on when you're trying to revamp an entire product.

Shaine Frazier: 4:57

Absolutely, I agree.

Coach Zee: 4:59

Yeah, so how did your experience as a teacher kind of shape your approach to how you do accessibility and inclusion in design today?

Shaine Frazier: 5:08

Well, I want to focus more on how I used to build lessons. So I was 15 to 1 to 1 self-contained environment when I was teaching Algebra 1. When I was teaching Algebra 1. So I would receive lessons like N's or I would receive kind of the curriculum map and exactly what we want to do beforehand. And obviously I'm in ICT classes as well as a self-contained. But when it comes to my self-contained, I realized that when I've done in the ICT, I may have to kind of I won't say ship it for parts, but I have to get down to the meat of it in a whole different way and I have to look at the entire spectrum of the class that I am teaching. So that's adding visuals.

Shaine Frazier: 6:02

I mentioned screen reader technologies. I mean that's something I provided my students when it comes to their devices that they're utilizing within the class, adding story to the actual lesson. Especially. You don't necessarily think of it when you're speaking about algebra, but you have to try to make those connections for these students to have them understand it in a way that's easier for them, right, meeting them where they learn. So that's how I approached it when I was in education and so I converted that whole mindset into thinking of okay, well, how can we meet our clients, our customers, our end users where they are, our clients, our customers, our end users where they are? And what you'll realize is that maybe you don't have to change everything. And that's the misconception that you do when you're in a user experience is that when you get in, you're like, oh man, you want to include this, that and cert, but instead you may just need to strip up the parts and exclude some of the things and make the flow, the user experience, much easier for their users.

Coach Zee: 7:13

I wonder if you have a time in your UX career where your background in doing accessibility for students or maybe even teachers, helped you solve a challenge that you were facing in your current role. Students, or maybe even teachers, helped you solve a challenge that you were facing in your current role. So I think about how maybe there's something that you knew about screen readers or some type of accessible experience that you knew from your teaching experience that helped you to solve a challenge that you had in your current UX space, and that may or may not be true, but I wondered if there was any examples of that where you were like, ok, well, I tried this when I was teaching, so maybe this might work in this case for UX design.

Shaine Frazier: 7:50

Yeah, I think yeah, I wouldn't necessarily label it as a challenge. More so, it's a light bulb idea, and some of the things that I did when I was prior to where I am now is think about, well, how do people receive information, and what I've noticed is that the generation that we're in now, they love themselves in videos, they love the graphics, they love the visuals, what's being said to them. It sparks them to purchase the product. That sparks them to follow along with someone's stories. So what I realized is that's something that we should maybe lean into a little bit more.

Shaine Frazier: 8:36

But when I was doing my own projects, right prior to me getting any sort of role for UX, I was doing my own products projects and I was trying to harness that whole idea, and that's where I came up with the whole lucarta habit, uh, which I mean you could think of it as social media for restaurants.

Shaine Frazier: 8:58

Right, you can see the foods that you are on the menu and see a visual of it, because if yes, I mean if you realize you go to a french restaurant and sometimes authentic french restaurants they'll say their food in in french, you know, which is fantastic for them, but not everybody reads french, so what does that food look like you'll have to guess you'll have to, you know take out your phone, translate it yourself and try to get it to this to understand what's going on. I mean, hey, let's include that visual. Oh man, that looks appetizing. You're scrolling, essentially, at the restaurant, the restaurant's menu, and seeing the various foods that are there. I took that whole concept and I try to apply it to the food that I am in now, right, and try to meet and try to get people to see more of a visual of what it is that they're trying to do, instead of just having the reader technology.

Coach Zee: 10:06

Okay, got it, got it. Having the third, the reader technology okay, got it, got it. So I wonder about teachers. You know, I'm always wondering about teachers, right, I'm wondering about teachers that are transitioning to the ux space or are new to the ux design space, what I guess? How can they kind of like translate their teaching skills or explain, like in an interview, that they know how to address accessibility concerns when it comes to products or people?

Shaine Frazier: 10:33

yeah, I think about where I was as special education teacher and I think about all the different iep meetings that I had to run. Right, you're spearheading meetings here. You have your stakeholders, obviously, the parents and the admin. If you have a special education coordinator in the room, typically, if you need be, you'll have also an assistant principal and you function and you're running your meeting as such. Right, you're giving a brief of the student where they are. Right, I mean, this is almost like wash off, wash on when it comes to a product, unfortunately, because you're given a brief of where we currently are and how can we get to the next step if you boil it down to those two points. So, within the space of school, I mean when you are as a teacher, you've already done this. You know how to run these meetings. You've spoken with stakeholders.

Coach Zee: 11:33

Right.

Shaine Frazier: 11:34

High-level stakeholders who can provide pushback. No, I want my child to be able to do this, that and a third. So you have to receive those insights and you have to try to convey hey, you know what? Okay, let's come with a better idea, whether it's reconvening or if it's like, all right, let's take your insights and we'll try to apply it. So you have this experience already, and this is just coming to like speaking to stakeholders and also presenting to stakeholders. So you have that experience already to stakeholders, right? So you have that experience already. Not only do you have the experience of presenting, providing this information to the parents, but you also know how to present these insights. You have the insights, the grades, the behavior tracker, the if it's a, if it's something that's you know. So that's the behavior they're struggling with dyslexia or any of those other disabilities that some of these students have. You have those insights already and you've already done the research on how you can provide the best support for the student, and now it's up to you to try to take that information, provide insights. So, if you think of it that way, you're capable enough to be able to look at it as a user researcher.

Shaine Frazier: 13:00

If you want to be a designer. It's a little bit different, it's a little bit more technical, and I want most people to know that being a researcher and being a designer although they sound, although UX is like a broad topic, there are two different things, vastly two different things, Because not only are you doing that, you're building these products, you're building the prototypes, the wireframes and such, so that just takes time and also practice to get better at, so I can't say that you're going to know how to do that immediately. However, you could take any of these courses that are available to us, Some of them free, Some of them you know you can pay for, but also there are a wealth of information when it comes to LinkedIn and providing snapshots of how you can, you know, improve your design. So I can speak to desires there. But as for the researchers, you know what it takes to get your child or your student to the next level. You've researched this. You've went to school. You know all of this information. You just have to apply it.

Coach Zee: 14:15

Right and I appreciate you sharing that honest bit about just if you're in the UX design space. It's a little bit more technical because we do have to identify. You know there are gaps coming from the teaching space and not every teacher has that technical background and you may have to take some courses and try to fill in that knowledge gap about accessibility. Absolutely, in your current role in your company, do you feel like you have to advocate for inclusive design or do you feel like it's already built in, baked in? I know sometimes in some places you have to really fight for it.

Shaine Frazier: 14:41

I will say that it's not a fight. However, it's not thought of right and it's not thought of intentionally right. It's not a fight. However, it's not thought of right and it's not thought of intentionally right. It's not a woeful ignorance. It's just not considered because, hey, within that sphere, their clientele is this right, their clientele are Gen Xers. You know these people who have been in the industry for 25 years. They know how to input information. They don't need this extra information.

Shaine Frazier: 15:06

However, we are thinking about I mean, all companies are thinking about how to become, you know, get on the cutting edge and provide a better product, and so I don't think it's a fight for me, I think it's easy for me to implement. Hey, you know what I think we should start targeting? You know our client, you know emails, deep link emails, you know stuff like that and provide a better UI for the emails, right, something that is much easier for the user to navigate right, as opposed to giving block text in an email that people will silver, you know. So, just thinking about those different things. Also, as I mentioned, I really can't stand it enough Providing subtitles for videos so that people can follow along, whether it's a quick video for on how to access something within the platform, providing subtitles, for that is an enormous help.

Shaine Frazier: 16:08

Why? Because not everybody is following along and some people are distracted when they're doing work, so they may not have caught something and they are trying to rewind the videos and listen. No, you can help them out by providing some of those subtitles. So I don't say that it's a fight for me. I just think that it's something that comes with the territory. Now for my job.

Coach Zee: 16:33

Okay, that makes sense. I think it's so important to consider how people are going to consume your content and making sure that it's accessible in so many different ways so that your users can really take advantage of it, because I think a lot of times we put things out there and because people who are designers or researchers think, oh, this is great. Sometimes we fail to really think about, you know, putting it in front of different types of users and including users with disabilities, for example, to really see how we can make those improvements, because a lot of times the users with disabilities, as an example, don't really come into play when it comes to the participant. You know, base that we do for UX research.

Shaine Frazier: 17:15

And something I'd like to add on that is that I think I mentioned it earlier, but less is more when it comes to some of these things, and I know you know, coming within the space, I'm speaking to one of my managers and saying, hey, you know, I'm seeing these insights and it looks like people are struggling with this and we go through it and they follow along with what I'm seeing here, and then we see that it's not that large of a population and if you think about implementing one of those changes when it comes to that sort of access, hey, you know what I want to include like a just a hidden icon, because, hey, it takes a lot of manpower and resources to make a change within a specific platform.

Shaine Frazier: 18:15

So, and and I mentioned this because the same thing with with myself, soon as you don't need a whole binder full of resources for your students and meet them where they are, and I think I mean that's just a little nugget that I'm realizing that. You know, as I am within this field, it may seem like, oh yeah, you're going to change everything. Now you may want to just observe and receive all the information that you can and then tweak rather than make major changes.

Coach Zee: 18:48

Yeah, definitely that makes sense. Definitely have to weigh the risk and see if it even makes sense to make that type of change. That's why it's so important to just really know the data behind the products that you're working on, you know.

Shaine Frazier: 19:00

Yeah, 100%.

Coach Zee: 19:02

And so I think the last thing I wanted to ask you is how do you see the future of accessibility in UX evolving?

Shaine Frazier: 19:12

I think it's hard to say honestly, specifically in the United States, the current climate that we're in. It's interesting. We're wearing more of a wait-and-see space to see how things shape up, because there are going to be different decision makers when it comes to making these products and, as you know the good intentions that have, they may not consider all backgrounds or races and such. So and I'm not saying that that makes that makes or breaks out at all I do think that considering those things allows for a wider breadth of product. So I can't say for sure how we're going to receive it, especially since you know some of these layoffs that continue to happen, especially within the UX sphere.

Shaine Frazier: 19:58

What I can say that I would like to see is I would like to see us focus on the small nuances of what makes a product great, and what I mean by that is just seeing how we're, just seeing how we can get where we are to a better product. When it comes to AI and something like that, I don't want it to get to a point to where we're taking away that. Human interaction is what I'm saying I want it to. I know we're going to go far and beyond with AI. I would rather us consider that human interaction and, when it comes to that accessibility, that the thing don't change. This Makes sense.

Coach Zee: 20:47

Makes sense, Makes sense. Ai is a whole nother even layers onto the accessibility even more so.

Shaine Frazier: 20:53

Yeah, and what I mean, like AI, is what you make it right. However, it really cannot consider the nuance of someone's race or someone being dyslexic. I mean, that's just. That's something that people have to be in place for to consider those things, and I know we're going to get into a space where we're just trying to make the fastest minimum viable product and put it out there and AI is going to be passive for that, but it's not considering the nuances of a product.

Coach Zee: 21:31

A lot of different levels and types of bias in that whole the whole AI world to mindful of. So we'll have to hold on and see how that all plays out. Absolutely Accessibility is a topic that you you know. It's very deep and very you know, detailed it can go.

Coach Zee: 21:51

We can talk about accessibility for a long, long, long hour and there's just so many different aspects to it. We really just only scratch the surface in this conversation. But I appreciate you coming on to share how you approach accessibility and inclusion in ux, and I know that the listeners will take away so much from this conversation and start to connect those dots between accessibility in the teaching space to accessibility in the UX space. So I want to thank you again for coming on and just sharing a little piece of your world with us today.

Shaine Frazier: 22:20

Yeah, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it and I'm sorry if that you know that last bit was a little bit long-winded. I really appreciate it and I'm sorry if that you know that last bit was a little bit long-winded. I was trying to explain, like how because it really gets hard to quantify how AI is going to make a change within how accessibility is used, right, I mean, you just have different people getting access to that information and you just want to consider that. But thank you for having me on. I really appreciate having this talk, and especially about accessibility. This is something that's so near and dear to my heart.

Coach Zee: 22:50

Absolutely, and we have your Instagram handle and your LinkedIn and we'll put that in the show notes and in the description if folks want to reach out to you. Thank you, we'll talk again soon.

Narrator: 23:04

Hey, thanks so much for tuning in. If you like this podcast, hit, follow and scroll down to leave a five-star rating. Then share it with a friend. If you're looking for resources to help you on your tech transition journey, head over to uxteacherprepcom. Follow us on LinkedIn and Instagram at uxteacherprep for daily tips and motivation. Have a topic you'd like to hear addressed on the show? Send us a DM on Instagram. If you're listening on YouTube, like, subscribe and share. Until next time, be well.

Shaine Frazier: 23:41

Thanks.