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Don’t assume that your users don’t have assistive technology needs.
Even if your product serves a small subset of users, any one individual may experience situational (working in a loud environment) or temporary disability (having an arm in a cast), or develop a more permanent one.
- Dorota is the Chief Executive of an Australian Government department. Dorota is time-poor and needs to grasp information quickly. Dorota doesn't have time to read complex information.
- Kala has a learning disability. Kala needs to be able to understand information about their university admission. People with learning disability need access to all types of information. Not just disability-specific information.
- Kendra has a newborn and her attention is often divided; Kendra needs to be able to understand a site’s contents at a glance.
Steps to take
- Include people with disability and older people in your research and usability testing.
- Understand diversity - be mindful that everyone has a wide range of preferences and abilities.
- Build accessibility into your project workflow.
- Watch World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) series of short videos. They cover the impact of web accessibility for people with disability, and the benefits for everyone in a variety of situations (7 minutes 36 seconds):
Supporting resources
- Profiles of users with disability (GOV.UK)
- Personas for accessible user experience (Rosenfeld Media)
- How to develop personas (usability.gov)
- Video: make technology work for everyone (YouTube) provides a short introduction to digital accessibility. It also covers some of the reasons why it's so important.
Page last updated: 22 June 2021