UX Design For Accessibility Compliance

🏎️💨 How To Design For Aging Population. One billion people aged 60+ live today, and it’s growing faster than any other age group. Key points to consider for more age-inclusive UX ↓ 🚫 Don’t assume that older adults struggle to use digital. ✅ Most users are healthy, active and have a solid income. 🤔 With age, it’s more difficult to focus on close objects. 🤔 Visuals with a similar contrast are harder to tell apart. 🤔 60 years → need 3× more light to perceive same brightness. 🤔 With age, shades of blue/purple, yellow/green look similar. 🤔 Reduced dexterity causes errors with precise movements. ✅ Add UI controls to resize columns, move cards, drag-n-drop. ✅ Always confirm destructive actions, allow to Undo/restore. 🚫 Avoid disappearing messages as toasts: let people close them. ✅ Baseline: large body copy (16px+), color contrast (WCAG AA). ✅ Prefer plain language, large checkboxes, radios (36px+). ✅ Avoid small floating labels and use static field labels. ✅ Show error messages above the text input, not below. 🚫 Don’t rely on accessibility overlays; they are trouble. Accessibility doesn’t have to be dull or boring. It doesn’t come at the cost of oversimplification — it can be bold and passionate, while understanding and respecting the needs of the different audiences it caters to. If anything, it makes boldness more accessible to more people. Conversations about older audiences tend to come with plenty of assumptions and stereotypes — and very often they are simply inaccurate. We overgeneralize and simplify. For example, just like when designing for children, we need to study vast differences in the age groups of 60–65, 65–70 etc. Just like any other group, older users need a reliable, clear product that helps them feel independent and competent. Bring older adults in your design process to find out what their specific needs are. It’s not just better for that specific target audience — good accessibility is better for everyone. And huge kudos to wonderful people contributing to a topic that is often forgotten and overlooked. 👏🏼👏🏽👏🏾 Useful resources: Wise Case Study: Accessible But Never Boring, by Stephanie S. https://lnkd.in/d-hjj_BF Designing For Older Audiences, by Matthew Stephens https://lnkd.in/dAXZ9mp3 Better Microcopy For Older Adults, by Michal Halperin Ben Zvi (PhD.), Kinneret Yifrah https://lnkd.in/evWGFB6u What You Can Learn From Older Adults, by Becca Selah https://lnkd.in/eZdbgRyA Designing Age-Inclusive Products, by Michal Halperin Ben Zvi (PhD.) https://lnkd.in/eQZJwEgS [continues in the comments below ↓] #ux #accessibility

A lot of accessibility issues can be already foreseen and prevented in the design phase. You can save time checking and documenting accessibility mockups. In this article, I cover color usage, contrast ratios, text resizing, font legibility, target sizes, form elements, focus order, complex components keyboard interactions, skip links, headings, landmarks, and alternative text for images. The tips in here are focused in Figma, but can be applied to other tools. https://lnkd.in/eu8YuWyF

The Trinova SCI began with a simple question from someone who had lost the use of his legs: “Could the Trinova work for me?” My first thought was not how to adapt the controls. It was much more fundamental: Where would I store the wheelchair? The Trinova is too narrow to carry a conventional wheelchair, and transferring into a separate driver seat would still leave the chair behind. So I asked a different question: “What if the wheelchair became the driver seat?” The concept allows the driver to approach the Trinova in their wheelchair, dock directly with the vehicle, and remain in the same seating position throughout the journey. No transfer. No lifting. No need to store the chair. Simply roll up, dock, drive, and go. For many people with spinal cord injuries or limited mobility, getting into and out of a vehicle can be one of the greatest barriers to independent travel. Removing that barrier could return something that is often lost after an injury: Freedom. The goal of the Trinova SCI is not to build another wheelchair or mobility device. It is to get people back on the road. Back to commuting. Back to spontaneous trips. Back to independence. Because mobility is not just about getting from A to B. It is about having the freedom to decide where B is. #TrinovaSCI #DriveTrinova #Accessibility #MobilityInnovation #SpinalCordInjury #AssistiveTechnology #InclusiveDesign #Engineering #Independence #WheelchairAccessible #FutureOfMobility

40% of new hearing aid users struggle to insert their devices. That's not a user problem. That's a design failure. Debra Ruh, Neil Milliken and I spoke with Jeffrey Szmanda on AXSChat. He's an inventor and Hearing Aid User Advocate who's spent decades solving problems that manufacturers ignore. His journey started in 1990. Wrist fatigue while typing led him to co-invent the Comfort Keyboard System — an ergonomic keyboard that became an FDA-classified medical device. It helped people with physical limitations return to work. Decades later, he noticed something troubling with hearing aids. People in their 70s with arthritis, tremor, or reduced dexterity couldn't grip the tiny speakers. So they gave up. The devices ended up in drawers. His solution is called the Groove Button. Simple ergonomic design. Fingernail groove. Backstop. Fingertip support. It works. But manufacturers haven't adopted it. Jeff's proposal: label products as "deficiently designed" when companies ignore available solutions. When we design for the average user, we exclude millions. What's the most frustrating design flaw you've encountered in assistive technology?

This free open-source kit gives Claude the design rules most AI-coded apps are missing. Most models can generate a good-looking component. The problems start when you ask for screen two. Spacing changes. Colors get hardcoded. Component states disappear. Accessibility becomes an afterthought. The product slowly turns into five different design systems. ux-ui-agent-skills gives Claude a shared system to work inside. What you get: → 138 AI-readable design references inspired by products and visual styles such as Apple, Linear, Stripe, Vercel, Notion, and Spotify → A 3-tier DTCG token system for primitive, semantic, and component tokens → 17 Claude Code skills for tokens, components, code generation, accessibility audits, redesigns, and design reviews → 16 framework adapters for React, Vue, Svelte, SwiftUI, Flutter, React Native, and other stacks → Automated checks for contrast, responsive overflow, hardcoded values, focus traps, RTL layouts, component states, and accessibility One important detail: These are not 138 official or installable UI libraries. They are 138 detailed DESIGN.md specifications that Claude can convert into local tokens and framework-specific code. A practical workflow looks like this: 1. Select a visual direction 2. Map it into semantic tokens 3. Design every component state 4. Generate the code for your framework 5. Run the accessibility and design-review gates Install it with: npx ux-ui-agent-skills init Repo: https://lnkd.in/dczxN45M Pick one design system. Build one component. Run the gates before you generate the rest of the product. I'm Shrey Shah & I talk about harness engineering.

It would not have been hard to design this apartment entry to be barrier free and fully accessible. Firstly it has steep roll over kerbs, which are extremely problematic for people with mobility issues and vision impairment. Secondly, there is a step at the front door that’s not necessary. While the design aesthetic is nice it really means it’s inaccessible for people in wheelchairs, very difficult for elderly people with walkers and hard for parents with prams. The aim should be to design out step barriers and what I call “standards induced clutter” such as handrails, tactile paving, kerb barriers etc wherever possible. >> Steps should be replaced with a ramp (1:14-1:20)but you still have standards induced clutter. >> Ramps should be replaced with walkway 1:20-1:33 which also removes the clutter. >>> Aim for shallower than 1:33 where feasible. Any plaza however can’t be steeper than 1:40 in any direction. #accessability #universalnaccess #landscapearchitecture

When designing gardens or landscapes, always consider people in all shapes and forms. Raised gardens, for example, are really helpful for individuals with back troubles. Some tips you could use if creating a (semi-)public outdoor space: ✅ Use wide, stable pathways At least 1.2 meters wide, with non-slip surfaces like compacted gravel, resin-bound paths, or decking with grip strips. ✅ Provide seating and rest areas Place benches or natural seating (like logs or rocks) every 20–30 meters. Include backs and armrests for extra support. ✅ Create sensory-rich zones Incorporate fragrant plants, textured foliage, and gentle sounds (like rustling grasses or water features) to stimulate the senses, especially for people with visual impairments or autism. ✅ Vary the heights of garden beds Include some at ground level, some raised to standing height, and others for people in wheelchairs to roll under comfortably (typically 70–85 cm high). ✅ Use clear signage with icons Label plant species, directions, or learning points with large fonts and symbols to support visitors of all reading levels and abilities. ✅ Include shade and shelter Pergolas, trees, or simple awnings can provide essential relief for those sensitive to heat or sun. ✅ Avoid sharp edges and trip hazards Smooth transitions between materials and clearly defined path borders are key. #regenerative #landscapedesign #landscapearchitecture #agroecology #regenerativefarming #agroforestry #farming #tuin #permaculture #voedselbos #nature #climate #health #gutmicrobiome #guthealth #foodforest Image: @creative_gardening1

Your design system probably has buttons in several different states: default, hover, active, and disabled. But what about focused? Designers carefully craft every interactive state, but focus indicators often don't make it into the handoff. That creates a gap where developers either use the browser's default focus state or have to make design decisions without guidance. And neither of those options is great. Focus indicators aren't optional. They're how keyboard users navigate your interface. When you don't design them, you're leaving a significant portion of your users with a subpar experience. So before you hand off your next design, make sure focus states are part of the package: • Add focus indicators to your component library - treat them like any other interactive state. • Show them in your prototypes - if they're visible in your designs, they're more likely to get coded correctly. • Document the logic - something like "focus indicator uses primary-600 with 2px offset". • Test keyboard navigation yourself - tab through your protoype before handoff to see if the focus flow makes sense. When you design focus indicators with the same care you give to hover states, you're not just building a more accessible interface. You're making a more usable interface for everyone who navigates with a keyboard, and that's more people than you think. What do you include in your focus state documentation? I'd love to hear how other teams are handling this. #Accessibility Image description: An image displaying the five visual states of a button in an interface design, arranged vertically against a dark navy background. States include a default state in emerald green with white text, a hover state in lighter green with dark text, an active state similar to hover with a bottom shadow, a disabled state in shades of grey, and a focus state similar to the hover state with a golden yellow outline. At the bottom, the AAArdvark logo appears, along with the text a20y.com.

*New paper* (relevant for UX/product/policy folks as well as researchers)! Modeling Accessibility: Characterizing What We Mean by "Accessible" Presented this week at the ASSETS Conference on Computers and Accessibility by last author, Emma McDonnell, first author, Kelly Avery Mack. People take different approaches to improve accessibility. We argue that modeling it can provide designers and researchers insight into how technology operates within the context of disabled people’s lives. These models can illuminate paths forward to address accessibility in different contexts. We developed this modeling process from interviews with 25 people with diverse disabilities and health conditions. 3 modeling steps. 1. Identify access barrier type; we outlined 4: A. Failure Point: Impossible task. B. Usability: (In)access refers to experience quality. C. Bodymind (in)access. D. Future Impact: Task is possible but negative impacts come later. 2. Identify repertoires and contextual factors. 2 types of repertoires: I. Combination: Use multiple tools/approaches. II. Choose among different options. Relevant contextual factors will be unique to the situation, but identity and impactful power differences and structural factors (e.g., eligibility for services) are essential considerations. 3. Consequence Calculus: Determine the repertoire and associated gaps with contextual factors. Other co-authors: Jesse Martinez, Aaleyah Lewis, Jennifer Mankoff, James Fogarty, Leah Findlater, Heather Evans I am so lucky/blessed to continue fun and intellectually enriching collaborations with University of Washington accessibility and disability scholars! Read the paper! https://lnkd.in/eHnbaCB4

Inclusive Design in Intimate Tech: What “For Every Body” Really Means View My Portfolio. Inclusive sexual wellness isn’t a slogan—it’s a measurable standard across ergonomics, materials, and guidance. Design requirements you can measure • Fit range: Offer 3–5 size/shape variants or modular sleeves; target ≥90% hand-size reachability (thumb–index span) in usability tests. • Force & comfort: Keep sustained contact pressures under ~20–30 kPa; enable low-start intensities with 10–15% ramp steps. • Noise & discretion: Aim <45 dB at 30 cm for “quiet use.” • Grip & control: Achieve ≤5% slip rate in wet-hand tests; one-handed operation for all core actions. • Menopause & sensitivity: Provide “warm-up” modes (lower amplitude/longer pulses) and pair with pH-friendly lubricants/moisturizers. • Neurodiversity & sensory needs: Offer low-latency tactile cues, a “simple mode” UI, and clear on-device icons (no app required). • Accessibility: High-contrast labeling, tactile bumps on buttons, and magnetized or drop-in charging. Operational playbook Recruit diverse testers (age, anatomy, mobility, neurotype). Run scenario-based tasks (reach, grip, cleaning, storage). Track outcomes: completion time, error rate, perceived effort, comfort (Likert), and return reasons. Ship guidance, not just hardware: 4–12 week use paths, contraindications, and care tips. At V For Vibes, we curate and develop products against these inclusivity KPIs—prioritizing ergonomics, body-safe materials, and clear education so more people achieve safe, comfortable results. #SexTech #SexualWellness #InclusiveDesign #HumanFactors #Accessibility #UXResearch #Ergonomics #ProductDesign #WomenInTech #Neurodiversity #MenopauseCare #PrivacyByDesign #DTC #VForVibes