Creating a positive culture around accessibility

Baking inclusive design into your business is a recipe for success.

Photo by Lagos Techie on Unsplash

Last month marked the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. I was recently reminded about that fact while listening to a 99% Invisible episode that talks about the ADA and the history of curb cuts. The built environment has a long history of being harmful and exclusionary to anyone with a disability even after the law passed. In that episode, you hear the pain and frustration in the voices of those shut out of society and left unable to take control of their own lives.

Despite the struggles many faced in public spaces, it took the Capitol Crawl — wheelchair activists climbing the steps to express their frustration — to get this legislation passed. And finally, the ADA took longer-overdue steps to rectify this injustice.

Digital accessibility is also a work in progress. On a state-by-state level, lawmakers are slowly rectifying exclusionary practices in our digital spaces. This has resulted in several prominent lawsuits about inaccessible websites. As a result, many more businesses are considering accessibility while building software — excellent news for everyone.

But most look at it like it’s a chore or a task to be done instead of a cultural shift. This is troubling. So if lawsuits and legislation are the stick, where’s the carrot to encourage us along? There are plenty of great business cases for making it part of your company’s culture and DNA. Here are a few of them to help get your business informed and excited about inclusive design.

Money talks

The collective spending power of disabled people — known as the Purple Pound — is worth £249 billion to the UK economy. Likewise, in the US the annual discretionary spending of people with disabilities is over $200 billion.

The United States is also an aging population, and as we age, more and more of us will have some sort of recognized disability — even if we don’t identify as a “person with a disability”. This goes beyond vision, and…