Every user counts: The synergy between UX/UI design and accessibility

[ayshakhatun3113]

What is digital accessibility?
Simply put, digital accessibility means that all people, with or without disabilities, can use digital products.

To make the development of a product accessible, we must ask ourselves what user groups there are, what needs users have and in what contexts of use they move.

Why is digital accessibility often neglected?
Unfortunately, it happens time and again that project teams intend to make the solution accessible, but fail to implement it. Why is this?

First of all, it's difficult to adapt something that isn't well understood. Most of the time, the team doesn't lack motivation, but rather knowledge about how disabilities prevent people from interacting with our website.
Secondly, there is some work involved in making an application accessible – from knowing the standards to designing the necessary functions and features into the application. Then, of course, there is testing to see if the approach has yielded the desired result, and much of the testing can only be done manually.
Thirdly, it is a common misconception that digital accessibility facebook data only benefits people with disabilities and that, therefore, it is not worth considering this minority. I have heard this phrase many times throughout my professional life and now I would like to explain why it is wrong.
Why is digital accessibility important?
In the digital age, accessibility is an important factor for inclusion and an equal user experience. In particular, learning and developing accessible digital solutions makes the internet more accessible for everyone. Two examples:

An able-bodied or hearing-impaired person who wants to watch something on their smartphone on public transport without headphones will be forced to postpone watching series or learning materials if they are not subtitled. At least this is true for many people who prefer to watch videos without sound in public.
With heavy bags in your hands, it is difficult to use a mobile phone. Studying a map, writing a message or calling someone is difficult in this situation and requires a lot of effort. The fewer actions a user has to perform with his fingers in this situation, the more comfortable it is for him.
These examples already demonstrate that a disability can be not only permanent, but also situational. If we also take into account difficult user environments, there is a very high probability that everyone can benefit from accessible web services.

Accessible from the start: accessible UX and UI design
Let's imagine the following situation: Our team has decided to develop the project with accessibility in mind from the start. During the planning phase, the question arises as to who our users are and what challenges they face in their user journey. There is also the question of what legal requirements our product must meet.

In German-speaking countries, we must primarily follow the Ordinance on the Creation of Barrier-Free Information Technologies in accordance with the Act on Equal Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (BITV 2.0). BITV 2.0 is based on the international guidelines for accessible web content (WCAG 2.1) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).