Accessible Design Resources

In our Design for All series, participants have contributed an incredible array of resources aimed at enhancing accessibility in design. Based on their recommendations we’ve curated a comprehensive list of tools, guides, articles, books, blogs, and videos tailored for accessibility and inclusion specialists at every level.

This collection includes valuable insights from individuals with lived experiences, practical WCAG checklists, and innovative tools like exclusion calculators. These resources offer a robust overview of strategies to improve accessibility and foster inclusion across your websites, applications, services, and environments.

Go to Tools
Go to Manuals, Guides, and Checklists
Go to Communities and Events
Go to Books
Go to Videos and Media

Tools

• Cambridge University’s exclusion calculator tool
  Estimates the proportion of the British population who would be unable to use a particular product or service.
• Web Disability Simulator
  Seeks to simulate how people with disabilities experience the web.
• Colour contrast analyser
  Helps optimise content for individuals with colour-blindness or low vision.
• WAVE
  A suite of tools helping authors make web content more accessible to individuals with disabilities, including a browser extension for checking accessibility issues on any webpage you’re currently on.
• Accessibility card deck
  A beautifully designed, easy-to-use card deck that helps spark accessibility conversations in design sessions. Great for workshops, team intros, or a quick reference.

Manuals, Guides, and Checklists

• The Inclusive Design Guide
  A website compiling insights, practices, tools and activities to support designing inclusive services, products, applications, and spaces.
• The GOV.UK Design System
  Outlines GOV.UK accessibility strategy, and how best to ensure your website or product complies with government accessibility requirements.
• Microsoft Inclusive Design
  Is a resource with principles, guides, videos, and activities to support inclusive and accessible design.
• DWP Accessibility Manual
  Outlines legislation, guidance, best practice, and tools to support creating accessible services.
• Home Office Accessibility Posters
  A series of posters outlining the dos and don’ts of designing for six user groups with accessibility requirements.
• SCULPT by Worcestershire County Council
  An acronym and guide to help build accessibility understanding and awareness.
• PAS 6463: Design for the mind – neurodiversity and the built environment
  Provides guidance for designing built environments that are inclusive of a neurodiverse user base.
• Inclusive Design Principles
  Outlines seven considerations for designing inclusively.
• WebAIM’s WCAG summary resources
  Excellent as an ‘at-a-glance’ summary of the full WCAG guidelines.
• WCAG quick reference guide
  A customizable quick reference to help designers meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2 requirements.
• A11y Project’s checklist
  A checklist to help check your WCAG compliance.
• Xbox Game Accessibility Guidelines
  A set of best practices to support designing accessible user experiences for video games.
• Game Accessibility Guidelines
  The predecessor to the above – a reference guide for inclusive game design.
• The Home Office’s Leader’s guide to accessibility
  Helps any digital leaders to implement accessible practices within their teams.
• The RNIB have a host of resources around digital accessibility, accessibility in communications and environments, accessible product design and testing, and more available on their website.
• Government Digital Service, Accessibility Personas
  A set of user profiles highlighting common accessibility barriers users can face when accessing digital content online and tips for designing content online.
• WCAG in Plain English
  A clear, human-friendly version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Makes collaboration across content, design and dev teams smoother and more inclusive.
• Mobile accessibility checklist by Andrew Hickory
  A focused, practical checklist for testing mobile app accessibility, drawn from real-world experience and common pain points.
• Appt.org mobile accessibility handbook
  An in-depth guide to mobile accessibility from a Netherlands-based accessibility consultancy. Covers a range of mobile-specific issues with clarity and depth.
• HSBC Accessibility Learning Hub
  An internal initiative from HSBC that’s been opened up for wider learning. Great for practical tips and short activities that build awareness around inclusive design.

Articles and Blogs

• GOV.UK’s ‘Making your service accessible: an introduction’
  A great guide to implementing accessible practices at every stage of design and development.
• The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and Martin Underhill’s breakdown of WCAG into more simple language.
• A11y Weekly Email
  A newsletter with articles and resources around accessibility.
• Regina Jankowski’s article on incorporating more mental health awareness in the WCAG.
• James Williamson writes about his experience with ALS and motor impairment in his blog Simple Primate.
• Léonie Watson’s post Losing sight, where she talks about losing her vision in her 20s and how she adjusted to her new reality.
• Jamie Knight, Jamie + Lion, who writes beautifully about his experiences as an autistic person designing digital products.
• Craig Abbott’s blog: European Accessibility Act
  Craig’s blog is a valuable resource in general, and this article offers detailed, actionable look at the upcoming European Accessibility Act.
• The Accessibility in Government blog
  A regularly updated blog from UK Government teams working on accessibility. Practical, open reflections on designing accessible services at scale.
• Molly Barnes
  An accessibility and inclusive design advocate sharing sharp insights, useful tools, and thoughtful perspectives across her platforms. A brilliant person to keep on your radar.

Communities and Events

• Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) is the third Thursday of May, and the GAAD Foundation collates and publicizes events around this date each year.
• Web Accessibility Slack Community –A11y Slack.
• CAN – Champions of Accessibility Network is a network of accessibility specialists on LinkedIn sharing resources, events, and thoughts on accessible design and practices.
• The annual AbilityNet TechShare Pro  conference is Europe’s largest event for the accessibility and disability inclusion community

Books

• Kate Holmes’ ‘Mismatch’ ‘is a great book for expanding your knowledge of inclusive design’
• Regine M. Gilbert’s ‘Inclusive Design for a Digital World’ “helped me understand just how unbounded the world of accessibility truly is.”
• Annie Jean-Baptiste’s ‘Building For Everyone’ “is a brilliant insight into how Google are leading the fight for inclusion.”
• Lucy Webster’s ‘The View from Down Here’ “her incredible memoir of life as a young, disabled woman. It cut through all the seasons of emotions and affected me deeply; I’ve never been so angry and full of admiration in one go.”
• Steve Krug’s ‘Don’t Make Me Think’  “is 200 pages of guiding principles and all-round gold that I’d recommend to just about anyone, designer or not.”
• Emily Ladau’s ‘Demystifying Disability’  ‘a great read for expanding your understanding of accessibility.’

Videos and Media

• The Accessibility 101 training course by Microsoft, available on Youtube.
• Nomensa’s Virtual11y conference – available on YouTube.
• CareScribe’s Skill Sessions webinars
• The Game Accessibility Conference YouTube
• A11y NYC Meetup YouTube
  An amazing collection of free, live presentations
• The Inclusive Design 24 conference – available on Youtube.
• NNG’s UX Podcast, and it’s episodes on accessibility.
• WebAIM YouTube channel
  Recordings of talks on a range of accessibility subjects from the Web Accessibility in Mind Conference.
• Assume that I can
  A thought-provoking video that challenges assumptions about disability and showcases the value of inclusive mindsets.
• Skyscanner’s Empathy Lab
  A behind-the-scenes look at how Skyscanner built an empathy lab to help teams experience what using inaccessible products can feel like.