The product's design is the tool you use to distinguish.
Say that, unbeknownst to you, 90% of your users are non-native English speakers. Is a non-native English speaker "stupid" because they misinterpret the simple English idioms, metaphors, and symbology sprinkled throughout your product?
A group of actually-stupid-but-native English speakers might exhibit the same behavior.
You hypothesize that you have a large percentage of non-native English speakers using your app and change the design to accomodate. Behavior improves, distinguishing the bulk of your users from merely "stupid" English speakers.
The problem is that if you conceptualize your users as "stupid" the hypothesis that something else might be going on _never even enters your head_. You never do the experiment. Or, if you do, it's not faithful to an alternative model and is basically a wild stab in the dark.
This is a really good point. “Stupid” is a fun and dramatic framing (I will sometimes use “drunk user” as the equivalent), but it’s also reductionist and less useful for specific design decisions. Thinking deeply about why they are operating at less than peak efficiency helps you make decisions that accommodate those reasons.
Say that, unbeknownst to you, 90% of your users are non-native English speakers. Is a non-native English speaker "stupid" because they misinterpret the simple English idioms, metaphors, and symbology sprinkled throughout your product?
A group of actually-stupid-but-native English speakers might exhibit the same behavior.
You hypothesize that you have a large percentage of non-native English speakers using your app and change the design to accomodate. Behavior improves, distinguishing the bulk of your users from merely "stupid" English speakers.
The problem is that if you conceptualize your users as "stupid" the hypothesis that something else might be going on _never even enters your head_. You never do the experiment. Or, if you do, it's not faithful to an alternative model and is basically a wild stab in the dark.