Hot Take: Accessibility is for Disabled People
While accessibility may benefit everyone, we should remember the original goal of access for those with disabilities.
While many believe “accessibility is for everyone,” the actual legal and moral imperative is about equal rights and non-discrimination.
Your Stroller is Not a Civil Rights Issue
The major US accessibility laws (like the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 508) were not written to help parents with strollers or users with slow internet. They were passed as civil rights legislation to prevent the segregation and exclusion of disabled individuals.
For a non-disabled person, a ramp is a convenience - it’s easier than the stairs when carrying luggage. For a wheelchair user, the ramp is a necessity, if it is the only way to enter the building. Equating these two situations minimizes the fundamental human right being protected.
While the “curb cut effect” - where accessible features benefit everyone - is valid, it shouldn’t overshadow the core goal. The curb cut exists because disabled people fought for the right to navigate public spaces. The benefit to others - with strollers, shopping carts, luggage, and dollies - is a welcome byproduct, not the original intent or the primary justification. (Did any of those groups crawl up the Capitol steps demanding access?)
What is Accessibility, Then?
At its core, accessibility is about removing barriers and ensuring that people with disabilities have the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability, in an equally effective and integrated manner.
While the impetus for accessibility is people with disabilities, the outcome benefits a much wider population.
Accessibility: Focuses on the ability of a person with a disability to access a product, service, or environment, often in compliance with a standard (like WCAG).
Universal Design: A broader design philosophy focused on creating products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.
In fact, many core accessibility features are highly specialized and provide zero direct benefit to an able-bodied person using a typical interface. This proves that accessibility standards prioritize the needs of a specific group.
Braille and Tactile Paving: The Braille on a public sign or the textured, contrasting tactile paving at a train station primarily serves people who are blind or have low vision. A non-disabled, sighted person gets no informational benefit from it.
Assistive Technology (AT) Compatibility: The entire technical backbone of digital accessibility (like ARIA attributes in web code) is designed specifically to ensure compatibility with Assistive Technology (like screen readers and switch control devices). An average user interacting with a mouse and monitor never touches this code and receives no direct benefit.
Sign Language Interpreters/Transcripts: Providing a full American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter or a detailed transcript for an audio event is a crucial accessibility provision for the Deaf community. While captions have broad benefits, the interpreter/transcript is a targeted accommodation for a specific user group’s communication needs.
Risks of Accessibility for Everyone
If the primary purpose of accessibility is defined as “it helps everyone,” there’s a risk of it being de-prioritized when it conflicts with other goals or efficiency metrics.
By constantly justifying accessibility through its benefits to the majority (non-disabled users), the focus shifts from ethical obligation to business case and profit. If a company decides a feature that benefits 80% of users outweighs the cost of a feature that helps 5% of users (who are disabled), the accessibility feature is the first to be cut.
True accessibility requires making accommodations that sometimes introduce complexity for the developer or might seem less “streamlined” to the average user (e.g., adding detailed descriptions for complex data visualizations). When the goal is “universal design,” these specific, critical accommodations can be accidentally or intentionally overlooked in favor of a simpler design that serves the majority.
Accessibility Exists Because…
Accessibility is best understood as a human rights baseline that mandates equal access for disabled people. The fact that it improves the experience for everyone is a powerful, positive side effect, but it is not the reason for its existence or its continued enforcement. Accessibility exists because disabled people deserve an equal seat at the table, regardless of how many other people are already sitting there.