Designing for Human Diversity: Rethinking Accessibility
Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2025. There couldn't be a better time to relaunch my website after a long hiatus and use this occasion to do my part, however small it may be, to increase awareness as a long-time accessibility advocate.
From Code to Advocacy
I started designing and coding websites in early 2001 and was immediately struck by the web's impact. There I was, at the age of 12, publishing a website; a new world full of possibilities to express myself, communicate with other human beings, and learn from them. It profoundly affected me, and I couldn't stop thinking about the possibilities it offered our species.
By the time it was 2004, I learned more about web standards, usability, and accessibility, and started to advocate for them. I wrote about new web technologies and standards. I took part in web standards awards as a judge for two years. I had my first public speaking experience in 2008, titled “Web Accessibility and Usability”.
Throughout this journey, my understanding of accessibility has evolved from a technical requirement to something far more fundamental: a recognition of the full spectrum of human diversity.
Spectrum We All Navigate: Rethinking Disability
When we think about accessibility, we often think about permanent physical and cognitive impairments. This framing creates an artificial division between “people with disabilities“ and “everyone else”. The reality is far more nuanced.
Disabilities are generally categorized as permanent, temporary, and situational. Almost everyone experiences disability on a situational basis. Think about interacting with an ATM or your mobile device when the sun is shining (reflection creates low visibility), or when you need to lower the brightness of your tablet/e-reader when reading before bedtime (light sensitivity). When an ATM is not designed in a way that can be usable on a sunny day, we blame the bank and the company that designed the ATM. We don't label ourselves as having disabilities, although this fits precisely the definition of disabilities.
Many people also have temporary or permanent disabilities, even if most don't label them as such, using optical lenses, experiencing lower mobility with age, or developing hearing problems. These are barriers to access.
Accessibility isn't about accommodating “a few” people we think we don't encounter in our daily lives; it's about all of us. Of course, this doesn't mean we should forget that disabled people face the most constant, systemic barriers. Their lived experience and advocacy must drive this work, not be sidelined by it. Accessibility is embracing the full diversity of human experience; disabilities are not “shortcomings” but the very things that make us human. Once we approach our diversity from the right angle, we can start understanding what accessibility is truly trying to achieve.
When the Invisible Becomes Visible
Accessibility has always been important to me because it's the foundation of design, technology, and communication. It doesn't matter how innovative, performant, or usable a piece of technology is when it's inaccessible. Accessibility is so vital that it becomes invisible when done well, but glaringly obvious when absent or when it's only an afterthought.
A few years ago, I experienced a temporary condition that severely limited my mobility and strength. For over a month, I couldn't reliably use my legs, my arm strength was compromised, and my grip was too weak to manipulate many objects. I had no idea if this was the new normal for me, a permanent impairment. Even basic interactions with physical objects and digital interfaces became nearly impossible. I knew my strength was there, but I couldn't access it. It was a devastating experience as many seemingly trivial things we take for granted became a burden.
With my mobility taken away, I had very limited ways to get help: namely, my “mobile” devices. Scheduling appointments, looking for doctors and hospitals, and trying to get insurance information. I visited those websites and used related apps. Basic things we thought were designed properly seemed unnecessarily complicated; simple scrolling, tapping each and every cookie banner, some designed without creating extra barriers, others trying to get my data while I'm trying to get an appointment. That was an eye-opener, so to speak.
This experience fundamentally changed my perspective. What I experienced temporarily, many people navigate daily. The barriers I encountered weren't just inconveniences; they were unnecessary obstacles created by design choices that failed to consider the full spectrum of human ability. When we design without accessibility in mind, we don't simply make things difficult - we're actively excluding people from participating fully in society. The solution isn't specialized accommodations after the fact, but intentional, inclusive design from the beginning.
From Awareness to Action
The first step in a more accessible world where people are included in society in all its facets is awareness. Without understanding why we need accessibility and inclusivity, any action taken will be short-lived and superficial.
This awareness must translate into professional responsibility, particularly for designers and developers who shape the digital world. For a long time, people have compared “UX vs UI” and how “UX designers” advocate for user needs. Terms like “human-centered design” and “user advocacy” appear in nearly every industry discussion. Yet in practice, accessibility is often reduced to a checklist for compliance, or worse, dismissed entirely when “more important” requests come from clients or management.
The “human-centered” promise quickly reverts to “profit-centered” when faced with business pressure, where humans become statistics. I don't want to blame any designer or developer for not doing the right thing, I've been caught in those same dilemmas and haven't always succeeded in advocating for users. We've all heard it: “How many disabled users do we actually have?” This question fundamentally misunderstands accessibility as a niche concern rather than a universal design principle.
This statistical framing turns accessibility into a business case rather than a design fundamental. It makes inclusive design look like an optional personal mission instead of a basic professional requirement. And it ignores everything we know about the range of human ability and the benefits universal design brings to everyone.
Perfect accessibility doesn't exist, and treating it as an all-or-nothing proposition discourages progress. Instead, we should celebrate incremental improvements made with genuine understanding. Advocating for accessibility shouldn't sound like virtue signaling, and recommending working with accessibility consultants shouldn't sound like gatekeeping. We should start by including everyone in the discussion, as inclusion happens when everybody takes part in it.
Most of us start with small steps toward accessible websites and applications, maybe learning about alt text or checking color contrast on a project. These small efforts matter. When designers and developers bring genuine awareness to even simple improvements, they often notice more opportunities for inclusive design in their next project. I've seen this happen with others and in my work. We make progress by creating a culture where trying matters more than perfection, where we can acknowledge our limitations while still working to expand our understanding.
As we work toward more inclusive design practices today, we enter an era of profound technological change. The tools and interactions we design are evolving rapidly, but this evolution doesn't diminish the importance of accessibility; it amplifies it.
The Future of Human Interfaces
Whenever a new technology emerges, industry thought-leaders feel the need to predict the future as if it were set in stone, especially when such technology is as groundbreaking as the recent advancements in AI. Even though we can predict the future to a degree, we don't know the full extent of how it will change society, technology, and design. Certain digital platforms are full of such predictions, creating anxiety in people who are trying to get their bearings in the disciplines that those people “predict” to be eradicated. One of those claims is the end of “User Interfaces”, decreasing the importance of learning and practicing interface design and accessibility. That kind of discourse is not helpful for anyone, and I don't see the future from that perspective.
When people talk about interfaces, discussions are often limited to graphical user interfaces. Some suggest that traditional UIs will be replaced with voice interfaces or with no interface at all, and AI systems will know what to do without human interaction (or intervention). This may be true on some occasions, but what we are seeing is the opposite of such predictions. Instead of eliminating user interfaces, the urgent need for accessible and inclusive human interfaces is increasing. Even when a traditional GUI is replaced, the new paradigm becomes “the interface” in itself, and we want them to act even more human than ever.
Universal Design matters more than ever as tech becomes part of everything we do and the lines between humans and machines blur. As interfaces become more varied and embedded in our lives, the potential for exclusion grows. So does the opportunity for truly adaptive, responsive systems that meet people where they are. With the shift in technology, we need to rethink accessibility and pay even more attention to it.
The future of human interfaces isn't about technology disappearing, but about technology adapting to human diversity. Our responsibility as designers and developers doesn't diminish with AI but expands significantly. We're no longer just building websites or apps; we're shaping the fundamental ways humans interact with the digital world.
As we mark another Global Accessibility Awareness Day, let's commit to a future where the only limitation is our imagination, not our access, where technology adapts to humans, rather than humans adapting to technology. This future begins with awareness, grows through action, and thrives when we embrace the full spectrum of human diversity in everything we design.