Many people use accessibility and inclusive design as interchangeable terms. However, they are not the same thing. Accessibility is an outcome, and inclusive design is a process. As an outcome, accessibility is a thing that we measure — how well does a digital asset meet technical requirements such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines? How easy is it for someone with a disability to use? Can people with different disabilities complete tasks?
The Netflix documentary, executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, is groundbreaking in its depiction of people with disabilities and their fight for civil rights. Here’s why.
British designer Lucy Jones is challenging a basic premise of fashion, and it’s one that might surprise you: why is everything designed for standing people? Her newly-launched company, Ffora, seeks to answer an urgent question of design inclusion.
Accessibility in the digital space has come a great distance in a relatively short time, in many ways opening up the entire digital economy of the 21st century to millions of users. But the fact that one company—Domino’s Pizza—could try taking a case for not making its services accessible to the highest court in 2019 makes clear how much work there is left to do to make the online world equitable, both today and in the future.
Universal Design (UD) is an approach to design that increases the potential for developing a better quality of life for a wide range of individuals. It is a design process that enables and empowers a diverse population by improving human performance, health and wellness, and social participation (Steinfeld and Maisel, 2012). It creates products, systems, and environments to be as usable as possible by as many people as possible regardless of age, ability or situation.