Mistakes to Avoid in Accessibility Design

Inaccessibility is all around us - but sometimes we’re doing it without even realising. I’ve made every one of these mistakes in the past. It wasn’t until someone took the time to point them out that I learned how inaccessible I was being - despite having good intentions. Here are 5 ways you might be being inaccessible, without even knowing: 1. Long LinkedIn headlines or overuse of emojis. Screen reader users hear your full headline every single time you post or comment. Every. Single. Time. Even when it’s truncated visually. That can mean hearing your full job title, emojis, and taglines multiple times before even reaching your post content. Try to keep your headline under 100 characters or two lines max - it makes a huge difference. 2. Long email signatures, HTTP links, and unlabelled images. Screen readers will read out every line - including things like “H-T-T-P-colon-slash-slash…” for full URLs. Images without alt text are completely invisible to screen reader users. Keep it short and simple, and use alt text wherever you can. Put only essential info in your email signature and put two dashes at the top to signal your signature is starting. And remember, it’s not your marketing tool. When was the last time you actually bought something from an email signature?! 3. Not running documents through the accessibility checker. You run a spell check, so why not an acceeeibility check? It’s a quick step, but it can flag things like heading structures, contrast issues, and missing image descriptions. It takes seconds and makes a big impact. 4. Using colour alone to convey meaning. For example, “I’ve marked the important cells in green” doesn’t help if someone can’t perceive colour easily. Neither does “I’ve shaded the cells for our RAG status”. Always add a label, icon, or another indicator. 5. Using all lowercase hashtags. #thisisnotaccessible - screen readers can’t parse where one word ends and another begins. Use camel case instead - #ThisIsAccessible - so screen readers pronounce the words correctly. Small changes, big impact. If you’ve made some of these mistakes before - welcome to the club. We learn, we improve, we do better. #DisabilityInclusion #Disability #DisabilityEmployment #Adjustments #DiversityAndInclusion #Content #A11y

You can’t see cognitive overload. That’s why it’s ignored. Most teams treat accessibility as contrast ratios and alt text. But cognitive accessibility is wider than that, and less forgiving when you get it wrong. Here are 5 common cognitive disabilities And what designers can actually do. 1. ADHD Challenges: • Distractibility • Difficulty prioritizing • Overwhelm from dense layouts Design for: • Clear visual hierarchy • One primary action per section • Step-based flows Avoid: • Competing primary CTAs • Auto-rotating carousels • Notification overload 2. Dyslexia Challenges: • Slower decoding • Reading fatigue • Difficulty with dense text blocks Design for: • Plain language • Left-aligned text • Generous line height (1.5+ recommended) • Clear headings and chunking Avoid: • Justified text • Long paragraphs • Low-contrast body text 3. Autism Spectrum Challenges: • Sensory sensitivity • Cognitive overload • Distress from unexpected change Design for: • Predictable layouts • Explicit labels • Warnings before context shifts • User-controlled animation and motion Avoid: • Sudden modals • Autoplay video • Reduced motion off by default • Ambiguous copy like “Try it” or “Explore.” 4. Memory Impairment Challenges: • Forgetting steps • Losing context in multi-step flows Design for: • Persistent instructions • Progress indicators • Auto-save • Clear error recovery Avoid: • Clearing form data on error • Hiding previous answers • Long forms without sectioning 5. Anxiety Disorders Challenges: • Fear of mistakes • Stress from uncertainty • Decision paralysis Design for: • Reassuring microcopy • Undo functionality • Transparent consequences • Calm error messaging Avoid: • Countdown timers • Aggressive urgency language • Vague destructive actions Ask yourself: "Does this screen reduce thinking or increase it?" 👇🏽 Are we over-indexing on visual accessibility while ignoring cognitive overload? Drop your thoughts in the comments. ♻️ Share and save this for your team. --- ✉️ Subscribe to my newsletter for accessibility and design insights here: https://lnkd.in/gZpAzWSu --- Accessibility note: Content in the post is the same as the image attached (except for a few bullets omitted for easy scanability)

If you want to become a world-class leader in Disability Inclusion and Accessibility, there are key mistakes you absolutely need to avoid. Over the years, I've learned these lessons the hard way. Here are 7 mistakes I’ve made that I would 100% avoid now: 1. Being indecisive Inclusion is not an afterthought. When you hesitate or wait for "the right time," you lose valuable moments for real change. The right time is always now. Making decisions quickly and intentionally is crucial when advocating for accessibility—it shows commitment. 2. Being unreliable If you make a promise to the disability community, follow through. Trust is everything. Whether it’s delivering accessible products, implementing feedback, or simply showing up—if you can’t be counted on, your entire message loses credibility. Consistency builds trust. 3. Not continuously learning Accessibility is constantly evolving. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’ve learned it all. The needs of people with disabilities vary, and so do the tools and solutions available to meet those needs. Stay curious, stay humble, and keep learning. 4. Not creating clarity A vague approach to inclusion does more harm than good. Be crystal clear about your accessibility goals and communicate them effectively. If your team doesn’t know what accessibility looks like or why it matters, how can they deliver? 5. Not adapting to change Accessibility isn’t static—it changes with technology, societal understanding, and individual needs. Being rigid can cripple your efforts. Be flexible, be adaptive. Progress requires you to embrace change rather than fear it. 6. Avoiding conflict Real inclusion means having hard conversations. Don’t avoid addressing the barriers, prejudices, or ableism in your organization. Confront the uncomfortable truths. Only by acknowledging these challenges can you make meaningful progress. 7. Not focusing on results Intentions matter, but impact is what counts. Stop celebrating token gestures and start measuring actual change. Are your spaces accessible? Are your hiring practices inclusive? Is your content available to everyone? Results speak louder than words. These mistakes taught me that, and now, I make sure to act on what I’ve learned.

Inclusive design is more than the font you choose. It is about how your content behaves when it meets a different nervous system. We are auditing your media and structure. In our rush for engagement, corporate communications often rely on visual shortcuts like flashing videos, color coded alerts, and walls of emojis. Marketing calls these tactics. I call them barriers. When accessibility clashes with creativity, we often default to what looks flashy rather than what is functional. But true creativity flourishes within the constraints of inclusive design. Compliance is just the floor. Our goal is to cultivate an ecosystem where everyone thrives. Here are 8 ways to operationalize inclusion in your content structure. 1/ The Emoji Balance → The Tension: A wall of emojis creates chaos for screen reader users. → Reality: Minimal emojis act as vital visual anchors that break up dense text for ADHD and dyslexic minds (like mine). → The Fix: Use sparingly. Place them at the end of sentences, never in the middle. 2/ The Caption Choice → The Tension: Audio posted bare completely excludes Deaf and Auditory Processing communities. → Reality: But forced, burned in open captions can distract or overwhelm some neurodivergent minds. → The Fix: Provide high quality closed captions (CC). AI generated captions are helpful, but a human must review for accuracy. This empowers user agency, allowing individuals to toggle them based on their needs. 3/ The Color & Shape Rule → The Tension: Using only color to signal danger locks out colorblind users. → The Fix: Always pair color with a distinct shape or text label to ensure the warning translates across all visual systems. 4/ The Alt Text Discipline → The Tension: Images with file names like "IMG_5920.jpg" are dead ends for screen readers. → The Fix: Write descriptive, concise alternative text that translates the visual data clearly. 5/ The Header Hierarchy → The Tension: Manually bolding text to look like a header creates a flat, confusing landscape for screen readers. → The Fix: Use actual heading styles (H1, H2) to create a structured, accessibility. 6/ The Motion Control → The Tension: Auto playing GIFs or flashing content trigger vestibular overload, siezures and visual migraines. → The Fix: Use static images or user controlled play buttons. Protect your team's nervous systems. 7/ The Permanent Label → The Tension: Form field labels that disappear once you start typing strain working memory and executive function. → The Fix: Keep labels permanently visible above the text box to reduce cognitive load. 8/ The Invisible Reality → The Tension: We often design solely for static, highly visible needs. → The Fix: Recognize that many disabilities are invisible or temporary. Low friction content is high impact content and supports everyone. Stop making your audience fight your design to get to your message. Check your latest post or project. Are you planting barriers, or cultivating connection?

Let's talk about the accessibility mistakes that agencies don't like to admit they're making. I get it - you're trying to do right by your clients while managing tight budgets and timelines. But here's what I keep seeing: • You're trusting automated tools to catch everything. They won't. Scanners find maybe 25-30% of real accessibility issues - the easy stuff like missing alt text and color contrast. They miss keyboard traps, screen reader context problems, and the barriers that actually stop people from using your clients' sites. An automated scan that comes back clean doesn't mean the site is accessible. It means the scan is done. • You're not talking to clients about accessibility until they ask. Your clients are counting on you to guide them. You're the professional. When you wait for them to bring it up, you're both missing an opportunity to build it in from the start. Retrofitting accessibility after launch is expensive, frustrating, and often incomplete. Having the conversation early protects your client, protects you, and makes the work easier for everyone. • You're delegating it to one person. When accessibility knowledge lives in just one person's head, you've created a single point of failure. What happens when they're out sick? When they leave? Everyone on your team needs baseline knowledge - PMs, designers, developers, content creators, QA. Not everyone needs to be an expert, but everyone needs to understand how their role affects accessibility. This isn't about shame. It's about getting better at something that matters. So where do you start? Pick one thing. Train your whole team on the basics. Start asking clients about accessibility in discovery calls. Add manual testing to your QA process. Progress over perfection. If you're an agency looking for support as you build accessibility into your services, AAArdvark Circle is reopening soon. It's a program designed specifically to help agencies offer accessibility testing and consulting to clients - with training, resources, and backup from our team. Comment "circle" if you want to learn more.

As #accessibility experts we often tell designers to avoid custom UI components because they're expensive to build and maintain. But using existing UI components in mashed up ways can be just as inaccessible. Consider this seemingly simple date picker feature. The feature on the left consists of 2 radio buttons and a separate date picker input field. This is incredibly easy to build and maintain. The feature on the right mashes the datepicker field into the second radio label, creating a keyboard trap. (How? Clicking or focusing on the date picker selects the radio input, making it impossible to choose "Start today" with a keyboard only). Both will perform just as well in UX testing and in production, but designers will choose the 2nd layout because it seems more sophisticated and compact. This is why I teach product teams to manually design and test in this order: Low vision » Keyboard only » Screen reader. When this sequence is followed, fewer unconsidered designs make it to development. If you're building an accessibility program, you might also like TheBookOnAccessibility.com, a step by step guide to enterprise software accessibility.

One thing I wish someone had told me earlier in my UX career:  Accessibility isn’t a separate phase of design. It’s something you weave into your workflow from the beginning. It’s a foundational part of a high-quality UX process, the same way responsive design is (like, we don’t debate whether a website should work on mobile). Early in my career, I used to think accessibility meant checking color contrast at the end, and the rest was on the developers. That was so wrong LOL! Accessibility comes from specific design decisions, long before development. When the moment comes to make those decisions, will you already know what to do? ➤ Do disabled elements need a certain level of color contrast? ➤ Is there a minimum contrast ratio for button borders, logos, or UI controls (like toggle switches, checkboxes, pagination)? ➤ How should you design the display of error messages? ➤ How do you make color-coded data visualizations, like charts and graphs, accessible for people who can't see color or tell the difference between certain colors? ➤ If you’re still using links labeled “read more” or “details,” what should they say instead? ➤ How do you design progress trackers without relying on color to differentiate past, current, and future steps? ➤ How do you design focus states so keyboard users can always see where they are? These are all design decisions! Not developer magic, not legal checkboxes. And the thing that frustrated me for years was that I couldn’t find anyone teaching the practical *how* of this. It’s not in universities, design bootcamps, or UX certificate programs. I wanted someone to explain which decisions are non-negotiable for accessibility, and where you still have creative freedom to express the brand within its system. I looked everywhere for real UI examples, real components, real instructions… but that resource didn’t exist. So I built it. If you want an exact, practical, specific guide, this is it.  No theory, no generalizations, no “it depends.” 9 hours of concrete, step-by-step instructions for specific components, like progress trackers, error states, charts, interaction states, and more. I set the Cyber Week discount to the maximum Udemy allows, 90% off, to make this more reachable for people who want it. (On top of that, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee, if it ends up not being the right fit for you.) 90% off code: CYBER-UP Good for the next 3 days. Feel free to share it. Watch the free preview and enroll here: https://lnkd.in/gAkwC5_M  I want you to feel confident making accessibility decisions the moment they’re in front of you. 🌎❤️ #Accessibility #UXDesign #UXAccessibility #InclusiveDesign #A11y