Accessibility is UX.
I’ve worked with many developers over the course of several years and there’s a recurring misconception I keep noticing: most people still think accessibility is only about helping the blind. Or the deaf. Or those in wheelchairs. Basically, people they assume they’ll never have to build for.
But disability isn’t always visible, and it isn’t always permanent.
Ever tried using your phone with the lights off? Or typed an email with one hand because the other arm was broken? Ever watched a video in a loud room with no subtitles? That’s a11y. And in those moments, you are the disabled user.
Disability is a spectrum. There’s permanent disability, sure. But there’s also temporary, situational, contextual, even… lazy. Yes, lazy. I mean, sometimes I just don’t want to touch the damn mouse, I need keyboard shortcuts.
Accessibility isn’t a charity project. It’s good UX. It’s your job. And ironically, it often helps more “able” users than the ones you think it’s meant for.
Think about who really benefits from a11y. It’s the worker reading something in bright sunlight, the person recovering from surgery, an elderly user whose vision isn’t what it used to be. Or the power user who lives entirely on their keyboard, never touching a pointing device. It’s not just “them” - it’s you, me, and everyone in between.
Keyboard navigation, dark mode, high-contrast themes, subtitles, alt text, skip links, semantic markup - they aren’t just for the 2%. They’re for the other 98% too. Because no one lives in ideal conditions all the time.
You don’t know your users’ context. And if you’re building software only for one kind of user, you’re building it wrong.
Designing for a11y also means you stay in the right side of the law. Yes, a11y lawsuits are real. In some countries, companies get sued for inaccessible websites. But that’s not the point of this article. This isn’t about compliance. It’s about being a decent product engineer.
Never consider a11y as an overhead. See it as architecture. Not something that works only in the perfect environment but also in these other, totally normal environments.
So, next time you’re about to say, “We’ll take care of a11y later”. Remember that it’s too late for someone else. Build for everyone, and that everyone includes you.