9 great books on Designing for Accessibility and Inclusion
Once you've figured out the problems and needs of your users, it's crucial to design the solution in a way that everyone is enabled to use your product or feature. This is where a lot of companies fail. We tend to design for a world how we see it. Inclusive and accessible design should not be "nice to have" but rather a standard. The following nine books tackle this topic from different angles, showing the importance of designing your products and businesses with everyone in mind and helping you to incorporate accessibility and inclusion in your daily work.
Inclusive Design for a Digital World
Why read?
What is inclusive design? It is simple. It means that your product has been created with the intention of being accessible to as many different users as possible. For a long time, the concept of accessibility has been limited in terms of only defining physical spaces. However, change is afoot: personal technology now plays a part in the everyday lives of most of us, and thus it is a responsibility for designers of apps, web pages, and more public-facing tech products to make them accessible to all. Our digital era brings progressive ideas and paradigm shifts – but they are only truly progressive if everybody can participate.
298 pages, 2019
Mismatch
Why read?
In Mismatch, Kat Holmes describes how design can lead to exclusion, and how design can also remedy exclusion. Inclusive design methods—designing objects with rather than for excluded users—can create elegant solutions that work well and benefit all. Designing for inclusion is not a feel-good sideline. Holmes shows how inclusion can be a source of innovation and growth, especially for digital technologies. It can be a catalyst for creativity and a boost for the bottom line as a customer base expands. And each time we remedy a mismatched interaction, we create an opportunity for more people to contribute to society in meaningful ways.
176 pages, 2020
Technically Wrong
Why read?
Buying groceries, tracking our health, finding a date: whatever we want to do, odds are that we can now do it online. But few of us realize just how many oversights, biases, and downright ethical nightmares are baked inside the tech products we use every day. It’s time we change that.In Technically Wrong, Sara Wachter-Boettcher demystifies the tech industry, leaving those of us on the other side of the screen better prepared to make informed choices about the services we use and to demand more from the companies behind them.
240 pages, 2018
Inclusive Components
Why read?
Inclusive Components examines common web UI patterns through the lens of inclusion. The aim is to find more accessible and robust solutions for the patterns we author, plug in, and use every day. Each chapter tackles a single component, addressing how different and vulnerable people might read and interact with it, and how they can be better accommodated. The in-depth explorations are meticulously illustrated and code examples culminate as working demos. Inclusive design is not about wrong and right, but bad to better. You’ll learn plenty of tips from Inclusive Components, but you’ll also adopt the mindset to go on and make even better components.
332 pages, 2019
A Web for Everyone
Why read?
If you are in charge of the user experience, development, or strategy for a web site, A Web for Everyone will help you make your site accessible without sacrificing design or innovation. Rooted in universal design principles, this book provides solutions: practical advice and examples of how to create sites that everyone can use.
288 pages, 2014
Disability Visibility
Why read?
One in five people in the United States lives with a disability. Some disabilities are visible, others less apparent—but all are underrepresented in media and popular culture. Now, just in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, activist Alice Wong brings together this urgent, galvanizing collection of contemporary essays by disabled people.
From Harriet McBryde Johnson’s account of her debate with Peter Singer over her own personhood to original pieces by authors like Keah Brown and Haben Girma; from blog posts, manifestos, and eulogies to Congressional testimonies, and beyond: this anthology gives a glimpse into the rich complexity of the disabled experience, highlighting the passions, talents, and everyday lives of this community. It invites readers to question their own understandings. It celebrates and documents disability culture in the now. It looks to the future and the past with hope and love.
336 pages, 2020
Inclusive Growth
Why read?
Inclusive Growth provides a practical framework that enables you to deliver a sustainable, diverse and inclusive workplace that allows your organisation to grow. You will understand how to: • Strategically align diversity and inclusion to organisational growth • Change the culture and motivate senior leaders to ‘walk the talk’ for inclusivity • Design and implement a sustainable inclusivity infrastructure • Work as a whole organisation rather than in HR isolation • Celebrate your inclusivity to become an employer of choice in your industry
216 pages, 2020
How to Be an Inclusive Leader
Why read?
We know why diversity is important, but how do we drive real change at work? Diversity and inclusion expert Jennifer Brown provides a step-by-step guide for the personal and emotional journey we must undertake to create an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive. Drawing on years of work with many leading organizations, Jennifer Brown shows what leaders at any level can do to spark real change. She guides readers through the Inclusive Leader Continuum, a set of four developmental stages: unaware, aware, active, and advocate. Brown describes the hallmarks of each stage, the behaviors and mind-sets that inform it, and what readers can do to keep progressing. Whether you’re a powerful CEO or a new employee without direct reports, there are actions you can take that can drastically change the day-to-day reality for your colleagues and the trajectory of your organization.
168 pages, 2019
Accessibility for Everyone
Why read?
You make the web more inclusive for everyone, everywhere, when you design with accessibility in mind. Let Laura Kalbag guide you through the accessibility landscape: understand disability and impairment challenges; get a handle on important laws and guidelines; and learn how to plan for, evaluate, and test accessible design. Leverage tools and techniques like clear copywriting, well-structured IA, meaningful HTML, and thoughtful design, to create a solid set of best practices. Whether you’re new to the field or a seasoned pro, get sure footing on the path to designing with accessibility.
166 pages, 2017