Accessibility ABCs 1: Understanding your audience

Person using a white stick and carrying a mobile phone. They are wearing dark glasses, an orange jacket, blue trousers and orange shoes.

People using your services and products come with different backgrounds and intersecting identities. A number of those users may have some form of disability. 

The World Health Organization’s Disability and health factsheet states that “Over a billion people, about 15% of the world’s population, have some form of disability“, and “Between 110 million and 190 million adults have significant difficulties in functioning.” 

Keep in mind that disability is an umbrella term that refers to a wide spectrum of impairments that may be physical or mental. It can also be permanent, temporary or situational. 

“Disability is part of the human condition. Almost everyone will be temporarily or permanently impaired at some point in life, and those who survive to old age will experience increasing difficulties in functioning.”

World report on disability By World Health Organization  and the World Bank.

Next: What do we mean by accessibility?
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