Disability Insurance Application Tool

Overview

UX Evaluation for a Navigator-Facing Benefits Application

The Challenge

A digital tool designed to help navigators assist low-income Alaskans apply for Social Security disability benefits was not performing as intended. Navigators, the frontline workers using the tool on behalf of clients, were experiencing confusion and friction that slowed the application process and reduced the number of people they could serve.

My role

Lead UX researcher and service designer for an Innovation for Justice evaluation project in partnership with Alaska Legal Services.

  • Conducted usability testing and contextual inquiry with navigators to understand their workflow, the tool's integration into the broader service delivery process, and the points of breakdown.

  • Mapped the full service journey from the client's initial contact with a navigator through application submission and follow-up, identifying gaps between the designed experience and the lived experience.

  • Produced a UX Evaluation Report with prioritized recommendations for tool redesign and workflow improvement.

Impact

The tool had been designed for the application process in isolation, without accounting for the navigator's broader workflow or the client relationship context in which it was used. Redesign recommendations focused not just on interface improvements but on how the tool fit into, and could better support, the full service delivery model.

The project won the Best in Digital Health Award at the Bench to Bedside Innovation Competition, University of Utah (2023).

Key artifacts

  • UX Evaluation Report: Disability Application Tool (Innovation for Justice, Spring 2023)

  • Presented findings at the ABA Equal Justice Conference.

Learn more: innovation4justice.org/research/system/ak-disability