Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Space for Everyone: Reframing Accessibility Through a Wider Lens

Gold
Thursday, June 10, 2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Share the love for this talk
Space for Everyone: Reframing Accessibility Through a Wider Lens
Speakers: Megan Clegg , Michael Haggerty-Villa and Alexis Morin
Link:

Summary

One of the strongest ways of making sure your customer experiences are accessible is to broaden the definition of accessibility for everyone at your organisation. Here are practical steps to make it happen, from visual and interaction design to content and code. Expose how some interpretations of a11y should be exceeded and practical steps to learn about accessibility as a topic. Real product stories relating to accessibility. Understand how design, content, and code work together to make accessible experiences that are better for all customers.

Key Insights

  • ADA’s Title III has no explicit web law but courts apply it unevenly to websites, creating legal ambiguity for companies.

  • WCAG 2.1 AA is the de facto standard for accessibility but does not cover native mobile apps.

  • Accessibility cannot rely on compliance alone; user experience must consider real situational contexts.

  • Situational use cases reveal needs beyond disabilities, such as multitasking parents or users in noisy environments.

  • Designing for largest possible audience includes people with temporary or situational impairments, not only permanent disabilities.

  • Compass found UI touch targets poorly positioned for natural thumb reach, impacting usability for on-the-go users like Olivia.

  • Users like John, in non-ideal lighting or environments, need flexible font sizes and contrast adjustments beyond default designs.

  • Embedding accessibility guidelines into design systems ensures consistent, scalable implementation across products.

  • Accessibility education and ongoing training across design, product, and engineering teams is critical to progress.

  • Manual accessibility QA involving people with disabilities complements automated checks to catch nuanced issues.

Notable Quotes

"There is actually no law for private entities in the US that mandates web accessibility."

"WCAG does not apply to native mobile apps, which is how slow progress can be on this topic."

"Situational use cases help us consider the realities outside the business problem that impact user success."

"Olivia isn’t disabled, she’s just in a situation that makes accessibility critical."

"Designing for the largest audience possible means including people with temporary or situational impairments."

"Compliance is not enough; we need to go beyond minimum legal requirements for true accessibility."

"Making accessibility a shared activity turns it into a team effort, involving co-workers, stakeholders, and customers."

"Accessibility education embedded in onboarding and ongoing training builds organizational muscle."

"Automated tests only get you so far; manual QA by people aware of accessibility needs is essential."

"We are evolving our design system to incorporate accessibility guidelines consistently as a foundational practice."

Ask the Rosenbot
Sheri Byrne-Haber
Accessibility at Scale
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Noah Bond
Redefining truth and inclusivity: Navigating data ownership and ethical research in the age of disinformation
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Llewyn Paine
Coexisting with AI: A practical guide for researchers to navigate tools, ethics, and integration
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Megan Clegg
Space for Everyone: Reframing Accessibility Through a Wider Lens
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Davis Neable
How to Drive a Design Project When you Don’t Have a Design Team
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Melinda Belcher
Insider preview of Enterprise Experience 2020
2020 • Enterprise Community
Uday Gajendar
From AI to Zeitgeist: Theory as the design antidote to AI hype
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Ariel Kennan
Theme Two Intro
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Steve Portigal
War Stories LIVE! Steve Portigal
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Magdalena Zadara
Zero Hour: How to Get Far Quickly When Starting Your Digital Service Unit Late
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Dave Malouf
Panel: Design Systems and Documentation
2017 • DesignOps Summit 2017
Gold
Kaitlin Tasker
Fast and Fearless Inclusive Research
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Teresa Swingler
Look, Up in the Sky! UX/UI for Aerospace
2022 • Enterprise Community
Rachel Posman
A Closer Look at Team Ops and Product Ops (Two Sides of the DesignOps Coin)
2020 • DesignOps Community
Kit Unger
Theme 3 Intro
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
GenAI for UXers: A Rosenbot Demo and Discussion
2025 • Designing with AI 2025
Gold

More Videos

Tamara Hale

"Whatever image I had attempted to create was always subject to interpretations that I could not control."

Tamara Hale

War Stories LIVE! Tamara Hale

March 30, 2020

Joanna Vodopivec

"Inviting other teams into research sessions lets us triangulate findings by combining interviews, observations, and focus groups."

Joanna Vodopivec Prabhas Pokharel

One Research Team for All - Influence Without Authority

March 9, 2022

Saara Kamppari-Miller

"We use storytelling to turn accessibility from just compliance into a business differentiator that executives care about."

Saara Kamppari-Miller Nicole Bergstrom Shashi Jain

Key Metrics: Comparing Three Letter Acronym Metrics That Include the Word “Key”

November 13, 2024

Nalini P. Kotamraju

"I don’t exactly even know who I am if not a researcher."

Nalini P. Kotamraju

Two Jobs in One: Being a “Leader who is a Researcher” and a “Researcher who is a Leader"

March 10, 2021

Ian Johnson

"Simple word-list based filters can easily be tricked by misspellings or slight variations in prompts."

Ian Johnson

Latent Scope: Finding structure in unstructured data

June 11, 2025

Greg Petroff

"I get bored super easily; that’s why I’m super into the AI stuff right now."

Greg Petroff

Exit Interview #1: Greg Petroff: From Silicon Valley Executive to Sonoma County Possibilitarian

September 24, 2025

Frances Yllana

"We need more storytelling and positive use cases to help people see how AI affects their specific roles."

Frances Yllana Jorge Arango Maria Taylor Briana Thomas

The Big Question about Impact: A Panel Discussion

September 24, 2024

Maria Giudice

"Change really cannot be done by any individual person. Change is a team sport."

Maria Giudice

Remaking the Making Company: Moving from Product to Experience

June 9, 2016

Louis Rosenfeld

"If your topic is already tackled exceptionally by a prior book, go deeper or wait until the market shifts."

Louis Rosenfeld

Coffee with Lou: Should You Write a (UX) Book?

March 7, 2024