Accessibility & Inclusive Design
Design products that work for everyone, regardless of ability or context
Your Progress
Section 4 of 5Designing for Everyone
Accessibility means designing products that work for people with disabilities. Inclusive design goes further—it means designing for the full range of human diversity in ability, language, culture, gender, age, and other forms of human difference.
This isn't just the right thing to do—it's also good business. 15% of the world's population has some form of disability. Accessible design benefits everyone: captions help in noisy environments, keyboard navigation speeds up power users, high contrast helps on bright screens.
Common Accessibility Issues
See how small design choices create barriers for users:
Low Color Contrast
✗ Before (Inaccessible)
✓ After (Accessible)
Problem:
Users with low vision or color blindness cannot read this text
Solution:
Use color contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text
Impact:
1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women have color vision deficiency
Principles of Inclusive Design
Recognize Diversity
Design for diverse abilities, contexts, and backgrounds
Examples:
- •Users have different levels of technical literacy
- •Users speak different languages and use different devices
- •Users have varying levels of vision, hearing, and motor abilities
- •Users come from different cultures with different norms
Action:
Research and understand your diverse user base
Accessibility Quick Wins
Use Color Contrast
Maintain 4.5:1 contrast ratio for text. Use tools like WebAIM's contrast checker.
Enable Keyboard Navigation
Ensure all interactive elements can be accessed and activated with Tab and Enter keys.
Add Alt Text
Write descriptive alt text for all meaningful images. Skip decorative images.
Size Touch Targets
Make buttons and links at least 44x44px for easy tapping on mobile devices.
The Business Case
1.3 billion people worldwide have some form of disability (WHO). Companies that prioritize accessibility see 28% higher revenue, 2x net income, and 30% higher profit margins than competitors (Accenture).
Key Takeaways
- •15% of the world has disabilities—accessible design serves 1+ billion people
- •Quick wins: color contrast, keyboard navigation, alt text, touch target sizing
- •Inclusive design principles: recognize diversity, provide flexibility, design for extremes
- •Accessible products benefit everyone, not just users with disabilities