Accessible Vs Inclusive Design: Understanding the difference

Let’s first understand the primary difference between these two concepts. Accessibility aims to make products convenient to all, predominantly catering to the needs of disabled people so that using a product is just as efficient for them, as it is for the rest of the population.?

An example where Accessible Design is not enabled is Apple. This world’s biggest mobile phone company has chosen to adopt a low text contrast on its website. By just looking at the navigation bar, a visually impaired person wouldn’t be able to tell what page they’re on. They’d even struggle to read the words “search support”.?

On the other hand, inclusive design involves taking into account user diversity. Inclusive design is a larger spectrum, which focuses on building for everyone. It takes into account the location, situational handicaps, perspectives of people, and anything else that may impair ability.

The practical examples of Inclusive designs are websites and apps with closed captioning all videos, having colorblind-friendly toggles, or controlling the time-outs (we’ve all had to log in again after getting timed out on that banking website). Inclusive websites use voice commands, screen reader adjustment, and smart navigation to help make life easier for everyone; including people with disabilities.

How Are Inclusive And Accessible Design Different?

1. Inclusive design is for everyone

Accessible Design takes into account the specific needs of people who are permanently disabled while inclusivity takes into account the following types of disability:

• Permanent disability: Motor limitation disabilities like ALS
• Temporary disability: Muscle injury or a broken bone on their hand
• Situational disability: Someone with their hands full, or even if they currently have dirty hands.

2. Accessible Design focuses on the end product, Inclusive design is a methodology

The main focus of Accessible design is to ensure ease of use for a person with a disability. It doesn’t take into account how they’ll change their future designs, or even how it might affect anyone who’s not disabled.

Inclusive Design is a methodology that challenges designers to think about how to make a product easier to use for everyone. It takes into account situational handicaps which might make it harder for people to use technology and isn’t driven by an immediate end product.

3. Accessible Design has standards by law, Inclusive design does not

In parts of the world like the United States, the “Americans with Disabilities Act” requires designs to follow the standards set by the Access Board for accessibility.

As we mentioned before, the Web Accessibility Initiative, launched by W3C and backed by the White House also has multiple guidelines in play to make the internet more accessible.

Accessible Design has a list of standards and guidelines to follow while trying to cater a product for people with disabilities. Whereas Inclusive design looks towards testing and creativity to help make the designs more user-friendly for everyone.?

What’s next?

A report from the American Institute of research claims the disposable income of disabled people in the US alone is up to $490 billion. Suddenly, spending a couple of bucks to make your product inclusive seems worth it, doesn’t it?

The next step of the UI UX revolution demands all the products and services to be accessible by all and inclusive of all use cases.? After all, 3.2% of the world’s population suffers from visual impairment, and 6% from hearing loss. No matter what it is you’re making, inclusive design is a must. In fact, working on accessibility and inclusive design often translates to having impeccable UI and UX design.?