Clever, Stop Being So

Clever, stop being so @HugoGiraudel — Accessibility advocate @N26 (Berlin, Germany)

May 20th, 2017

From The Front

!

Clever, stop being so

Asking for info online

Freaking hard

Inclusivity Diversity

We all suck at it

Name & gender

What’s in   a name?

First name + last name

" Hi, nice to meet you! " Hi, what is your ! rst name and your last name?

Not so fast

Iceland

Patronymic

<parentName> -dóttir /son

Björk Gu ð mundsdóttir

Björk Mrs. Gu ð mundsdóttir ! "

Given name
Patronymic

Malaysia

bin/binti <parentName>

Isa bin Osman

Isa / Isa bin Osman / Isa Osman Osman ! "

China

Generation name

“Western” name

Jin Peng ( {g )

Jean-Pierre

Spain

Multiple names

Names of father and mother

María-Jose Carreño Quiñones

Born from Sr. Carreño Sra. Quiñones

Sra. Carreño Sra. Quiñones ! "

France

(Aristocratic) particle

Jean De Jouvencourt

Mr. De Jouvencourt Mr. Jouvencourt ! "

Germany

Academic degrees &

titles

Doktor, professor…

Herr Professor Doktor Schmidt Herr Schmidt ! "

Japan

Relationship context

Vietnam

Given name   is formal

Nguy ễ n T ấ n D ũ ng

Mr. D ũ ng

Thailand

Nickname(s)

Yingluck Shinawatra

Pu (“crab”) ( ! )

India

Patronymic

Location

Caste

Religion

Initials

Any more clusterfuck?

Marital names

People with a single name

Now what?

Don’t ask for   ! rst name   last name

Have a   unique ! eld

Don’t restrict length

Handle single-letter names

Handle looooooooong names

Don’t restrict characters

Handle every character

Also punctuation

Don’t say name is invalid

Say you can’t handle it properly

Don’t try   to be clever

Ask how you should call them

Your full name: How should we call you? e.g. 東海林賢蔵 e.g. Sh ō ji

What’s in   a gender?

Male / Female?

Not so fast

Terminology

Chromosomes (XX, XY…)

Sexual characteristics

Gender expression

Gender identity

Common misconceptions

Gender is not binary

Even sex isn’t (intersex)

Gender ≠ sex

Transgender is not a gender

Non-binary ≠

transgender

You don’t get to decide

Now what?

Ask if you must

Say why

Advertising, declining services… $

Social pro ! les, 3rd parties… %

Monitoring diversity &

Clarify privacy

Devastating consequences

“Transgender” isn’t ideal

Provide a “non-binary” option

O ' er a way to skip

Avoid “other”

Provide free text if you can

Autocomplete

About pronouns

Don’t try to guess

Ask which to use

Default to singular “they”

Wrapping up

Don’t assume anything

Accept people as they are

Inclusivity Diversity Accessibility

Thank you! @HugoGiraudel

May 20th 2017 Special thanks to Chad Gowler for their   inspiring “How to ask about gender” talk