When most people hear the word accessibility, they think about accommodations.
They think about captioning a video after someone requests it. They think about providing an alternate format document when a student identifies a need. They think about adding a ramp, extending a deadline, or installing a piece of assistive technology.
These things matter. In many cases, they are essential.
But after spending nearly two decades working in assistive technology and accessibility, I’ve come to believe that accessibility is often misunderstood. Too often, we treat it as something we add after a problem appears rather than something we design from the beginning.
When a student has to request an accommodation to access information that could have been designed more inclusively from the start, the system is already telling us something. It is telling us where the barrier exists.
Accessibility is not simply about responding to barriers. It is about examining why those barriers exist in the first place.
This shift in thinking changes the questions we ask.
Instead of asking, “What accommodation can we provide?” we begin asking, “Why is this barrier here at all?”
Instead of asking, “How quickly can we fix this?” we ask, “What decision allowed this problem to happen repeatedly?”
Those questions can be uncomfortable because they move responsibility away from individuals and toward systems. Yet that is often where the most meaningful improvements occur.
One of the most common misconceptions about accessibility is that it only benefits a small group of people. In reality, good accessibility is often just good design.
Clear communication helps everyone.
Well-structured documents help everyone.
Captions help more than people who are Deaf or hard of hearing.
Flexible ways to engage with information help more than people with documented disabilities.
Accessibility is not about creating special pathways for a few people. It is about creating environments where more people can participate without having to ask for permission first.
The longer I work in this field, the more I realize that accessibility is fundamentally about design choices. Every website, course, document, meeting, and technology platform reflects decisions that someone made. Those decisions determine who can participate easily and who must work harder simply to reach the starting line.
The goal is not perfection. No system can anticipate every individual need.
The goal is to design thoughtfully enough that accommodations become the exception rather than the primary strategy.
Accessibility is not something we bolt on at the end of a project.
It is something we build into the foundation.
And when we do, everyone benefits.
Explore this topic more in greater detail in my book – Designing Access.
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