Workplace interactions rely on sight, hearing, speech, and touch, but assuming all senses work limits inclusive design. Adding transcripts to training videos helps factory workers and others navigate content more easily. Three common excuses block accessibility: thinking no employees need it, claiming no budget, and stopping at ADA compliance.
There's no such thing as normal when it comes to the interactions we design in our workplaces. They depend heavily on what we can see, hear, say, and touch. And assuming these senses are enabled all of the time really impacts our ability to create experiences for all of us. So I was designing training videos for workers in a factory. They like to watch their training videos on their mobile devices on the factory floor. Adding transcripts made these easier to navigate for our employees. So if you aren't considering accessibility now, you're not only missing out on the world's largest minority group, you're actually making workplaces harder to navigate, even for yourself. So I've heard the reasons we're not doing accessibility at work. We don't have employees that need this stuff. We don't have the resources or the budget for this. Or worse, we follow the ADA and that's all we need to do. So how are we going to fix our workplaces?
