Inclusive design
Are accessibility requirements recognized as a set of design principles to create a better product for all users?
Why it’s important
- Ivan has low vision and uses a screen reader to navigate the web.
- Brian has a lower tech literacy level and needs a site’s layout to be clear.
- Helen has a newborn and her attention is often divided. Helen needs to be able to understand a site’s contents at a glance.
Next steps
- Understand the main disabilities, limitations or constraints affecting how people use our services:
- Vision disabilities – including blindness, low vision and colour blindness.
- Hearing disabilities – including deafness and low hearing, tinnitus.
- Motor problems – including hand tremors, physical deformities or amputations
- Cognitive disorders – such as dyslexia, epilepsy, or being sleep deprived
- Understand that many people experience some form of permanent, temporary or situational disability. For example, having only one arm is a permanent condition whereas having an arm in a cast is temporary. Holding a baby in one arm is situational - but in each case you're restricted to completing tasks with one arm.
- Find techniques to make your product easier to use for people with disabilities, as well as improve the experience for everyone.
- Use progressive enhancement(this link opens an external website) when designing so your product works using basic technologies. Making sure every person is able to use your product and provide better experiences.
- User research should reflect the diversity of participants, their abilities, circumstances and backgrounds.
References
Resources
- Accessibility Personas(this link opens an external website)
- Accessibility, Usability, and Inclusion(this link opens an external website)
- Inclusive Design (IBM)(this link opens an external website)