97 Things Every UX Practitioner Should Know

Chapter 21. Advocate for Accessibility

Holly Schroeder

Many seemingly small things significantly impact disabled folks. Accessibility, or lack thereof, is one of these things. It’s as easy to make things accessible as it is not to. Implementing accessibility is your chance to have a real and positive impact on disabled people’s lives. What’s stopping you, then?

Nicolas Steenhout

Accessibility should be a part of our collective effort as designers. “But we have an accessibility expert!” Sorry, you don’t get a pass. To be truly inclusive requires collective effort. Being an expert isn’t required to add value, but we might have to step outside our comfort zone and dedicate time to learning.

Worldwide, one billion people are disabled, according to the World Health Organization. The internet provides abundant resources for learning the specifics of designing digital products to meet standards. However, accessibility and inclusion are more than just checklists. We should set aside time to ask ourselves the following questions and record the responses:

• When planning, are we thinking about including disabled people, and about where we may be excluding them?

• How are we personally ensuring accessibility is the standard?

• Are we dedicating time to learning how we can better understand the experiences and challenges of disabled people?

• Do we harbor bias?

Plan for personal and professional ...