Functional foundation · Field guide
Accessibility
Design products that people with varied abilities, technologies, and contexts can perceive and use.
Accessibility is a quality and civil-rights responsibility across research, content, interaction, visual design, engineering, and operations. Standards provide a baseline; inclusive practice also requires testing with disabled people and accounting for real assistive technology.
Ways to practise the skill.
Choose methods because they reduce the uncertainty in front of the team—not because a template says they belong in the process.
Inclusive research
Include disabled participants and plan accessible recruitment, materials, sessions, and compensation.
Helpful whenThroughout discovery and evaluation—not as final validation.Keyboard and focus review
Complete core journeys without a pointer and inspect order, visibility, traps, and recovery.
Helpful whenReviewing any interactive product.Screen-reader review
Check structure, names, roles, states, instructions, errors, and dynamic announcements.
Helpful whenValidating semantics and non-visual interaction.WCAG audit plus usability
Combine criteria-based inspection with task testing by people using assistive technology.
Helpful whenPreparing a release or improving an existing service.Continue into the field.
Practical standards and method guidance from established sources.