What accessibility is
The word ‘accessibility’ is generally used in relation to disabled people. Physical accessibility refers to our physical environment, and digital accessibility refers to the digital technology we use.
Digital accessibility
If websites, tools and technologies are digitally accessible, it means they have been designed and developed so that disabled people can use them. An accessible website or app is one that people with a diverse range of hearing, movement, sight, and cognitive ability can use.
Digital accessibility is now a growing discipline in many companies that care about inclusion. It’s sometimes referred to as ‘a11y’, which is a numeronym (the number of letters between the first and last letters (11) is inserted between the ‘a’ and the ‘y’).
How accessibility is measured
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The international standard for accessibility is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and is referenced by most web accessibility-related legislation. When websites or apps go through accessibility testing or audits, they’re checked against the multiple success criteria of these standards.
The WCAG standards were first published in 1995, and have gone through a number of iterations since. The current version is WCAG 2.2, with WCAG 3.0 under development.
At a top level, there are 4 principles – Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust. These principles organise 13 guidelines, which each contain several success criteria, or testable conditions.
There are also 3 conformance levels – A, AA and AAA. Depending on the level of conformance targeted, the requirements for different success criteria must be met. Most commercial businesses aim for level AA.
For a short summary of WCAG, see WCAG 2 at a Glance.
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As well as testing against guidelines, it’s vital to test with real people too. There’s no better way of finding out if your product works for disabled people than actually putting it in front of them.
More info on this in our Auditing and Testing section.
There are a number of different models of disability, but the medical and social models are the most widely known.
Medical model
Disability is caused by health condition, disease or trauma
Social model
Disability is caused by society and the environment – not the condition
The medical model says people are disabled by their impairments or differences. It looks at what’s 'wrong' with the person, not what the person needs, which can lead to people losing independence, choice, and control in their lives. This model is now outdated and dehumanising.
The social model is a way of viewing the world, developed by disabled people and is preferred over the medical model by the disabled community. It says that people are disabled by barriers in society – not by their impairment or difference. Barriers can be physical, like buildings not having accessible toilets.
They can be caused by people's attitudes to difference, like assuming disabled people can't do certain things. And they can be digital, like websites containing barriers that some disabled people can’t get past.
The social model helps us recognise barriers that make life harder for disabled people. Removing these barriers creates equality and offers disabled people more independence, choice and control.
Inclusive design
By designing with everyone in mind, we create products that work for everyone. Inclusive design is the methodology we embrace to consider the full range of human diversity with respect to ability, culture, gender, age, ethnicity, and other forms of human difference. It should be a Designer’s core objective.
When done well, inclusive design leads to products that are barrier free, giving everyone a beautiful, equitable experience.
How we do it?
Inclusive design.
By thinking about everyone
What will we get?
Accessibility
Something that works for everyone
Great digital experiences for everyone
Case study
A example of great inclusive design is the OXO Good Grips vegetable peeler. When the designer saw his wife struggle to use an ordinary peeler due to the arthritis in her hands, he set about creating one that was easy to hold and control, no matter the size or shape of your hand or the strength of your grip. And he tested his prototypes in many, many different hands of different abilities.
And it’s not just people with an impairment like arthritis who benefit from this design. The OXO Good Grips peeler is renowned for being a comfortable, easy to use peeler, and the peeler of choice for many people throughout the world.
Quote by Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox
“The results of inclusive design for accessibility always leads to a better product for everyone.”