This post offers an overview of various disability types across four groups: seeing, hearing, moving, and thinking, and provides a brief exploration of what disability is, highlighting how permanent, temporary, or situational disabilities can affect us all.
We are all, in essence, temporarily abled. As an ageing society, the reality is that our abilities are not fixed - they change over time. Disability is a complex and deeply personal experience that can impact anyone, whether through permanent, temporary, or situational conditions, or even a mix of these.
Disability can be something we live with, something you experience for a period of time, or something that is caused by where you are or what you're doing.
The medical and social models of disability can be used to understand how disability impacts an individual: the medical model focuses on the personal aspects of disability, while the social model highlights how societal attitudes, infrastructure, and inaccessible environments can disable individuals.
Disability results from the interaction between individuals with a health condition, such as cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and depression, and personal and environmental factors including negative attitudes, inaccessible transportation and public buildings, and limited social support.
When something is inaccessible, it can be inaccessible to people with a permanent disability, such as blindness, but also those with temporary disabilities, like a migraine, or situational challenges, such as struggling to read a screen due to sun glare. Disability and accessibility (or inaccessibility) will impact us all at some point, and by designing inclusively and considering the full diversity of human experiences, we can do our best to ensure that everyone, regardless of ability, can fully participate in society.
Seeing: a bright purple outline of an eye chart with a bold orange E at the top. On the row below are smaller muted red letters for S and L. The bottom line has three smaller letters; H, T, and O, made up of muted purple dots, as the letters become harder to see.
Seeing
This refers to disabilities related to vision, which affect a person's ability to see.
Colour-blindness: people who can't distinguish between certain colours, commonly red and green, who rely on alternatives for colour and meaning
Temporary
Eye injury: people who may have a scratched eye, conjunctivitis, or an infection
Surgery recovery: people recovering from cataract surgery, retinal repair, or general surgery that may affect vision
Migraines and eye strain: people who have blurred vision, are sensitive to light or white backgrounds
Situational
Sunlight: people struggling to read screens in bright sunlight due to the glare and will benefit from high colour contrast
Low light: people having difficulty seeing details in dark or dimly lit areas
Driving: People who are driving cannot visually engage with a screen and must rely on auditory alternatives such as voice notes or hands-free voice commands
Meet Hasmukh: a blind cricketer and screen reader user. Hasmukh shares his experience using the web with a screen reader and highlights the importance of accessible emails, forms, language, and prioritising content within a web page.
Hasmukh, a blind cricketer, "I use the web to shop, listen to spiritual talks, and plan transport to cricket matches. Images are important as often they include information I need when shopping and finding out match information".
Hearing
Hearing: two clusters of vertical bars of varying heights resemble sound waves. The bright purple bars on the left are separated from the muted purple bars on the right by a vertical column of red dots indicating a barrier or filter.
Hearing
This refers to disabilities related to hearing, which affect a person's ability to hear.
A note on Deaf and deaf: Capitalised Deaf refers to the cultural identity and shared experiences of the Deaf community. Lowercase deaf describes the physical condition of hearing loss.
Permanent
Deaf (upper case): people who are Deaf identify as part of a cultural and linguistic community, often using sign language as their primary means of communication and rely on captions in video
deaf (lower case): people who are deaf have hearing loss and typically use spoken language, often with assistive devices like hearing aids and may rely on captions in video
Temporary
Ear infections: people with discomfort in the ear and can in some cases lead to temporary hearing loss
Tinnitus: people with a temporary or chronic ringing or buzzing in the ear with no external source
Cold or sinus infections: people that are experiencing congestion due to a cold or infection may experience blocked ears and difficulty with balance, temporarily affecting their hearing and stability
Situational
Noisy environments: people on public transport who can't hear clearly due to the surrounding noise and rely on captions when watching something on their screen
Quiet environments: people in a library or in a room with someone sleeping will avoid using sound on their device, and may activate captions
Flying: people flying may experience reduced hearing clarity due to cabin pressure and surrounding noise, making it necessary for them to rely on captions when watching in-flight entertainment
Steve, a poet and photographer who is hard of hearing and has low vision, "Accessibility means I can confidently plan travel and enjoy an audiobook through my hearing aids using an app".
Moving
Moving: a bright pink outline of an arm and open hand. A large purple gear in the elbow is connected by a wavey line of orange dots to an orange circle in the wrist with two purple lines extending pathways towards the fingers.
Moving
This refers to disabilities related to moving, which affect a person's ability to perform physical tasks.
Motor Neurone Disease (MND): people with MND experience a gradual loss of mobility and increasingly struggle with speaking and swallowing as the condition progresses and may browse with speech recognition
Missing an arm or hand: people can be born without an arm or hand, or can be the result of a congenital condition or accident, leading them to rely on assistive technology, and may browse with speech recognition
Temporary
Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI): a condition caused by repetitive motion or overuse, leading to pain and discomfort which can often impact wrists, shoulders and neck, and may browse with a keyboard
Broken wrist: people may experience temporary pain and have restricted use of the hand or arm
Pregnancy: people who are pregnant may experience swelling, joint pain, reduced mobility, increased flexibility in some joints due to hormonal changes, and fatigue
Situational
Cold hands: people with cold hands may struggle to use their fingers to interact with their phone as they normally would, as stiffness or reduced sensation can make precise movements difficult and they will benefit from increased target sizes
Holding heavy shopping bags: people holding heavy shopping bags have restricted movement and limit the use of their hands for other tasks
Wet hands: people who are washing dishes or have been swimming may be restricted from using digital devices until their hands are dry and will need to rely on alternative input methods, such as voice commands, and text to speech functionality
Cooking: people that are cooking and following a recipe online may struggle to interact with their devices easily due to messy or wet hands, making it challenging to scroll, type, or touch screens
Bev, an artist with a prosthetic arm, "Accessibility means being able to do things on my own terms, and in my own time".
Thinking
This refers to disabilities related to neurodivergence, which affect a person's ability to process information, communicate and interact socially.
Thinking: a bright pink gear connected to a smaller purple gear above it by a wavey line of orange dots. The bright pink gear slots together with a smaller purple gear on the bottom right showing a different way to make a connection.
Thinking
Permanent
Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD): is a developmental condition affecting social interaction, communication, and behaviour, impacting people in diverse ways and to varying degrees. People with ASD can be assisted by browsing with screen magnification to minimise distraction, and will benefit from accessible animations and flashing content
Dyslexia: people with dyslexia who struggle with reading, spelling, and writing and may browse with speech recognition and may benefit from accessible session timeouts and accessible animations and flashing content that reduce distraction
Dyscalculia: people with dyscalculia who have difficulty in processing and understanding numbers, managing time, and handling math-related tasks that may benefit from clear text descriptions, consistent page formatting and accessible session timeouts
Temporary
Cold or flu: symptoms like headaches, fatigue and congestion will impact people's ability to focus, and perform tasks with their usual dexterity
Recovering from an operation: people experiencing fatigue and brain fog from anaesthesia, pain, or medication may find their ability to focus, make decisions, and retain information temporarily impacted
Jet lag: people who are experiencing jet lag often have a disrupted circadian rhythm, leading to impaired focus, memory issues, and confusion or disorientation caused by traveling across time zones
Hungover: people who are hungover may experience brain fog due to dehydration, fatigue from disrupted sleep, a dysregulated nervous system, and slower reaction times
Situational
Using a different language: people who are non-native speakers may face challenges with comprehension and communication when using a language they are less familiar with, potentially leading to difficulties in understanding, delays in completing tasks, and problem-solving issues
Working under pressure: people experiencing stress and anxiety triggered from working under pressure may have reduced cognitive clarity, impaired memory and lack critical thinking
Multitasking: people that are juggling a lot at the same time may experience an increased cognitive load, leading to difficulties with focus, processing information, and communication
Meet Lauren: a film editor who has ADHD. Lauren shares what helps her stay focused when browsing the web and why white backgrounds and autoplaying video are not helpful for her.
Lauren, a film editor who has ADHD and chronic pain, "Accessible software lets me adapt my environment and online experience, so I can focus on what I want to do".
