Accessibility

“‘People with disability’ is the only minority group that anyone can join at any time”

—Australian Network on Disability.

Digital accessibility is the practice of creating inclusive products, services, and experiences that are usable by as many people as possible.

The AnywhereWorks design system aims to provide inclusivity by removing the barriers that impact visual, physical, auditory, and cognitive disabilities and impairments.

At a compliance level, we achieve this by ensuring that every component, feature and pattern in the design system adheres to WCAG Level AA accessibility requirements at a minimum.

However, more importantly, instead of solely relying on conformance checklists, we look at accessibility through a human-centred lens.

Thus, we have defined a series of principles that help us think in terms of user behaviours and needs.

While these principles contain relevant WCAG success criteria, the intention is for us to think of them as questions we should ask ourselves during design and development while assuming our users’ personas.

Our six principles require that all users:

1. Can adequately perceive every necessary element.
2. Have information provided to them in a meaningful, logical and predictable way.
3. Understand the purpose of every element and control.
4. Have defined and obvious means of wayfinding and navigating.
5. Can perceive the result of any action.
6. Are able to use their preferred (input) device.