In a story that may feel familiar to many of us young designers, I was looking for a meaningful purpose to crystalize my design career on. In every aspect of UX design, we are taught that accessibility is the key to creating the best and impactful experiences. However, I’ve also seen the disastrous consequences from poorly researched initiatives, or worse, companies leveraging false impressions of accessibility for marketing purposes. The fear that I could become one of those designers terrified me to my core because harming people, even unintentionally, is not in our nature. That, however, is precisely the purpose of re-examining the world through an accessibility perspective and iterating on even our best inclusivity practices.
Through this lens, design holds immeasurable potential to redefine the exclusionary “norm”, prevent people from being categorized as an edge case, and as always with the curb-cut effect– create opportunities that benefit everyone.
